Purdah Blog Part 3: A mosiac of local walks

We are just about to enter our fourth week of splendid isolation and, let's be honest, compared to many (the majority?), we've got it very easy. We can get what we need without any problems and, with the weather being the way it is, our time is being spent very pleasantly in the garden, communicating with others through various media and taking a regular walk. We are very lucky in that we can walk from our door and vary where we go and how long we make it. This post will give you a flavour of the variety

The flag is where we live and the various walks we've been taking are shown as the spider's web of lines. The distances vary between 1.5 and 5.5 miles and are mostly on tracks and paths. Some we've done regularly but others have been new to us. I'll show a few photographs to give an idea of the wide variety of scenery we walk through. Not a duff walk amongst them.

Looking over the fields towards Stoke Climsland village, with the tower of the church clearly visible.

Chimney stack and engine house at the Winsor Mine. An extract from the official listing for this says: "The Winsor Lane rotative engine house at the Holmbush Mine survives very well, complete with its adjacent boiler house, loadings and platform. Its largely intact built structure, with little collapse and only minor modifications from unintensive 20th century reuse, owes much to it being one of very few 19th century engine houses to have retained a considerable part of its original roof structure into the 21st century".

Old miners' track down to Wheal Sheba in Sheba Woods, which are the property of the Duchy of Cornwall but with unfettered access to walkers and horse riders.

Looking down the incline at Kit Hill. Walking up this is a good test of fitness. How far can we get before having to take a rest? How many stops between the bottom and the top? The secret is to start off at a very steady, some would say 'slow', pace and not rush it.

An oasis of tranquility at the quarry on Kit Hill. Last worked in the early 1950s, after being in operation for a couple of centuries.

The view from Kit Hill looking west. Keen eyes will make out High Willhays and Yes Tor in the distance. Even keener eyes will spot the church on top of Brent Tor (dedicated to St Michael de Rupe, literally St Michael of the Rock).

On this side of Kit Hill there is an old adit, from which a stream, possibly the only stream on Kit Hill, emerges and forms this attractive pool. The mud around the edge of this bears the imprints of the deer that use this as a watering hole. Thinking about it, Kit Hill is quite a dry hill, which must have posed many logistical problems back in the days when most bits of machinery were driven by water power. These problems were solved by trapping rainwater and distributing it through a network of reservoirs and leats.

The industrial archaeology of Kit Hill covers millenia of activity, ending with the demise of the quarry in the 1950s. It is impossible to walk anywhere on the hill without coming across some remains. Here a sign warns, erroneously, of a shaft. In actual fact, to be pedantic, it refers to an adit.

The ruined stack at Wheal Tom Mine (copper, tin and tungsten), which is probably the least visited mine in these parts.

The information board at Wheal Tom is one of the best I've come across. Although the mine is in ruins (it was worked for just a few years around 1850 and never made a profit), there are enough remains to really use the board to make sense of the lay-out.

Happy days in the greenhouse' Lots of seedlings coming on very nicely - Cavolo Nero, Spinach, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Parsley, Dill, Turnip and Beetroot. Plus Tomatoes, Cucumbers, and Runner Beans out of shot.

It's called the Red Moon but it doesn't look that red to me. Pinkish Moon doesn't sound quite right.

The pond that fed the machinery and boiler house at the Winsor Mine. An isolated spot and, by all accounts, the place to go to see Grey Herons. Ooooh look, no Grey Herons.

A patch of Bluebells. Lots of them around but we haven't come across the swathes that produce an ocean of blue. For that we really need to be elsewhere than the Parish.

The engine house and stack at the Holmbush mine complex, that also included the Winsor workings. The main shaft for the mine was Hitchen's Shaft, dating from around 1850, although there has been mining around here since the 16th and 17th centuries. Copper, tin and arsenic were the main minerals sought and the mine ceased operations in the late 1800s when it became uneconomic.

I find the leaves of the Arum Lily (aka Lords and Ladies or Cuckoo Pint) very attractive. Here's a thing that not many people know: the pollen of this plant gives a faint glow at night, hence the folk names of Shiners and Fairy Lamps.

Male Speckled Wood on the track in Sheba Woods. These are quite flighty insects and seldom rest long enough for a reasonable photo.

Looking downstream at Broadgate, at an area 'flattened' by mediaeval tin streaming, which was followed in later centuries by the shaft-centred mines at Wheal Sheba, Wheal Martha, Wheal Tom and Excelsior. Every now and again, a dipper can be spotted here - but not today.

We came across this granite boundary stone in the north east area of Kit Hill. R and L? What do they stand for? A little investigation produces an answer. There are eight of these in total and they were set up in 1815 to delineate an area known as Robinsland. They are the result of a dispute between the Duchy of Cornwall and its own tenants over the right to take stone from the slopes of the hill. The name itself is of mediaeval origin and is derived from Rubandesland.

Local llama looking leisurely.

My first Peacock butterfly of the year.

Looking over Excelsior Woods towards Dartmoor, rather wistfully as we've no idea when we'll be walking there again.

Apple blossom in Helen Dunster's garden.

A stretch of the Tamar Trail path linking Broadgate and Luckett. To the left is an old leat that runs for a mile or so to feed the mine at Luckett.

Roots, just roots. We've walked this path many, many times and this is the first time I've noticed these. Just goes to show that there's always something new to see - if you keep your eyes open.

These are a few of my favourite things.