Not quarter of a mile from the van the ridge is broken by spoil heaps, springs and old road ways. Ah Ha! There have been mineral workings here. I have a soft spot for old mines. Enquiries established, in all probability but not definitely, that the area had been worked for lead. Whilst coal and clay were extracted as recently as the 1960's. This latter extraction was small scale. There are no traces in the rabbit burrows of either coal or galena but plenty of clay, most likely Bentonite. This is better known in it's processed form as cat litter and as a thickening medium in oil to produce grease. Grease as in lubricant not as in John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. It makes sense that it was dug in the 1960's as vast quantities were used in North sea oil exploration. Along with Barytes it constitutes drilling mud, the clay acts as a lubricant whilst the barytes is heavy and hopefully prevents blow outs. Or whatever the technical term is for those impressive pictures one sees of drill rod snaking skywards. The pen runneth away again. Usually does when the images are less than satisfactory!
TILERY...... This from just outside the camp site, spoil heaps are from centre left to centre centre.
MORE DISTURBANCE......................................MINE ADIT.....Possibly coal but more likely lead. Be better in winter. this site is open 365 days a year so will come back when I can get closer. The site is the best so far, unfortunately this is reflected in the price.
HADRIAN'S WALL CAMPSITE........The house on the skyline has nothing to do with the site.
VIEW TOWARDS THE WALL......I like this, not promising but the sun reflecting from the two buildings just saved it from the bin.
LIKEWISE DRAB.....Just enough colour in the sky to make me include it.
WALLS.....Warned you that I was struggling today. I hear you..'He struggles every day.' Mildly interesting that when they build dry stone walls here the tie stones are arranged in the same course. One would think that the wall would be stronger if they were placed randomly. the wall on the left tends to support this theory.
GATE......Overkill with the chain, that or very strong sheep.
That's all, tomorrow somewhere new, hopefully a valley with 3G coverage.
szép képek csodálatos a táj
ReplyDeleteBeing a rock person myself, i.e. I'm building a house with rock I found the images of the rock walls and gate most interesting ...
ReplyDeletehappy trails
As always some nice shots. I really like the last one-- a lot. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful countryside you're in Adrian.
ReplyDeleteFirstly: I enjoyed the text and tour. I'm not just here for the photos I'm here for the ride too.
ReplyDeleteSecondly: I thought Likewise Drab was a very good photo. I have always enjoyed photos of details like doors, windows, walls and so on so you have one more satisfied customer for those.
Thirdly: This is a tour and some of the photos might not be to your satisfaction but in some cases we need to get the picture just to get the whole picture - if you see what I mean.
Thanks one and all, should have 3G tonight so some serious catching up.
ReplyDelete