Walkie Talkies

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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 11:11 am

Mick Harper wrote:But doesn't that mean that, say, sheep would need to drink their own milk? Technically interesting. Some kind of tube possibly.


After months of secret development work at t'mill, (TME Mega-Industry Laboratories Ltd) in a secret Wiltshire location (just off the A4 between Overton Hill and Alton Priors), The Ovis Aries Perpetual Lactation Machine is soon to be released to an eager and unsuspecting world. Due to be marketed by the Acme Corporation (subject to negotiations with Wile E. Coyote).

Patent pending, © copyright 2017, M. Harper.
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 12:14 pm

Here's a pic of ma wee cousin MacBoreades. Some say it looks like he's about to launch into a solo rendition of The Gay Gordons.

Image

Either that, or he's propping up a signpost on the Drove Road to Kinloch Hourn. Ever-ready to audition for Strictly Come Droving, or to show off a few more "Pictish brochs" on the way.

Our route description is in the opposite direction to that which the drovers took with their cattle. Cross the bridge at Kinloch Hourn, go through the grounds of Kinloch Hourn House, passing on its right into the woods behind the house, and climb steeply up a path to a pass at about 270m. 400 metres beyond the pass fork left down to the Allt a’ Choire Reidh, which is crossed near Lochan Torr a’ Choit. From this lochan keep northwest along the path which climbs a little for 1km and then descends into Gleann Dubh Lochain. Crossing the river here can be difficult after heavy rain. Continue northwest up the Allt an Tomain Odhair, fording the Allt a' Choire Odhair and onwards to the Bealach Aoidhdailean. Descend north-northwest on the northeast side of the Allt Ghleann Aoidhdailean, which has also to be forded, to reach a track at the head of Gleann Beag after crossing a final ford. Go down the glen by this track past Balvraid and the well-preserved remains of Pictish brochs to reach the road beside the Sound of Sleat, 1.5km south of Glenelg.


http://www.heritagepaths.co.uk/pathdetails.php?path=79

No, I don't know why they are going in the opposite direction.
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 12:52 pm

Mind The Gap

Breaking News from National Trails (they're fixing the broken gaps, gates and styles)

It may seem boring news to hear that the new British Standard for Gaps, Gates and Stiles has been recently published but it will have a real impact on how you experience the countryside. This is particularly true for those of us with stiff joints, pushchairs, wheelchairs, horses and dogs that struggle over stiles! You can now hope to come across fewer awkward latches, tight kissing gates and clumsy stiles…and especially so on The Ridgeway.


We may still experience the stiff joints, clumsy stiles and awkward latches, especially after visiting so many of the pubs they insist we visit. I may yet get in trouble with M'Lady Boreades by asking where I can experience the tight kissing.
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 8:14 pm

Megalithic walkers might like to know you can now post a review of Avebury (and associated places) on Trip Advisor.

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractio ... gland.html

Please do not complain about the condition of the stones at Avebury. Whichever firm made them appears to have gone bust some time ago, and the warranty has expired.
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby hvered » 11:17 am

A Scottish farmer interviewed on Britain At Low Tide (Sunday, 8 p.m. Channel 4) said long-distance drovers travelling 'hundreds of miles' would only cover about ten miles a day, otherwise the cattle would lose weight by the time they got to markets south of the Firth of Forth (where the programme was taking place).

The pattern ties in with the distribution of hillforts, or hospitality industry we might say, which as TME points out are typically 10-12 miles apart. The interviewee was talking about drovers a couple of centuries rather than a couple of millennia ago but the system appears to have worked well over time, leastways as he commented there were 'no roads in Scotland' before the late eighteenth/ early nineteenth century. It may seem an unlikely source as Britain At Low Tide is about intertidal archaeology but the series, presented by palaeobiologist Tori Herridge, is much superior to the usual fare from the Neil Oliver and Alice Roberts stable though I don't know if she or they know it.
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 12:01 am

The Daily Mail has discovered The Ridgeway.

Britain at its best: Chalk up a walk along the ancient Ridgeway track, which takes in the mysterious Uffington White Horse, Iron Age hill-forts and Bronze Age burial mounds. Kate Eshelby embarked on an ancient walk between Wiltshire and Buckinghamshire known as The Ridgeway

In breathless tones it proceeds.

Six meditative days, beginning at Avebury and finishing near Aylesbury, lie ahead. And there’s a sense of history hanging in the air.

I was up there yesterday; what was hanging in the air was the smell wafting from our local muck spreader. But Kate Eshelby may well be on the Upper Class part of the Ridgeway, further east.

My favourite section is the first half, which mainly traverses Wiltshire, crossing wild landscapes, entering villages and stopping at lovely panoramic lookouts across the Chilterns. The freedom of the old way is intoxicating, an enjoyment shared by fellow hikers, into whom you cannot help bumping. Shortly before Wayland’s Smithy, a Neolithic long barrow near the Wiltshire village of Bishopstone, I pass two women with cow horns poking out of their rucksacks.

Oh God, not them again? I met them too, while they were divining for Crop Circles. But I kept my mouth shut this time. M'Lady has forbidden me from telling travellers that we know people who make crop circles for a living.

We start talking and I discover their love of wild camping in Britain’s primeval places. ‘Our ancient sites aren’t often worked on or brought alive,’ one of them says, referring to how special The Ridgeway feels. ‘These spots are on dragon lines [also known as ley lines] and are healing and energising,’ says the other.

You shouldn't encourage them, love, that wild camping is trespass. Git orf moi laaaand. But Healing Crystals are available from the shop in Avebury.

One tip. While passing the village of Bishopstone, be sure to stop for a meal at the quirky Royal Oak pub. Or grab a homemade brownie from the Flying Pig, a van on the verge of the route next to the pub’s organic Eastbrook farm.

That I do agree with.

Ref:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/esca ... track.html
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 11:09 pm

Just a short stone's throw further east is Dragon Hill. I've been reminded of it by a re-run of Kate Bush and Donald Sutherland "Cloudbusting" on Dragon Hill (next to Liddington)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pllRW9wETzw

Here at Chateau Boreades construction work of the five-star guest annex has been seriously delayed by the persistent precipitation. I might, therefore, have been annoyed to see anyone encouraging more rain. But as Kate Bush's song is such a classic, pleasure outweighed the pain. It did, however, remind me of "A Book of Dreams" - by Peter Reich - the book that inspired Kate Bush's song.

This famous book, the inspiration behind Kate Bush's 1985 hit song 'Cloudbusting', is the extraordinary account of life as friend, confidant and child of the brilliant but persecuted Austrian psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. Peter, his son, shared with his father the revolutionary concept of a world where dream and reality are virtually indistinguishable, and the sense of mission which set him and his followers apart from the rest of the human race. Here, Peter Reich writes vividly and movingly of the mysterious experiences he shared with his father: of flying saucers; the 'cloudbuster' rain-makers and the FDA narks; and of the final tragic realization of his father's death, which woke him up to the necessity of living out his life in an alien world. Already regarded as a modern classic, A Book of Dreams is not only a beautifully written narrative of a remarkable friendship and collaboration, but a loving son's heartfelt tribute to a loving father.


Dragon Hill (where dream and reality are virtually indistinguishable) was an inspired choice of venue for such a video.

All we need now is someone to invent a "Rainbusting" device.
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 11:12 pm

hvered wrote:It may seem an unlikely source as Britain At Low Tide is about intertidal archaeology but the series, presented by palaeobiologist Tori Herridge, is much superior to the usual fare from the Neil Oliver and Alice Roberts stable though I don't know if she or they know it.


I concur.
Now available on Channel4 view on demand.
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/britain-at-low-tide
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Boreades » 8:12 pm

King Alfred's on his bike.

King Alfred's Way: a new 220-mile cycle route around the ancient county of Wessex has been created, which bike chiefs hope will "quench" the public's thirst for adventure. Named King Alfred’s Way, the off-road route has taken charity Cycling UK three years to create and takes riders through 10,000 years of history. The loop of gravel tracks and off-road trails cuts through the heart of Hampshire, as well as neighbouring Wiltshire, Surrey and Berkshire countryside. The route connects four of England’s National Trails: North Downs Way, South Downs Way, Ridgeway and Thames Path.

https://www.cyclinguk.org/king-alfreds-way
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Re: Walkie Talkies

Postby Mick Harper » 1:04 pm

I wish you'd keep it buttoned. Hatty's just gone off to cycle it despite being required back in the office to complete the proofing of our new book showing that a) King Arthur never actually existed and b) Walter Raleigh didn't invent the bicycle. She's doing it for charity on a penny-farthing wearing a stove-pipe hat so I suppose we mustn't complain too much. Give her a push if you see her. Into a ditch would be my preference.
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