The above is a satellite pic of where we were this afternoon, myself and my young assistant Mr Smud the Beagle. Been on that patch of moor a couple of times before, found an interesting fossil last time by the bank of a beautiful upland stream, maybe two years ago. This time however my primary objective was an abandoned homestead, maybe 100 or 200 years since last inhabited. The above pic centres on the homestead with a very mediaeval field layout. No sign of this can be seen from the ground ... now it is all managed grouse moor. Getting back this evening I see from the above that the Devils Causeway (a Roman road) runs left ie west of the farmstead, note the gulleys caused by 'traffic' below the homestead ie up toward higher ground. There is a 'stell' ie circular sheep pen to the left of the homestead that had interestingly the foundations of a building built in to it.... or at least has superceded it ... very unusual to see this and satellite images give no hint of this. The Roman road comes in a quarter way along from the left at top and exits centre at bottom.












I've noticed this last two or three weeks that Smud is near rabid when out in the countryside where sheep are ... I assume they are in season and are driving him nuts. In the distance we can see the first snow on Cheviot.












The above shot is taken three days later on the second visit, low cloud added to the mystery of the place and once we had been out for thirty minutes rain came as well. In one visit its become one of our favourite places. For thirty years I've noticeed these stones from the road below and its taken all this time to appreciate the place. However, I think possibly access to google sat images is a great help and a spur to learn/discover or search for more. And of course, my latest fascination with discovering pre Christian carved rock in addition to the already recognised markings in the landscape. This site as with many others yielded my discoveries and is the reason for me being there in the first place.









I seem to have missed out from taking overall shots of the homestead which was one 'main room' with a smaller joined on. I hope whoever lived there (peopled for perhaps many hundreds of years) were happy in one anothers company and produced happy strong offspring. Above is my young assistant rabid for something in the wall, an animal?

















The above is approaching the old stop for the horse drawn coach facing north .... we assume carrying passengers and mail up to the middle or even end ot the nineteenth century. It was the farmer on our last visit that told me this .... I had no idea that was the function of the place. He was a nice man, farms nearby and a busy road disects his land. Twice since then i have called in to tell him that some of his sheep are on the road - a busy fast road. He told me he moved from Commonburn House after the war.... I know exactly where he meant.... up in the wild Cheviots, well off any busy road. The road and its traffic must be a source of anxiety, most drivers having no idea stock may escape thir fields. I sympathise with him.












This last image was as light had fallen very low, so its on flash. Works out very well, in fact i think its one of the best images I've ever taken, just something about it that is so appealling. Its the conduit under one of the two bridges fed by moorland streams and was the the changeover point for horses on the now dis-used coach road. I thought I had taken more pics .. including the rows of huge beech trees that populate the place, I think thats all on my youku vid site. Its at this point I realised the total preponderance of beech .... if they would always have had horses around so the last thing they need is hawthorn and the dreaded spikes. Another thought .. bet its good for mushrooms in September.

Well, found possibly two examples of my pre Christian carved rock, no-one else has ever documented them orapparently recognised them.

The field system in the sat image is more beautiful the more i look at it. At the second visit finding a low stone wall which looked as if it was intentionally low and not robbed was another thrill. I shall use pen and paper to draw the pattern of the fields, to learn their layout, in fact would make for an excellent series of abstract studies, very entertaining to see such history on the wall here at the 'hooos'. I wonder at the satisfaction and pride the farmer and his family must have felt when the ploughing was completed. I assume crop rotation would be used and a fallow field would always be present. Can we assume he kept his own horse? Perhaps he borrowed one at times, tho when ploughing was needed everyone in the district would be needing one at the same time so perhaps each farmer/homesteader had their own horse. What a lovely companion to have, yet finding feed perhaps could be a problem, then again let it forage as it wishes. Theres an answer .. let it forage in the fallow field .. manuring as it goes! I wonder to what extent the pre-Christian belief systems carried forward with Christianity? I would think there could easily be an overlap of many hundreds of years if not a thousand.





Here we are back at the car, at four he is now allowing me to dry him off, he still snarls and goes "grrrrrrr" (he does a lot of grrrrrrrr) yet we seem to be on the same wavelength that drying off is a good idea. In one of the vids of that walk which I have put onto http://u.youku.com/user_show/id_UMzYwNjg5NDg=.html Mr Smud towards the end, as we are sat on a earth mound is actually stationary, sat down. Wow, that is unusual for him. So i keep my mouth shut as i record and let the silence soak in.



Postscript.. next morning I have memories of being up at the coaching stop with our niece Sarah twenty years ago .. and I think my wife was with us too. In some ways seems so long ago. Perhaps we had our first beagle, perhaps not? I remember viewing the moor to the south as a very inhospitable terrain and really not a place I would venture yet yesterday apart from a couple of streams and water courses to cross was quite okay being there .. ah remembered, there was one gutter/ rain filled gulley that did defeat us, was deep and in flood so .. no way did i risk it, Smud got over tho was sinking fast so we'll be careful in future. Wow we used to have so much fun, so much keen anticipation of trips out. We were an education to her. Yet times change people grow up and i am lucky i still get so much buzz from my excursions. I often feel people are with us in sprit, so perhaps she's not really missing out after all. Its a comforting thought tho perhaps nothing more than that, how we cling to such slender straws.

Tags: field system, landscape, old homestead

These are some recent notes and the excellent Oxford starter Dictionary, pictured at the desk here. See tags on right for other info.

Tags: learning mandarin

Three times I've tried to get up on to that moor, always from the south with microwaves blasting in from the transmitters on the hill opposite and three times felt not at ease. An obscene and ridiculous golf course has also some years ago been plonked on an important ancient landscape which further adds to the discomfort. So, determined to try and find the stone circle on this visit Smud and I approached from the north. The contrast could not have been greater, a beautiful place to be. And smaller in scale than I feared, out three hours and no twinge of pain from my knees, only slight worry were 'coos' on part of the moor, tho being fenced to their own area was a great help.

First landmark which I didn't photograph due to bracken obscuring the ground features was a three wall hillfort, that will be a visit later in winter.

The stone circle seems to have five members, one still standing and it absolutely thrilled me. Its amazing there is still work to be done and discoveries to be made by the self taught amateur. The sculpting and carving is not weathering and there is great repeatability of this across the landscape. that is what I am documenting. I'll be back there soon.

Smud himself got up on the wall, no way would i encourage a dog to stretch his back in such a manner, remembering the old fella Snuffy, our first beagle.

Its interesting to see the difference in land of both sides of the wall, thank goodnes the circle is remaining on the unimproved side. On the ploughed and reseeded side according to the map there is an 'enclosure' yet was not visible on foot. Its essential the farmer does not get his hands on the moor itself.

.... and I can't wait to get there.

Its years, feels like many years since I felt so upbeat. Last week was okay, some disasterous under quoting (all fixed price) yet it resulted in quality and impressive end results. This week its jigs I last touched ten years ago and first time ever with retrospective pricing. So i am able to get my hourly rate. I think in this instance my customer realises i need some decent renumeration and am struggling at guessing the right price. Not many men work at pricework these days, especially for seldom repeated often complicated work. 





Pictured above is other stuff.... own products, repetitive (actually very enjoyable to me) and something I tooled up for 25 years ago.. sorry 27 years ago.

Seems I'm not the only one getting keen on their work..... well done Sis.

Tags: work

These are taken at Cuthberts Cave, strangely my first visit. I am exploring and photographing the Fell sandstone as it runs down the county as it seems I am the only one to realise there is an additional layer of carved I assume prehistoric activity in addition to the existing well documented c and r.  Legend has it his body was rested here when on its travels. My copy of the 'Highways and Byways in Northumbria'  author P. Anderson  pub.Macmillan 1920 which was my grandfathers and came to me when around twelve years old from my grandmother has quite a few pages devoted to the Saint himself. Theres a well known pathway which stupidly at north of Weetwood Moor is being obliterated in planted trees when previously it was open to the landscape and visible from a distance, forming a very visible indication of Cuthberts Way.  Idiot planting.

To quote H and B in N ... Cuthbert dies in 687, Lindisfarne was laid waste by the Danes in 793, But they did not disturb the tomb. In 875 however they came over again and he monks fled carrying with them the body of Cuthbert in a temporary wooden coffin. They took also the famous Gospel of Lindisfarne and journeyed to Cumberland with the intention of crossing to Ireland, a storm beat them, the precious Gospel swept to sea which miraculously landed on shore unharmed. .. incredible, this is powerful stuff.... right on my doorstep. I encourage anyone to follow this up and learn.

I have just googled this, has me in tears ..... its so beautiful ....http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/lindisfarne.html

Q. was this with them perhaps when he was rested at the cave?? perhaps not, tho imagine if it was. Its wonderful to exercise ones imagination and visualise such things happening, gets us out of the modern obsession with the 'here and now' culture. Theres lots for me to read and explore in all senses. I wonder, because of the prior history of the cave what folk memory there was of the significance of this site at the time of Cuthbert.  Obviously tens of thousands of years ago such a significant and useful site would be extremely valuable and sought after. Quite safe to assume continuously occupied for many thousands of years.

Heres a stunning google image search ....  http://images.google.co.uk/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GZEF_enGB348GB348&q=lindisfarne+gospels


                   


I have the abridged copy of Frazers 'Golden Bough' maybe it will shed a little light on the pre Christian worked rock.


I found google maps provided a most stunning image of Holy Island ......

Tags: fell sandstone

I'm sinking under digital pictures captured on my £36 ebay purchase at the end of May. Some are quite good and about a fortnight ago I realised the value of the 'landscape' setting along with the trick of either half clicking the shutter button and sweeping up to the sky therefore achieving a darker more strongly hued landcape, otherwise theres too much white / over exposure, the alternative new trick with plant portraits was to set to portrait and click down a full stop. Achieved the same thing. Better images result. Oh yes and using the optical viewfinder to track moving images.

This last week has been too much work ... a good thing I suppose. Various thoughts are passing thro my mind which are not healthy to air here. Luckily my usual hobby horses entertain and thankfully still interest me.

This afternoon Sunday as the rain slackened Smud and I motored north, plenty of water on the roads and one country road impassible yet still got to up at the horses for as usual a delightful hour plus on 'the  circuit'. At field two as we passed, our three chums recognised us immediately, lots of paying respects (ie they sniff my hand)  and they seemed to know feed would follow four hours later.

We've no kids so this adds a very absorbing and useful dimension to our lives. If only more people wld get off their arses and do something positive for their environment. Man is only one small part of the environment and needs to realise some husbandry (lovely old fashioned term) needs to be provided to maintain equilibrium of a fully functioning natural environment. Sometimes farmers are not the best custodians of the landscape. Some are good, some less so.

Today has been a day off, first for eight days...month end rush then gardening too, so limbs ached. This mornings hot 'Radox' bath helped, usually soaking thus at least three times a week. Plus supplements ie Bromelain (painkiller), Devils Claw. MSM. Zinc, Multi-vit and Brewers Yeast. .. Oh yes CLO. .. my shift key is going crazy!!









































I love this landscape, it invigorates, refreshes, is to me the perfect recreation. Smud thinks so too.

Tags: landscape

I've been on youtube looking at how horses are so adept at extracting timber,  I already had an idea about this yet its wonderful to see them in action ... in the above they move so beautifully on their day off .... below is an introduction to their work. Something about this has me in tears every time ......

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gBriAQjkCY

I've often thought of the bond between men and horses, when horses were so much more widely used in tasks, say a hundred years ago. Imagine how men felt when mechanisation took over..... old friends with still lots to give and training and ability were disposed of.  The tears and sorrow of such changes. I wonder if anyone wrote of this, surely someone must have?  It must have been heart wrenching and of course less workers were needed on the land so it would have been an inevitable drift to towns and as in this locality to coal mines to earn a living. Harrowing stuff. The stratification of the social classes makes for some hard pressed decisions, the need to work and earn money, to keep a family etc. I remember as an apprentice a man in his fifties Norman W telling me that in the 1930's men came to the factory (starters or looking?) with no soles in their boots ....  and I'm only 51 now. It must have taken insuperable (right word?) courage to form trade unions and show the owners and bosses that a decent humanitarian and reasonable equilibrium should exist between workers and owners. The way I am I find it impossible to ever visit stately homes or grand houses because of this very exploitation in centuries gone by.

Theres a line in a song that asks something like 'are my team still ploughing' which i assume refers to horses.. again gets me every time. Its often associated with the First War yet in reality was written for the Boer. I think Thomas Allan is known for it.. in my meagre knowledge of such things.. can i find it ...









This song starts at 3.05 in, it doesn't get better than this.......

6. Is my team ploughing
"Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?"

Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

"Is football playing
Along the river-shore,
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?"

Ay, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal.

"Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?"

Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.

"Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?"

Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

Tags: a e houseman, a shropshire lad, george butterworth, working with horses

Some busy individuals have put up a bee box at our local nature reserve. Spotted this a week ago and has got me thinking. I should have done this before, yet i am a great believer in not being too obsessively concerned with cutting back and clearing in the autumn specifically to benefit wildlife, hence never slug pellets and the importance of creating habitat. I always used to collect a pile of dried Angelica stems and leave them somewhere sheltered and a little bit drier for insects, yet I fear slugs may have been the occupants. Seeing a wall mounted bee box is probably the way to go, unfortunately I don't have big canes to cut up so it will as a last resort have to be a commercial item, yet part of the box is old nest litter type material so thats with in my abilities and resources. Actually old angelica stems bundled up and fitted inside a wooden frame seem like an ideal solution, next year ......

Many perennials and border plants look lovely in frost -  magical - so its silly to cut them all down when they still have much to give.

I'm getting keen on ornamental grasses, yet the recently planted new bed is already full, drat ... no space or even a 'layer' to accommodate them. So much of planting is layers, ie spring layer, summer layer ... etc. Got some anemone blanda bulbs, I always wanted them, well for twenty five years anyhow. 

I still haven't creosoted the hut and its now late and often damp but primarilly I'm thinking insects will have taken up residence there, spiders, lacewings so its really a no-no for splodging cresote all over. It'll be okay, its had plenty of coats in other years. I remember cutting in to a compost heap and finding little tunnels, careful work revealesd a nest, I watched as the parent ferried all her babies to the dry of under the hut. I hadn't wanted to disturb her, in fact I had probably used up most of the heap and this was the remaining lump.

I am very sceptical of the near universal obsession with block paving and / or gravel as is often used to replace front gardens. I have never yet been in a garden that has much wildlife or birds as ours, at least not in the usual sort of place.. ..there will of course be some experts with an acre etc etc. Yet thinking of what a garden could be, I have very seldom seen any that reach this level. Not of tidyness or silly little rows of annuals, or perfect lawns, I'm talking substance, intrigue, variety, an encouragement to the senses and the mind.
 
I also detest tools that make a noise, I'm thinking of strimmers. I have a sickle, bend with hand shears when need to and edge a lawn in silence!

Leaves are very important and the ensuing leaf litter. the blackbird in particular needs the floo covering to pick over. For maybe ten years here I would bring in say ten bin liners every autumn rammed full of collected leaves also some leaf mold tho with the latter its vital to know that your source does not harbour lesser celandine, a small yellow flower in springtime and a pernicious weed. I have made this mistake and very carefully had to work over the land to eradicate it. Took three years at least following that to get the remainder out. Did I read .. that was Wordsworth favourite flower? Blimey.

Same with worms. I know one silly woman mad to exterminate them, yet will fret over moss.. ie lack of aeration ... worms. I actively encourage them and rightly so that chemicals killing them are banned. Yes, we all like a bowling green lan but we have to think of soil structure, Darwin rightly appreciated their importance.

R3 had an interesting talk last night, Gertrude Bell, born in the north, Washington County Durham, a very talented major force in archaeology in Iraq, knew and worked with T.E. Lawrence (.. of Arabia) ....  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell .. wow I thought and a lover of Vita S W .. ahh thats another Bell .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Bell  .... isn't this interesting!!   I hope this prompts others to read of such interesting lives, so many people these days live only in the 'here and now' with no sense of history or that there might have been such clever and able people in generations gone by.

Here are pics of last weeks magical jaunt in the rain up at Kyloe, first time for me at that location, not the last for sure. We got absolutely soaking yet loved it ... me and Smud that is. Its part of the Fell sandstone that runs down the county and offers tremendous views to those that stroll a few yards from their cars. Lindisfarne would be easily visible we assume and Cuthberts Cave lies close by to the south.




































It was such an enjoyable outing. Back at the car Mr Smud insists on pulling funny faces as I try to dry him off. He nearly always seems to have low body heat, he is four on the 9th November and the fact that he has been chewing his knees for half a year and started on his front right wrist ... is upsetting. So its light easy walks and two hours easy slow ramble at max. He was bred from  very old bitch, she was worn out. I am upset the breeder did this.

Never mind, the Kyloe Hills are terrific, atmosphere a'plenty.

Tags: bee box, mr smud

The Observer series of books, published by Frederick Warne were usually a summer treat, something .... if you were lucky you might get once of a year. At Whitby when say age five or six at Victoria Square at Dr Baines and the flat above I was bought 'Ships' in the series maybe perhaps by John my uncle or a very kind unrelated woman about who I'm hazy over her name ... Miss Baines?  Wish I could meet her to thank her. I still have it here, on the bookshelves in the next room, a treasured volume. In fact looking at it a few seonds ago there is much in there to entertain a more mature reader. As a child I would be fascinated by the colour plates, in 'Ships' its flags and in 'Geology' its minerals. How I hankered for such finds. About as much chance finding such specimens as flying to the moon, at least at age seven or ten. With my parents, their knowledge of geology was naturally .. zero, little interest in the landscape and the possibility of travelling to such locations .... yes u guessed .... zilch. I shouldn't criticise too harshly as in my life I have pushed and developed further "shoulders of...."  etc. Whitby was the one exception of good geology (fossils) and where I was born so its where we holidayed after we had moved away I would be seven then, the Pannet Park Museum being astoundingly worthwhile .... especially in the context of Jurassic and alum and shale and jet.  What one doesn't realise at that age without intelligent conversation and this is where I think teachers in school play a vital role in expanding a childs outlook is how region specific such finds are. Its called 'thinking' and needs to be developed in little people ..... especially those from less erudite homes.




For instance, the above pic shows a slice of agate , museum quality. I know of such locations and can get little thumbnail pieces after a long search, yet I don't think it sank in to my immature brain that such finds are very region / locality specific ie the prevailing strata.   And importantly travelling is needed in getting there. Luckily our county is as has been quoted 'a textbook of geology'. So if my dad had known more I would have seen more. Pigs might fly.



Above is the geological map of Britain. This would fascinate me in younger years. William Smith is described as the father of modern geology .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Smith_(geologist)  .... and I wonder at his helpers and collaborators .... he must have had them I assume. Some would be enthusiastic ordinary working men and perthaps self taught from a few books, perhaps even obsessed with their passion for rocks.  We'll never know who they were or what sacrifices they made. Sixty hour weeks .... then a hobby.  Below is some strata today found at the Kyloe Hills, our first ever jaunt there. As I wandered, found our vdf and fbh as it runs on the Fell Sandstone down the county, new to science, perhaps.








The bottom pic is of my discovered cups and fissures that no-one has recognised as being the equal of cup and ring ... no-one has even 'seen' them .. even the experts. I am reading Frazers 'Golden Bough' to help me guess how these may have been used, sacrifice or dealing with the dead?

I mention above the act of great genorosity by I think Miss Baines. Theres no-one I can ask so I think she would be his sister or daughter. My mother cleaned the working space - he was a private doctor - and we got the flat above, quite a big area. I still have many memories of that place, moving there I guess at age four and unfortunately only being there a couple of years. I can never remember any chldren nearby, yet an old man across the lane I remember making me a bow and arrow and after a young man left for the sea his Mum gave me loads of stuff, masses of jigsaws (which I detest) Ian Allen 'spotting' books on ships, locomotives, a toy steam engine, rubber driven model aircraft which would only be destroyed in my hands (goodness knows what my Dad was doing .... locked in his own world as usual... ) even a pair of boxing gloves which are I assume still here in a tin trunk in the hallway that maybe I've only opened once in twenty years.

Back to the point .... receiving an act of generosity. I think she would take me out several times to go and buy me something, I have a great hunch the Observer 'Ships' is hers and I have memories of 'I Spy' books, a very useful educational aid. There was a bookshop  / newsagents next to the railway station (still functioning just pre Beeching cuts) .. I also stil have the very expensive and impressive Dinky cast metal model .. an articulated car tranporter. I deeply regret the contact was never maintained, I was cursed with whacko parents, moved school and home far too many times, crippled me for life. Where we ended up was a shithole par excellence with people to match, far removed from libraries, town bustle and human variety. Curses upon them and my parents. I am a passionate believer in the great good that can be done by meeting a talented or more learned or socially able person, even after forty five years the generosty of that great good woman can still induce tears, as is right now.  So in my life I have in turn passed that generosity on to other little people. Maybe not with money but with decent worthwhile conversation to bring them on. Subjects and information they would never encounter otherwise. Life and time are vital things and its a shame so many parents fritter it away.

Tags: acts of generosity, dr baines, geology, miss baines, observer books

Quite by chance found this gem from 2005 ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNtc91o0CA8  ..titled  'Riding alone for Thousands of Miles' . In Mandarin is 千里走單騎 

Had me in tears, totally engrossing. I seldom if ever watch tv, never go to a cinema .. impossible for me ... so its unusual for me to be so engrossed. Its tight, lean, beautiful.



The accompanying youtube list provided 'Yellow Earth'  ie 黄土地 ... (pron. 'huang tudi' .. literally yellow earth' a very famous film from 1984. I immediately recognise the female lead from a couple of Chinese cinema books I've borrowed several times from the library . I want to write up more on this film later.    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxtULMlX4Vs









I read a book once called 'Five Rehearsals'  by Susanna Johnston ..... then finally it was severed.  I think the brain becomes wired and it takes time to unwire it,  that final letter is a guide for life perhaps. However .... Finis ...The End..... as they say in films. The chinese for cinema is 'dianying' ie electric shadows and in this case after last nights very direct leaf pun I am now in no doubt and adamant no memory or trace can be allowed to remain otherwise I'll go insane.

A blog on China .. http://josieliu.blogspot.com/2009/06/some-thoughts-on-chinas-environment.html


Heres another film .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NkcSjazEiA    


Postscript... watching the above Chinese films these last few nights has been an astounding experience. The love, emotion and  landscape has all been so wonderful, to anyone reading this blog they are well worth watching. So much garbage emenates from Hollywood, they have a lot to learn.

Tags: chinese cinema, yellow earth