23 October 2016

Bedraggled

Another visit to Houndkirk Moor on the southwestern edge of Sheffield. This time I was heading for Houndkirk Hill where rocks of millstone grit appear through the moorland vegetation. Dark clouds and sunbursts battled for supremacy but the forecast was for a dry afternoon. Over the years I have paid homage to many rocks in the Peak District. Some of them are like natural sculptures and others speak of Bronze Age habitation or historic quarrying activity.

In the changing light, I snapped several photographs up on Houndkirk Hill. Far away I could see rain moving across the landscape so perhaps I should just have returned to "Clint", parked up on Whitelow Lane. But half a mile away to the south I saw another unnamed hill and there were distant rocks that I hadn't seen before so I made my way up there along a sheep track through the dying heather.
On the unnamed hill before the rain
On the way back, the rain came. I was not dressed for it. By the time I reached sleek-silver Clint, my leonine locks were plastered to my skull, my fleece jacket was twice as heavy as normal and my trews needed hanging out to dry. Fortunately no paparazzi were around to create incriminating pictures of this bedraggled beast. 

I came home and stripped off to my red and blue striped M&S underpants, watching "Escape to the Country" with a mug of hot coffee.  What a sexy scene! Good job the BBC hadn't just filmed my own "escape to the country" or even worse, my escape from the country like a drowned rat.
50x camera zoom on The Ox Stones - over a mile away.
Other ramblers are there - no doubt in rain gear.
The depressions in the rock catch pure rainwater
which moorland grouse seek in preference to
brackish and  rather acidic drainage water.

14 comments:

  1. Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy. Come home, I'm so cold!

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    1. As far as I recall, Heathcliff didn't drive a Hyundai.

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  2. You just wanted to show off your fine belly

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    1. In fact I did some belly dancing to the "Escape to the Country" theme tune - just to warm up.

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  3. Thank you for braving the weather just so you could deliver more great pictures to your faithful readers!
    What does the L stand for on the rock in the second picture?
    I love the dramatic sky and hope your wet fleece contest did not result in you catching a cold.

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    1. I hadn't spotted that "L" Meike. I would guess that it has got something to do with grouse shooting or controlled heather burning.

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  4. Stunning pictures (from the vantage point of my centrally-heated study) but I guess less idyllic in a rainstorm. May I nervously suggest a pac-a-mac might be a necessary rucksack item from now on?

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    1. A pac-a-mac would be a cool fashion statement but I didn't have a rucksack with me - just my camera.

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  5. sometimes we have to suffer a little pain to see interesting things. Many people would pass by the rocks and who knows when they would ever be back.

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    1. I have walked and driven past Houndkirk Hill a thousand times but Thursday was the first time I had been up there.

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  6. You do take great photos! Give yourself a few well-deserved pats on the back! :)

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    1. Okay...Ouch! I think I've just pulled a muscle in my left shoulder. Thanks Lee!

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  7. Yet again excellent photos, YP. You certainly find some interesting and unusual places to take us ! When will you be writing the book version of your "Traveller's Tales"?

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    1. No. I don't think there'll be a book CG but looking back perhaps I should have made notes about my many photo walks. Now with a sore left knee I am slightly incapacitated and the walking has had to be greatly reduced.

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