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| Cultivated and uncultivated |
Saturday last, feeling somewhat recovered from germs (though
still not fighting fit by any means), we took the opportunity in bright sun but
fearsome cold to take a walk up Compton Hill, above the village of Compton
Bishop. Then across Wavering Down, then over Cross Plain, above the village of
Cross down past an old quarry site for a pint, and then back home.
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Cross Plain belowFor me it was hard work breathing wise but the legs could
have gone on forever. For Amanda the reverse, the knees were rebelling but the
breathing was fine ... once warmed up. As per previous post, the lumbar spine
has been bitching ever since, but once I’m back in the pool perhaps that will
change the overall `physical dynamic’, to use unnecessarily flowery language. We
would like to point out that this time last year in Spain we were super duper
fighting fit. The difference couldn’t be more stark.
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| Crook Peak, Brent Knoll |
Back to the present. For context, this route starts in the
same place as the walk up to Crook Peak but turns right (east) at the top of
Compton Hill not left (west). As walks go it isn’t that long maybe three miles,
but it is steep in places and the views are spectacular. You walk among sheep,
and gorse and bracken, across close cropped grass and patches of land, where
with a little more erosion, I think you would find something akin to Limestone
pavement. Between that condition and its current condition is this thin layer
of soil covered in tough grass. Here and there the soil is deep enough to hold
a lot of water and the red mud sticks the proverbial to a blanket.
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| Crook Peak |
Down in the quarry at the end of our particular walk you can
see the layers of limestone. Right at the foot of the man made cliff you can
see a stain on the rock where water percolates down onto the slab, this is stained
black from saturation and then drying. It’s a fascinating look at the way water
makes its way through an aquifer and out through cracks, and gives a clue to
the workings of Cheddar Gorge and Wookey Hole a way inland. Take a close look
at the picture of crystallised pocket in the cliff, this clearly predates the
quarry and gives an idea of what’s probably going on elsewhere in the rock that
makes up the Mendips.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheddar_Gorge
As ever enjoy the pictures.
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| The Hills are Alive |
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| Drystone wall repairs, with profile boards |
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| Cheddar Reservoir and Glastonbury Tor |
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| Quarry |
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| Limestone pocket with crystals |
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| Water Stains at the foot of the Quarry Cliff |
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| Drywall |
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| Drywall Protection |
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| House on Cross Plain |
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| Where's me Wellies |
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| The Hills are Alive |
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