The wild West..

[saxonaxe]

Back home in the shadow of the South Downs 2 days earlier than I planned.. In a previous post I mentioned that my own assessment of my land navigation skills showed I was at best rusty if not completely pants.. A self imposed refresher course was called for, so accordingly I chucked my camping gear in my 4x4 and headed South West where I had obtained permission to camp on an isolated farm...isolated being a fair description too..

General views of the area..





Somewhere at the end of that valley track is home..



I'm used to backpacking my gear in normally, so this is luxury but I'm allowed to wimp out as I'm 300 miles from home..



First things first..safety..right check area.... Area clear ok, ...Now check comms...Ha! forget it..No good shouting for help here mate..



First couple of days I got some good walking in, weather was very windy and wild with frequent rain squalls but very mild for January. Good practice map and compass treks and variety between woodland and open moorland navigation.





Following the river to a point on the map and then off on a bearing through the woods..





Never seen this before.. Rhododendrons actually growing from out of the trunk of a fallen Fir Tree.



High on the Moor are the remains of a Medieval village abandoned at the time of the Black Death 1348-50, I'm fairly certain this was the Watch Tower, Stronghold, Gate House or something similar..



And the remains of the walled village, taken over by Nature..Main entrance??









It would be exposure or injury that would kill you up here...not thirst..



On the 3rd night the weather worsened and torrential rain fell all night. Not a problem but the wind picked up and coming off the high Moor it accelerated down the valley like an express train. The tent is a modest 3 season affair but is well used and pretty tough. Not this trip though...

During the night one of the pegging points failed resulting in daylight remedies..



I've since heard that areas of England and Scotland were battered by 100MPH winds at the same time. I can't say they were that hard where I was but, at times during the next 2 days the tents was on occasion almost literally flattened by gusts roaring down through these Pine Trees..I would hear the gust coming down the valley, then in the trees and then the tent would get battered.



With all the rain the nearby river had seemingly gone on Steroids..



And the tent was starting to fail..





Time to get out. I hadn't seen another person in 5 days, help was miles away, so time to invoke the old.."Well any fool can be uncomfortable"... Time to get out..

And you can stop tweeting too Mate ( He was watching while I fought to get the madly flapping tent down)..



Map and compass skills back up to scratch..just got to fix my tent now...

[FishyFolk]

Nice picture story :-)
To bad the weather drove you out, but you done okay :-)

[bopdude]

Looks and sounds like a great time had honing your skills, thanks for sharing.

[ian c]

Nice photos an good write up wish I could get out as much as you do, Thank you for sharing.

[TheDaddy187]

What a lovely area... nice and secluded... hard to find nowdays

[OakAshandThorn]

Those Medieval ruins are interesting . I wonder if villagers who perished during those dark times were buried nearby...?
I've seen a Sweet Birch growing out of a live Black Oak, but that's a bit peculiar...still, it makes sense, because the rhododendrons are getting the nutrition from the dead fir and are helping it to decompose.
I like the landscape, patches of forest and lots of open space - quite different than what we have here, but by the end of the 1700s and again just before 1900, much of this region was stripped of its woodlands for the timber industry. Eastern White Pine was one of the important ones during the colonial days, and for Britain as well, for ship masts....light, easy to work, and quite durable for a softwood . Nowadays the forests have returned to cover about 75% of my state.

[Valantine]

Nice pic's, shame about the tent. Looks so peaceful too

[saxonaxe]

" I wonder if villagers who perished during those dark times were buried nearby...? "

I think probably they were buried close by, OAT. I read a really interesting summary on the Black Death times by a local Historian in the Museum in my local town. It seems that in rural areas it only needed a few villagers to die before a general abandonment of the village took place. Burials were local and quick and then everybody moved out. In comparison, very recently during excavations for a new Underground (Subway) rail line in London large 'Plague pits' have been found. Medieval Londoners had nowhere to escape to and the tens of thousands that died were simply tipped in and buried on the spot. I'm not aware of any really rural Plague pits being discovered.
I was meaning to ask you and other folk of the Forum from across Atlantic, do the local infants still sing the old Plague Nursery Rhyme Ring o' Roses? The essay by the Historian explained the Plague symptoms, a bright red circular flower like skin rash, 'flu like symptoms, lots of sneezing etc: then collapse and death.
People carried magic charms to protect themselves, dried herbs and flowers in small bags or 'Posies' in their pockets to ward off the illness.
Ring o' ring o' Roses,
A pocket full of Posies,
Attishoo, attishoo,
We all fall down....
The British nippers still sing it.. I couldn't help thinking of it when I wandered through those old ruins of the village the other day..

[OakAshandThorn]

" I wonder if villagers who perished during those dark times were buried nearby...? "

I think probably they were buried close by, OAT. I read a really interesting summary on the Black Death times by a local Historian in the Museum in my local town. It seems that in rural areas it only needed a few villagers to die before a general abandonment of the village took place. Burials were local and quick and then everybody moved out. In comparison, very recently during excavations for a new Underground (Subway) rail line in London large 'Plague pits' have been found. Medieval Londoners had nowhere to escape to and the tens of thousands that died were simply tipped in and buried on the spot. I'm not aware of any really rural Plague pits being discovered.
I was meaning to ask you and other folk of the Forum from across Atlantic, do the local infants still sing the old Plague Nursery Rhyme Ring o' Roses? The essay by the Historian explained the Plague symptoms, a bright red circular flower like skin rash, 'flu like symptoms, lots of sneezing etc: then collapse and death.
People carried magic charms to protect themselves, dried herbs and flowers in small bags or 'Posies' in their pockets to ward off the illness.
Ring o' ring o' Roses,
A pocket full of Posies,
Attishoo, attishoo,
We all fall down....
The British nippers still sing it.. I couldn't help thinking of it when I wandered through those old ruins of the village the other day..

Yep, still do here as well . Of course, I don't think many people know the meaning behind the words.