Bamford South and the Old Woman's Stone

 This morning we took a trip over to Bamford Moor to bother the Bamford South stone circle. This is a small but quite well preserved circle, well preserved possibly due to it being difficult to spot and relatively unknown. We parked on the southern edge of the moor, at the start of a public footpath and the main path to the popular climbing area. We followed to p/f to a quarry, then made our way towards a prominent stone that's marked on the OS map and lies just north of a copse. This is probably just an old fencepost, it was drilled as such, but it was a useful marker to take a bearing from.

Taking and following compass bearings is a useful skill, and good fun. 

The circle itself;

Stanage Edge in the background.

The stones;

 

Another compass bearing took us to the Old Woman's Stone;

This is an outlier stone, toppled by landowners in the early 1900's because walkers were using it as a waymarker.

Shame it didn't fall on one of them!

A good morning's bother. Looking for these sites is not only about the stones themselves, although we do find them fascinating, but also a way of testing our navigation skills, seeing some wildlife, and enjoying being out in nature. Today we heard skylarks, heard and saw curlews and possibly saw a ring ouzel.

Paul.

Five Wells

 This is my second visit this year to the highest megalithic tomb in Britain, but the first time with Dani. She wanted to visit, so we parked up nearby and walked in with Polo.

Quite an overcast day, with a bit of wind, but no rain so all was good. The air was filled with the sound of skylarks, and we even saw a few coming to rest on the ground.

Not a bad little bother.

My first trip was back in January.

Paul.

The Seven Stones of Hordron

We were up and out early this morning, heading for Hordron Edge to bother the stone circle up there. There's a lay-by close to Cutthroat Bridge on the A57, which was actually quite busy when we arrived with, I think, 'wild' campers returning from a night on the moors. There certainly were quite a few folk heading back to their cars with sleeping bags and mats attached to their backpacks. I say 'wild' because true wild camping is, in my book, a low-key affair where no trace is left and I suspect a lot of mess got left behind.

There's a decent path running below the edge from the road, which we followed for about half a kilometre before heading up the edge, towards a triangular Toblerone shaped rock, and onto the plateau above. The circle was easy to find, but I suspect that it will be better hidden later in the year when the vegetation grows.

Polo;

The 'Fairy' stone, the largest in the circle;

And finally, Polo again;

We returned by following a rough track north from the circle then heading down the edge and back to the main path, mainly so we could avoid other dogs as Polo is very reactive (something we're working on).

A nice short adventure for a Sunday morning.

Paul.

Park Gate and Hob Hurst's House

 Yesterday we walked on Beeley Moor for a bit of stone bothering. Conditions were pretty much perfect for this, the ground was dry and the vegetation down, once it starts growing the circle will be difficult to spot.

This is the most prominent stone;

A closer view;

Quite a lean on this one;

Happy boy!;

Lichen;

We had a spot of lunch on Hob Hursts's house, and Polo wasn't left out;

Handsome boy!

Hob Hurst's is a tricky one to photograph, being an overgrown mound;

And finally, Polo on a wall;

There's little information out there about Park Gate. I did notice that the two most prominent stones line up with a 'shelf' on the hillside to the east, whether this is significant or not I'm qualified to say. Perhaps I need to visit the site at sunrise.

A nice afternoon out.

Paul.