Yet again I was out on the frosty moors but still within Sheffield's metropolitan boundaries. I parked by Mortimer Road west of Bradfield and then headed westwards. My route took me along a track that the Duke of Norfolk had built in the nineteenth century to access some of the best grouse shooting territory in England. Not the sport of kings but the sport of toffs. In fact where is the sport or the fun in blasting plump, frightened moorland birds to smithereens? Ho-ho that's twelve I've bagged today your lordship! Jolly good show old chap!
It was bitterly cold so I was thankful that my Hull City beanie hat was in my "Converse" rucksack with a pair of fingerless gloves too. Wearing lined walking trousers was another a good idea. The peaty ground was frozen hard in places but elsewhere ice-topped puddles were traps for optimists. I tiptoed around them.
All morning, I only saw one other person - a fell runner in a blue tracksuit and woolly headband. "Morning!" we both said in the middle of nowhere. He was heading back to Mortimer Road and I was on my way across Cartledge Flat - all peat, heather and moorland puddles and very hard to read from a map.
Then down past a line of grouse butts and across the devastated remains of a former conifer plantation. Luckily there were no gunmen around - just the cackling of surprised grouse rising up from the heather, no doubt relieved to discover that not all human beings want to blast them out of the sky.
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| Grouse butt number 10 |
Soon I was back on Mortimer Road with a three mile trudge ahead of me back to the car and at last, after four hours, a welcome sit down.
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| Derelict shooting lodge by Mortimer Road |
The poor birds! I'm glad they had nothing to fear from you. The derelict lodge looks spooky. Maybe it's haunted. :)
ReplyDeleteYes it is haunted by the ghosts of several thousand grouse.
DeleteThe Moorland looks very frigid. Good on you for getting out on a nasty day and getting some great photos.
ReplyDeleteThank you Red. You are invariably a very positive and encouraging correspondent.
DeleteA good morning spent on the moorlands...we need more pics of your time spent on the moorlands off Mortimer Road.
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to sound like Oliver Twist!!!
I hope you don't dress like Oliver Twist!
DeleteI LOVE the old abandoned building! Why, oh why, did you not sneak in and send us pictures of the old interior? Then we could have imagined the smoky fires, the lies and laughter of hunters, the smells of hot food, damp leather boots drying by the fire.....sleepy hunting dogs drying out.....sigh.
ReplyDeleteI was very tempted Madam Hilly but there were big signs warning trespassers to stay away and right next to this abandoned property there is an estate warden's house. I didn't want to risk it. Besides your imagination is probably better than the reality but see this if you are interested:-
Deletehttp://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/residential-sites/25329-thornseat-lodge.html#.VlQ6tPnhDIU
Wow, it looks way worse on the inside than I imagined. I am glad, for your safety's sake, that you didn't venture in! Love the fireplace....
DeleteThat's a hunting lodge? Bit of overkill there I think.
ReplyDeleteDo the group of rocks contain the 'beached whale' but from another angle?
Ms Soup
No Alphie - the beached whale is three miles from this outcrop.
DeleteThe lodge was financed by William Jessop - a wealthy Sheffield steelmaker. He may have had a few more friends than you. Why not take up grouse shooting?
You know how I feel about abandoned buildings... could you have gone in?
ReplyDeleteGoing for a long walk or hike on a cold day like that is brave in my eyes - I don't handle cold very well and have agreed with my running partner that we won't go for our regular run this week, lined running pants or not.
Miss Arian. Please see:-
Deletehttp://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/residential-sites/25329-thornseat-lodge.html#.VlQ6tPnhDIU
or
http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2015/02/thornseat-lodge-derbyshire-abandoned-hunting-lodge-victorian-industrialist/
Thank you for both links, I've just been there and found the information and pictures really good.
DeleteBeautiful photos of an amazing landscape. I like the hunting lodge. I am always intrigued by empty houses. I am tempted to have a sticky beak but don't. There always seems to be a slightly spooky atmosphere in empty house's.
ReplyDeleteI would have gone in but the "Trespassers will be Prosecuted" signs were prominent. See my reply to Librarian above.
DeleteThe first photograph is very appealing...what a grand shot.
ReplyDeleteHooray! A thumbs up from Big Ade! I am so delighted I am going to have another mug of tea!
DeleteI love the ethereal monochromatic play of light in that first picture Neil; beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThank you Elizabeth. Of the sixty six pictures I snapped yesterday, I think that that was the best one.
Delete"Traps for optimists" -- ha!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the poor grouse. (Grouses?)
It does indeed look very frosty there. Frostier than here.
I am glad you spotted 'traps for optimists" Steve. Egomaniac that I am, I thought that was a bit clever. And normally grouse are like sheep. The singular and plural are the same.
DeleteGeez! I am getting cold just looking at those pictures. I believe you captured the cold and nasty weather better than anything. I hope you allowed yourself a hot toddy at the end of the cold day. Well deserved!
ReplyDeleteNo hot toddy for me Mama. Just a banana and half a bottle of water, sitting by my car radio listening to the news from Syria... and it wasn't about hamsters.
Delete