Tuesday 31 May 2011

Luxulyan Valley Mining Heritage

We've just had a wonderful two days walking and geocaching in the beautiful Luxulyan Valley, near St Austell which is just 6 miles from where we live.


Our walk started along this gorgeous woodland walk. It had a lovely natural design that blended into the natural perfectly. It wound up the hill to a path across an aqua viaduct. 






As we crossed the viaduct we could see the water flowing across below us through the gaps in between the rock slabs. These lay above the aquaduct and lined the floor of the tramway that sat above the aquaduct.







We took the long way round to find three geocaches on the far bank. Otherwise known as not being able to find the right path straight away and having to go back to a previously passed branching path. 


We soon found ourselves in farmland, crossing fields of cows. This unusual rock formation was just sat in the middle of one of the fields.



Back across the viaduct we explored some of the paths through the valley. Our main target was the Cornwall's Mining Heritage -Luxulyan Valley geocache GC116DV at http://www.geocaching.com. If you want more heritage information I suggest you take a look at the cache page as the owner has given a good amount of background information about the site.


One of the locations involved a climb up a bank and down some old and steep steps. It was only that I really wanted to take some photos so badly that made me climb there.



There were a few ruined buildings near by. As usual I think we visited each and everyone...












Sean was rushing around exploring everything...



Slowing down only when we wanted to take photos...










We were a little more sedate... 

After visiting so much of the valley we decided to call it a day and finish the earthcache tomorrow as it was already nearly 8pm. On the drive home a barn owl flew down and caught some prey right in the verge of the road as we went past. It was the highlight of the day. It was actually the second owl we've seen in four days having not ever seen them in the wild before- that's the wonderful thing about walking- you see new things all the time...


More about the earthcache tomorrow
Until then
Gillian

Monday 30 May 2011

The Mayflower Steps

On our trip to Plymouth we visited the Mayflower Steps, the symbolic starting point for so many emigrants from England over the centuries.


I found it very emotional to look at all the plaques on the walls commemorating so many historic voyages setting of from this location. 


[Other plaques are transcribed on http://www.mayflowersteps.co.uk/]


The original steps no longer exist, but the memory of all those explorers and desperate travellers who passed this way is maintained at this site.


John 

 A balcony was built above the steps original location in 2000. It was a good place to stop and think...
Gillian ( aka Me!)


Until next time
Gillian









Sunday 29 May 2011

Plymouth Hoe and Sea Front














We had a lovely 24 hours in Plymouth this weekend (see my other blog Creative Serendipity http://creativeserendipity-gmg.blogspot.com/  for more on that). 


We particularly enjoyed a Sunday morning walk around Plymouth Hoe. The Hoe is where Sir Francis Drake is supposed to have played bowls as he waited for news of the Spanish Armada in 1588.



We loved that the open air 1930's lido, Tinside Pool, has been renovated and is open free of charge each summer.






Looking west towards Drakes Island- the small island just to the left of the shore line in this picture. This island is fascinating and would make a great setting for a story. It is now privately owned but has fortifications from the second world war including underground rooms and tunnels apparently.





Drakes Island


That's Cornwall shrouded in hazy light in the distance.










The architecture just says English seaside town to me. 










Plymouth Marina is a welcome continuation of the maritime history of the city.




The Tower on the right of this picture is Mount Batten Tower, an old artilliary fort dating from about 1652 which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It sits above a watersports centre now. As in so many places in Britain old sits next to new.





John with an authentic cannon
 dating from the Crimean War.

I mostly took photos of the scenery in Plymouth but if you see a cannon you always put someone in the photo with it!

This is Smeaton's Tower, probably the most iconic image of a lighthouse on the mainland. This photo to me captures the mood of storms and threatening seas. Maybe there's another story in this one too...












Cornwall is divided from the rest of England by the Tamar Bridge which is side by side with the Brunel Railway Bridge.







Through the increasing drizzle I took this photo of Cornwall from across the River Tamar in Devon. I've included it because we often get this cross between a thick mist and a fine rain like drizzle that we call mizzle in Cornwall. When the mizzle descends it often stays for the day and this is all you can get of a view when that happens. If you look through the mizzle you can see the Combe Viaduct in Saltash.


I'll be posting my photos of the Mayflower Steps later as they deserve a post of their own...


So until next time
Gillian

Monday 23 May 2011

Wherigo- Treskilling Trek

This geocache deserves a post of it's own- its the best geocache we've done so far. A truly interactive way to play geocaching hide and seek. 


The wherigo took us to a section of the Clay Trail from Bugle to the Eden Project.  The view was amazing...




It was a good path that we nearly didn't take as we had parked quite a long way from the start of it as we wanted to do 3 other caches first and when we got there we ummd and arrrd over whether to leave it for another day as we knew there was a possibility of rain. Fortunately we carried on...



One of the wonderful things about geocaching is that you meet other friendly people. We bumped into two cyclists who had stopped to watch an adder asleep who was sluggishly laying across the path. We all stood taking photos and admiring the natural beauty of Britain's only venomous snake.


The snake was much smaller than I thought they would be, and I was surprised that it was so reluctant to move- though it does look as if it had recently eaten- notice the bulge in it's middle.



The wherigo led us to a hidden lake where we saw some geese and goslings.











There were rafts of lilies spread around the lake- I had never seen lilies like this before






Nearby were some cliffs which not only looked like amazing sand sculptures, but were also home to a colony of rare sand martins- there are estimated to be only about 200- 300 breeding pairs in Cornwall so it felt like a privilege to see them flying in and out of their burrows.




The scenery is very artificial if you look closely...
the lake is actually an old pit that was last worked in 1971. It has since been allowed to flood and is now 15m deep.


In the background, a spoil 'mountain' and an old chimney, man's interference with nature is all around here...



The Wherigo took us all along the trail but on the way back we diverted to look for another cache. How do people find these locations? We wouldn't have found this place in a million years without being led there by a cache.


It truly looked quite swampy in places... appearing like a different world from the clay trail, but only a hundred metres or so from the lake in the clay pit.


We took some photos of each other on this walk which I will post on my personal blog Creative Serendipity ( http://creativeserendipity-gmg.blogspot.com/ ).


So until next time
Gillian

Sunday 22 May 2011

Clay Country

Today we went geocaching along the Clay Trail from Bugle to the Eden Project.

At the start of the trail was this stunning statue. I don't know why they chose to put a horse here but it a beautiful sculpture.

The path is unexpectedly well developed given that it is in an area that is essentially man made as a result of the extraction of china clay and other minerals which has resulted in an artificial landscape.





We found three geocaches along this part of the trail, two were cleverly camouflaged adding a nice bit of interest and challenge- though it didn't take us long to find them.

We then walked further along the trail to do a Wherigo geocache- the only bit I didn't much was the section we had to walk along the road itself- you can be as careful as possible but you are putting your life in the hands of other peoples careful driving doing that...


As we walked along I noticed a mine chimney sticking out of a field. We walked to take a closer look and found it, with some stables built right next to it. I really like that in Cornwall the old stacks are all around but are just being absorbed into the modern landscape.




You can't go far in Cornwall without seeing a mine chimney...






Most of the landscape in this photo is artificial, being built on china clay mining waste.

Two more spoil heaps; locally they are sometimes called the Cornish Alps. I actually quite like them, they are being returned to a natural state and are quite a sight.

I've got loads more photos of the Wherigo cache walk itself that I'll post tomorrow
So until next time
Gillian

Sunday 15 May 2011

The windiest lake in England!

Today we went geocaching at Stithians Reservoir which is supposed to be the windiest lake in England. It certainly was really windy, enough to blow the cobwebs away, as my mum would say.


Wild iris
 We saw beautiful wild flowers, insects and birds...
Damsel flies were all around.



One of the many herons we saw

 The windiest place on the whole walk was crossing the dam... we just had to rush across... it was quite scary...


The dam

We enjoyed the walk immensely. The geocaching was difficult with some really hard to find caches  though we got 12 so we feel pretty pleased with ourselves...

Until next time
Gillian

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