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| View to Win Hill and Lose Hill from Stanage Edge |
Further? Further along Stanage Edge. After a largely grey week, Sunday appeared brightly - as if she had cast off her November clothes. There was blue sky and I was up very early. After partaking of breakfast in "The Hammer and Pincers" (£2.99), I was back at Stanage Edge but further along the escarpment than where I was for my last Stanage photos. Remember
"Sunset"?
There were already a good number of people around - enjoying the countryside that is on our doorstep. Walkers, cyclists, rock climbers and a woman flashed by me in a skin hugging black lycra suit as she ran towards the rocky Edge. Victorian ladies would have never dressed like that! It was as if she also had cast off her November clothes.
Up along the track that is known as The Long Causeway past The Buck Stone. The dramatic autumn light illuminated the old rocks beautifully. Jagged teeth. Roughly hewn building blocks. Always looking westwards. At this time of year the the bracken swathes and the heather are chestnut brown - one of the costumes of death. So different from the greenery and bee humming heather fields of mid-summer.
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| The Long Causeway |
I met a path that took me northwards on the crest of The Edge, stopping by a wooden stile to chat with a seventy something couple who were striding out together with walking poles and rucksacks containing God know's what. When I see some Peak District ramblers with all their outdoor equipment kit, I sometimes think - Where the hell are you off to? Antarctica? In England's first national park, you are never more than two miles from a road. This isn't the Australian outback or the northern tundra of Canada. This is The Peak District for heaven's sake. Survival bags. Compasses. flasks and sandwiches, ordnance survey maps in weatherproof folders that they hang around their urban necks, flares, GPS instruments, whistles, spare socks.
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| Win Hill from Stanage |
Over the moorland below I could see the volcanic summit of Win Hill. Nearby there was a stone shelter constructed specifically for posh grouse shooters with hip flasks. When I clambered down from The Edge, I passed the remains of an old millstone quarry with various abandoned millstones in the dying bracken. It was past midday now and as the chummy weatherman had promised, clouds were now moving in to smother the bright morning. Back to the car and home.
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| Grouse shooters' shelter |
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| Triangulation pillar at High Neb |
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| Abandoned millstone below High Neb |
Interesting moonscape YP. From what I have seen, eating out is much cheaper than here in AUS. What do you get for your £2.99?
ReplyDelete£2,99 = 5.54 Aussie dollars.
DeleteFried egg, smoked bacon, baked beans, a nice fat sausage (!), grilled tomato and one slice of toast with butter. Unlimited tea or coffee was extra - £1.50.
A cooked breakfast is $10 at least at any cafe here ~ and you won't get all the extras ~ fat sausage, baked beans, grilled tomato for that price.
DeleteYes Carol but as we all know all Australians are stinking rich with high school teachers earning an average of 60,000 dollars - that's 6000 cooked cafe breakfasts a year!
DeleteLOL ~ imagine eating 6000 cooked breakfasts ~ even without the fat sausages and baked beans ~ burp!
DeletePardon you!
DeleteHmm I wonder; maybe the people who take so much equipment with them are really just trying to do the right thing, having heard or read stories about the numerous search & rescue incidents occurring every year on, for example, the North Yorkshire Moors - mainly because people are ill-prepared, overestimate their own strength and underestimate weather and other conditions.
ReplyDeleteHave a look at this, for instance:
http://www.srmrt.org.uk/incidents-2014/
Admittedly, I doubt few of these incidents would have been prevented by ordnance survey maps dangling from people's necks and other equipment you have described.
As always, your pictures are great. The last one looks much more ancient than it probably is. What is the white pillar for? A landmark?
No it is not a landmark Miss Arian. There are hundreds of these pillars around England. They are to do with mapping and accurate land surveys. Where ever you see a little blue triangle on an ordnance survey map - that is a trig point. They are not usually so bright and white!
DeleteThese are wonderful views. The millstone and the the trig point are perfect.
ReplyDeleteThank you. See Ade - you don't need to go gallivanting about in the wilds of Scotland! Just park up your ice cream van in Hathersage for the winter. No fellows wearing kilts when the wind gets up and there are plenty of rich widows looking for a handyman.
DeleteSome people just like to put on the "pose"...with all the unnecessary gear...gear unnecessary for the areas you describe. It's the "in" thing, you know...like buzzwords! :)
ReplyDeleteGreat shots, by the way.
They probably look at me with just my camera and think "Look at that crazy guy! He's going to die out there in the wilderness! Hasn't he even heard of outdoor equipment shops?"
DeleteLovely photos....the millstone especially, just stunning! It looks like it could be the illustration for an amazing thought-provoking poem.
ReplyDeleteBreakfast sounds good. A decent breakfast around here will cost you about $14....you can have endless coffee, steak & eggs, hashbrowns, a biscuit and apple butter for that.
Thank you Hillbilly Lady. . Maybe I should write that thought-provoking poem you mentioned. But I am not sure if it would be amazing. Would you like to try? Perhaps we can meet up over steak and eggs?
DeleteA landscape which holds the promise of being bleak and forbidding in the coming months; the people weighed down with rucksacks and compasses might be intending to stay out for while....
ReplyDeleteMs Soup
Ms Soup
Yes. Thanks SueP. There is the "promise" or threat of wintry weather ahead. I can hear it now in the wind round our chimney. If they stay out for a while the only people who will miss them are the owners of outdoor equipment stores.
DeleteI know what you mean about the walkers with the water proof maps around their necks. We once asked directions of a group of them gathered at a crossroads on a lovely walk in the Cotswolds. None of them had the faintest idea where they were or which direction they should go. Even with our sense of direction completely topsy turvey we found our own way back to Broadway before darkness fell. Thank Heavens for long Summer evenings !!
ReplyDeleteThe trouble with not carrying food with you is that the pubs often close up between 2pm and 6pm ( a pub closing during the day? Unheard of here in OZ !!) so you can arrive late a miss out on a meal or even a snack and a drink.
PS. Spammers are bl*%#dy idiots !!
Unlike you Helen, when I go for a country walk I am not thinking about the promise of food at the end but if I see a village shop I might stop for a pint of milk and a tuna mayonnaise sandwich. Yes - spammers - I hope that crazy person doesn't return!
Delete