For newcomers

At the bottom of each post there is the word "comments". If you click on it you will see comments made by followers, and if you follow the instructions you may also comment and I always welcome that. I have found many people overlook this part of the blog which is often more interesting than the original post!

My blog nick-name is SIR HUGH. I'm not from the aristocracy - my middle name is Hugh which relates to the list of 282 hills in Scotland compiled by Sir Hugh Munro in 1891. I climbed my last one (Sgurr Mor) on 28th June 2009

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Wednesday 7 August 2019

Trig Points OS Sheet 91

Wednesday 7th August 2019

Culgaith -                NY 601 301. 152m.
Low Abbey -           NY 652 275. 187m.
Broad Lea               NY 660 234 155m.
Fouson' Rigg           NY 651 189. 210m.
Town Head (near)   NY 606 220  17nm.

This campaign has been badly organised by me. It started in 2009 and carried over into 2010 and was then abandoned until its recommencement in recent months. The two earlier sessions were partly done on my own and partly during a caravan trip to Appleby with Pete. On that trip I didn't keep good records and it has taken me a lot of faffing and detective work but I am now confident I have visited all the trigs barring five still to do. Two of those are on the Army Warcop firing range which will need special attention, and the other three will be done in two visits. The total number is 49.

Today was a pleasant contrast from yesterday's deluge and all was well -  little excursions from the car,  easy parking, and  a grand tour of pretty red sandstone villages.  The remaining three (excluding Warcop) will be a bit more strenuous. I am pretty sure that all today's actual trig locations were on private land and I never saw anybody to ask permission.

Worth clicking first photo to view all as slideshow

Culgaith. Taken from the road. The trig is about thirty yards down the righthand hedge line,
see next photo

Culgaith

Low Abbey 1. Setting off from the road

Low Abbey 2. There was a welcome at the start of this huge wheat field

Low Abbey 3. What's that coming over the hill?

Low Abbey 4. And a cheerio at the end - what a view

Low Abbey 5. Mysterious metal bars attached to the trig. Could they have been used for lifting it - but why?

Low Abbey 6. The trig in context - the northern Pennines in background

Broad Lea. I had to walk a long way up the bridleway beyond the striking off point to find somewhere to climb a barbed wire fence. I found a corner with a helpful tree alongside. The map below shows my wanderings. No expensive gear was ripped and wire cutters were not used 

Broad Lea

Fouson's Rigg. Well camouflaged 

Town Head 1. Chapel Bridge over River Lyvennet on the way to the trig

Town Head. A pleasant walk to get there but disappointing views...

...which lead me to try a bit of experimenting

Culgaith - Through a gate and thirty yards from road

Low Abbey - wobbly blue line shows my route

Broad Lea. Note I walked beyond the fence line leading direct to the ttig so I could find an easier way over the barbed wire

Fouson's Rigg. Blue line shows my route

Town Head. Blue line route starts from road at righthand edge of map

All in general context - bottom left corner one was done yesterday. Ignore green and purple routes - they are just part of a jumble of marks and routes all over my Memory Map. The vertical blue line is the western limit of this OS sheet 91 that I am involved with



9 comments:

  1. Very interesting, Conrad, and a nice slideshow. How inventive of a farmer to disguise a trig point as a scarecrow! I had trouble spotting the one in the river - perhaps it has washed away into the North Sea? (Haha!)

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  2. Will Warcop be 'open' on August Bank Holiday weekend? Although the thought of the state of traffic would be offputting.

    My first thought on seeing the bars attached to the trig was to stop cattle using it as a scratching post - but, again, why?

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  3. Phreerunner - I met a pleasant couple on that bridge. He was surveying the river and its state of run-off - he was secretary of the Derwent Angling Association. I happened to mention my Welsh border walk and how pleasant and helpful the Welsh people had been. "You said the right thing there" he said as his wife smiled, "my wife comes from Caernarfon."

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    Gayle - I will investigate. When is August Bank Holiday? I will have to look it up. Your trig theory is ingenious. I may write to OS and ask them, but I may risk getting an odd-ball reputation with them following on from previous strange enquiries I have thrown at them.

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  4. Several years ago I came across a post on Walkhighlands arguing for the removal of trig points from Scottish summits since they were now redundant. Happily all those who commented disagreed. I think you had just started your campaign in 2009 when I discovered your blog Conrad. A happy discovery as it turned out.

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  5. afoot - there are many more things that need priority attention in this world than removing trig points whether related to our outdoor pursuits or whatever.

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  6. I’ve just discovered that the taller, cylindrical trig points found up here are called Vanessas, but you probably know that Conrad.

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  7. afoot - Ordnance Survey have a lot of stuff about the history of trigs but I can't find out for the reason behind the Vanessa name.

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  8. Hi Conrad - Apparently the name came about because of the mispronunciation of 'Vanesta', the company which produced the tubes which the concrete was poured into. Sometimes called 'Kelseys' after the person who commissioned the design of the pillars. (from trigpointing.uk). I can't vouch for the accuracy of this information of course.

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  9. ‘Venesta’. And here’s the link:

    http://trigpointing.uk/wiki/Pillar

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