The Adventures of Cato, Tara and Jasmine

Oh my goodness.......sounds like the tummy problems and exhaustion that comes with being elite athletes.

Won't you be glad to go home! 

Please...can you explain the "monuments" you explored?

What a Gorgeous walk! Tara you are sooo brave to climb all those walls, Love those stone walls! Yes I'd love to know more about that monument too! What Fun you are having! Sure hope Cato feels better today! 

I will step in here, because I don't think Young Miss T is capable of talking any sense at all about Stoodley Pike.

You know the little brat bounced out of bed this morning DESPERATE to get out of the gate and do it all again.  Poor little love.  Instead, we tipped her in the car and dragged her back to flat, boring, stile-and-stonewall-less Lincolnshire.

Stoodley Pike is on a high point just above Hebden Bridge/Todmorden, with incredibly steep access from 3 sides giving absolutely stunning views.  We approached by the gentler (but still challenging) route that they brought the stone up by.  Although you only realise how massive it is, and how much stone was used when you see Dad (Mr C) standing beside it, don't you?  Talk about an astonishing feat - all that huge tonnage of stone brought up from the quarry.  By donkey or cart, presumably, because it was built 1815-16! 

We were incredibly lucky with the weather too.  bright sun.  Very little wind.  And it was STILL freezing and windy up there! lol. 

Anyway, here is the blurb:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoodley_Pike

The best bit is that when we booked our holiday cottage we had never heard of Stoodley Pike.  Yet we managed to find a place PERFECTLY situated for a nice walk, without any huge hills, with footpath and track access to one of the most stunning places in the area.

We are soooooooo lucky!  The cottage was great too.

Cato update:  After sleeping the sleep-of-the-dead-exhausted all afternoon and evening, with no wake up for widdles, I gently disturbed him at bedtime.  He woke up, yawned, stretched, popped outside for a tinkle, came back in and ate his supper, which had been put away till then, safe from Tara's depredations.  Then we all went to bed as normal.

This morning, he was as bright and bouncy as usual.

What a holiday........I too would be interested in the history of the monuments.......The area where you are walking is open to the public? The stone fence divides each property from the others that people own?  Boy Tara and Cato sure have got their walking in.......two tired pups!!!!  Thanks for sharing the pictures with us....I just love them. The overall view of picture #8 must have been breath taking..........it must feel like your on top of the world.  Sure have enjoyed your holiday Jo thanks for bring us along..............

The history of rural stone walls in some areas of the UK is truly sad.  I know the following happened in the lake district, parts of yorkshire and wales, but I can't say for certain that the walls in my pictures were built this way, although it is quite likely:

In the mad Victorian era of forced labour, convicts were often brought out to these remote places to do field stone clearing.  Bear in mind that these are high upland moors, only suitable for sheep farms.  So field stones were never a problem.  But the convicts were expected to pick the stones out of the moorland and build walls (what else do you do with irregular shaped stones in the middle of such uplands?).  The walls do serve a purpose, they divide the land and mark boundaries, but they never actually kept the sheep in - any self respecting sheep can scramble over these walls easily.

Also, remember that we were INCREDIBLY lucky with the weather.  Sun, warmth and no wind is rare up there.  So these poor convicts were out there in all weathers, building totally pointless lines of useless stone, in wind, rain, hail and maybe snow.  Probably soaked to the skin in their woolen prison uniforms.  I am guessing it was designed to work the men to death and reduce the prison populations!

Wow your history over there is fascinating, thanks soo much for sharing it Jo! I had no idea about how those gorgeous stone walls were built, or any idea about the history of that monument, wow That was interesting- thanks for putting the link out too!! And just cuz I have No idea about Anything over there (well really much of anyplace, I never cease to amaze my hubby with my lack of knowledge!) I had to follow the link for the Pennine Way too! I Really do feel like it I Was there!! Super vacation Jo, thanks sooo much!! 

The stone wall history is very interesting.......

As we travel from central California up to the central coast of Oregon on Hwy 5 every year...we pass a short stonewall that seems to go on forever.  I think (?) it is a boundary wall built by "slaves"  maybe California Indians , Chinese railroad workers or just "make work" for people working on a ranch.  It fascinates me cuz I have built a short stone wall boundary around our beach property in Oregon.  Brought all the rocks up from the beach and made a "fence" around our front yard.

Amazing how long those man-made stone boundaries stay in place. 

Actually, after writing about the convicts labouring to make all these walls, I thought I had better check the facts!  So I did a bit of rummaging through the Internet - and it turns out I was only partly right, and quite a lot wrong too!

apparently here in the Uk, in Yorkshire we have dry stone walls built by stone age, Viking, Roman and medieval inhabitants.  Some used slaves.  But most of the walls were built by Victorians - and by gangs of professional 'wallers', not by convicts - They were marking boundaries due to the Enclosure Acts.

sorry I told you wrong to start with!  I guess it is one of those urban myths repeated so often people believe it