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Tap o' Noth

Hillfort

Fieldnotes

12/02/2022 – I need the quiet places more with each passing year. Early starts or late to avoid folk. Everywhere seems so busy at the moment. Heading out round sunset has been a bit of a life saver over winter. We were thinking of heading more inland today but the wind wasn’t great so decided to go to Tap o’ Noth. Got there about 30 mins before sunset. Empty car park so we had the hill to ourselves. Starting our walk in lovely late sunshine, it’s less than an hour to the top. We looped round east on the way up instead of the normal climb from the west. The Sun had gone to bed by the time we reached the hillfort. Twilight, I love these next two hours. The wind was cold as we walked to the trigpoint and the top just beyond, a really good lump of vitrified wall. We ducked out of the wind and plonked ourselves down inside the fort to have our tea. The walls of the hillfort shut out all the lights from down below, leaving just us and the emerging stars as the sky started to darken. Just a few days to full moon so no need for headtorches. The fort was now gently lit by moonlight. I’ve been trying to remember better the names of constellations recently instead of pointing and saying to Mrs T, ‘What’s that one called again?’ all the time. I’m pretty hopeless at it. Why can’t they all be easy like Orion. I stood up after a bit as I had been sitting cross legged for a while, which is always comfy until it isn’t. Sticking my head up over the walls, the wind reminded me quickly why we were sitting where we were. It felt colder in the dark. I didn’t stand long on the walls and soon hurried back to the sanctuary inside the fort and another warm brew. Last time we were here in the dark, I didn’t have a great feeling but this evening the fort felt safe and from inside the walls, the sky looked a perfect planetarium. We stayed as long as we could but the cold was getting into my hands so it was time to go. The walk down was by moonlight and we only needed our torches when we reached the trees. Tap o’ Noth is a fantastic place and wonderful hillfort. Just a lovely trip there today, away from the busy world. thelonious Posted by thelonious
13th February 2022ce
Edited 6th June 2022ce

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