thesweetcheat

Pristine snow in the northeast quadrant.

The northern barrow.

Looking east.

The southern barrow with the northern beyond. Looking towards Worcestershire Beacon and Great Malvern.

The southern barrow, looking south towards British Camp.

Rather moody skies over British Camp, from Pinnacle Hill.

Nearly 10 years since I last visited, good grief.

Garway Hill is a prominent skyline feature from St Weonards Tump a few miles to the east.

The crossroads south of St Weonard’s, where there was a standing stone until the 1990s (see folklore post). The Tump is in the trees on the right of shot, to the left of the church tower.

The centre of the mound has been hollowed out, creating an enclosed space inside the monument.

The mound is crowned with trees, mostly self-seeded presumably.

Early snowdrops on the side of the Tump gave an unexpected Spring feel to a January visit.

The Tump is massive for a round barrow, I’m unsure whether the later re-use as a motte involved increasing the size of the mound.

The Tump.

Winter wonderland Silbury from the knee-deep snow on Waden Hill.

Seen through Barrow Piece Plantation from the bridleway. The undergrowth in the wood has been cleared, a new fence put up and the gate locked.

Looking off the escarpment over the Vale of Severn. The outlying hills are Robinswood (far left), May Hill (centre) and Churchdown Hill (right). The Forest of Dean rises beyond.

The Neolithic long mound.

The steep side of the escarpment.

Looking towards the tip of the promontory.

Castle Ring from the Limestone Way above Youlgreave.

From the road.

Long shadows.

Robin Hood’s Stride and Nine Stones Close, winter afternoon.

In the absence of over half of the circle, I reckon the tree has become an intergral part of this site.

After visiting earlier, it struck me how similar the stone 2nd from left is to the Doll Tor standing stone, even down to the erosion rills.

Robin Hood’s Stride in low winter light.

My favourite angle, it looks like a giant frog getting ready to leap off into the undergrowth.

Grooves.

It’s chunkier than I was expecting.

Doll Tor stone. I like the patterns left by roots or creepers in the lichen.

The nearest the Peak District has to a recumbent stone circle.

With the adjacent cairn in the foreground.

One of my favourite stone circles of all.

The Face of Andle.

Winter Andle Stone.

The stone at the lower left may also have been part of the kerb. Looking north.

Little remains of the cairn itself, just three stones (and possibly a fourth) of the eastern arc of the kerb.

There are fine views eastwards.

Looking southeast. The kerb round the western side of the cairn is very well-defined.

Looking WSW towards the highest part of the moor. Four of the kerbstones can be seen in the foreground, in front of the central mound.

Approaching the circle.