4 of us today and it was Ikes turn to drive with no idea where we would go. The weather forecast didn't look to good and we had a lot of rain overnight so we thought somewhere with nice big paths and no grass to wade through, I think it was Geoff mentioned Stanton Moor so that was it. We got there before 06:45 and set off towards the Cork Stone, from there we took a different route across to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle, a path i had not been on before. We usually take a clockwise route around the perimeter but this time we just went straight down the middle. On the way to the NLSC we saw an owl fly across and land in a tree, the owl was making a weird call with a lot of noise coming from crows. Before we got to the NLSC we heard voices and a strange whirring sound like those tube things the kids spin around but we never saw anyone. We quickly got to the NLSC took a few pics and headed out on another different route that took us to the road. We walked back towards the car and found somewhere to sit near the Andle Stone for our breakfast. I suggested we have a quick look at the Doll Tor Stone Circle so we had a quick trip, it was only 2 fields away in the corner of a small wood. From there it was back to the car with a detour for me and Geoff back to the Cork Stone.
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| This weeks route took us to two stone circles and two of the "named" stones on Stanton Moor |
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| Ike & Geoff |
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| First look at the Cork Stone |
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| Footpath across Stanton Moor to the Nine Ladies Stone Circle (NLSC) |
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| Ike & Rob |
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| Geoff |
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| Having a break for 5 minutes |
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| The Earl Grey Tower |
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| Information board for the Nine Ladies Stone Circle |
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| Nine Ladies Stone Circle |
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| We found this old small stone structure but got no idea what it is, it looked like a tank of some sort |
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| Rob, Ike & Geoff |
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| Found this platform above an old quarry, think it could have been for a crane |
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| How many people have gone up these old steps |
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| Through the woods and into meadow land. |
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| In the woods everywhere was just so green |
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| Me beside an old beech tree |
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| Breakfast time |
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| This is the Doll Tor Stone Circle |
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| Tokens everywhere |
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| Doll Tor Stone Circle was excavated in 1852 by Thomas Bateman, and again from 1931 to 1933 by. J.P. Heathcote. During this second excavation, three stones were smashed and later repaired with cement. In 1993, unknown visitors rearranged the stones to create a more complete but historically inaccurate circle. It was later restored to something close to its original appearance, two fallen stones being re-erected. Doll Tor stone circle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument |
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| Oops thats me |
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| More tokens |
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| Most of the stones had acorns on top of them |
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| The Andle Stone in this copse |
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| The Andle Stone |
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| Geoff |
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| Cork Stone |
This was a great little stroll of just over 3 miles on pretty flat ground. It started off cool with a bit of mist around in the distance so we all had waterproof coats on but it didnt take long before they were coming off because it was warming up nicely.
See you next week
