Out running in fields miles from anywhere I came across a tennis umpires chair tied in position overlooking the fields. It must have been 25 feet above the ground. Its original height extended by poles. An integral metal ladder allowed access. It felt distinctly unsafe sat up there swaying on such spindly legs, despite guy ropes securing it. Who put it there? And more to the point, why?
On another run, again in the middle of nowhere next to a small river at the edge of a field, I came across what appeared to be a huge carved stone bridge. Like something out of a Disney film. But there was no road to it! On closer inspection there was in fact no bridge. Only the massive carved stone buttress on each bank of the small river where the bridge had once spanned. Something else to ponder on the way home.
Have you seen anything odd that defies easy explanation while out and about?
Sounds like hunting, pretty common around here to see various stands. I saw lots of them in the woods in Belgium.
Lots of hunters here break hips falling out of various rickety stands.
My oddest was a massive sex toy just randomly on a trail.. thankfully the dog didn't pick it up. We also have a naked hiker locally, but he's friendly and goes at dusk. Wears a sunhat so a responsible guy.
> Only the massive carved stone buttress on each bank of the small river where the bridge had once spanned.
Remnant of a disused railway?
> My oddest was a massive sex toy just randomly on a trail.. thankfully the dog didn't pick it up.
> We also have a naked hiker locally, but he's friendly and goes at dusk.
Does he come at dawn?
The oddest thing wasn't on a run, but while on a walk, a car my Dad and his friend and I came across halfway down the Wrynose(sp) pass, a few of it's doors were open, and it was simply left there facing downhill, and diagonally across the road, it was as if the occupants had left in a hurry, and there was nobody to be seen.
> Have you seen anything odd that defies easy explanation while out and about?
A topless woman playing the saxophone.
> The oddest thing wasn't on a run, but while on a walk, a car my Dad and his friend and I came across halfway down the Wrynose(sp) pass, a few of it's doors were open, and it was simply left there facing downhill, and diagonally across the road, it was as if the occupants had left in a hurry, and there was nobody to be seen. It was more than ten years ago and I still occasionally wonder about why it was there.
Joyriders.
> > We also have a naked hiker locally, but he's friendly and goes at dusk.
> Does he come at dawn?
Not since the restraining order kicked in
The chair on stands is almost certainly a shooter's vantage point for killing deer.
(unless it was actually near a tennis court!)
Coming down Bareholme Moss, a minute after I'd seen my first ever merlin, a bright turquoise lizard crossed the path in front of me. I had to struggle with m y sac to get the camera out and then uncase it and by then it was gone in the heather. I don't know what the strange creature's life expectancy was with that little bird so close by.
The merlin is unlikely to bother the lizard, unlike, say, kestrels, it is a specialist bird hunter.
CB
On Eyam Moor a very large trout, prosume a very large bird had taken it from grindleford trout fisheries.
Such chairs aren’t uncommon in woods in Essex. As a kid I always assumed that landowners fitted them for children to climb...
I've discovered I'm not very fit?
Whilst it might be a deer stalkers chair, it would need to be a significant distance from a public right of way.
It is in fact right next to the public footpath. I have just talked to the farmer who confirms that a previous tenant had it erected to shoot duck.
As for the remains of the ornate bridge. After a bit of research it appears it originally led to an ancient manor house. Long since gone. A new bridge was built a few miles downstream and the stone from the old bridge was used by locals to build farms etc.
It just shows that most things have a straightforward explanation if you dig deep enough. Mind you the farmer I talked to had a dog with three legs. I didn't ask.
I've seen one before about 50m odd from the bridleway somewhere around SK245923, and another time also a short scaff tower (2.4m square, maybe 3m odd high) up the hill right next to Mortimer Road.
I'd guessed they were probably used as a platform to shoot something, but had (and have) no idea what.
Didn't know that, thanks.
Was once running through a fairly popular woodland trail not far from me and a guy was sat taking a dump whilst reading a magazine.
He really wasn't far from the main path and didn't look like like he had just been caught short either. It looked liked a planned event.... Very odd.
The high seats / stands tend to be for culling deer. Not so much as a hide, but to ensure the trajectory of the bullet is towards the ground. Saves having any missed shots carrying on until stopped by a jogger a mile or so away.
> (unless it was actually near a tennis court!)
In which case it's for hunting tennis players?
> Was once running through a fairly popular woodland trail not far from me and a guy was sat taking a dump whilst reading a magazine.
Trail Dumper Weekly?
> He really wasn't far from the main path and didn't look like like he had just been caught short either. It looked liked a planned event.... Very odd.
How DOES taking a dump look 'planned'?
Those structures are pretty common in France and as Iain said are used for hunting. Hunting seems an odd term for basically shooting a terrified animal that's been hounded out of the forest from a safe vantage point but that's another story.
As for being far from a public thoroughfare - there's at least a couple I can think of that are right next to the road (although technically facing away from it).
Not odd, but certainly surprising and quite moving - I was on a run near where I live in the Vercors, a place fiercely associated with the French resistance during WWII (it was pretty impenetrable back then and there was a strong presence of résistance fighters living in the mountains).
I passed this memorial made of bits of old crashed Lancaster. Part of a series of air drops of materiel from the allies, the plane came down during a winter snowstorm and the 7 airmen on board perished in the crash but the local resistance managed to stash their bodies in a cave until they could be buried in the local cemetery at the end of the war.
https://www.autrans-meaudre.fr/la-commune/en-bref/histoire-patrimoine/le-cr...
> Whilst it might be a deer stalkers chair, it would need to be a significant distance from a public right of way.
It should be a significant distance from any PRoW, but not all hunters are law-abiding...
> a guy was sat taking a dump whilst reading a magazine.
You sure he was taking a dump...? Was the magazine of the "gentleman's special interest" sort...?
That is quite moving.
Not a recent thing, and also not particularly strange, but I stumbled across one of the Peak District crash sites unexpectedly a while ago. The two Meteors that crashed in poor weather on Sliddens Moss in 1951. I was a bit lost and didn't see the bits of mangled aluminium and two little lolly-pop crosses with poppies on until I almost tripped over them. Poignant.
I can top topless. Lunchtime run from where I was working in Runcorn, top of Frogsmouth quarry (on topic!) full on naked photo shoot. To be fair she was wearing stockings and long boots. Couple of very seedy looking fat blokes with a collection of lens. Beautiful chemical works backdrop.
Nearly got hit by one coming out of a cludgie at a hut the back of Romsdal. Willow warbler went past one ear, merlin over my head.
> I can top topless. Lunchtime run from where I was working in Runcorn, top of Frogsmouth quarry (on topic!) full on naked photo shoot. To be fair she was wearing stockings and long boots. Couple of very seedy looking fat blokes with a collection of lens. Beautiful chemical works backdrop.
What instrument was she playing on?
What? A topless saxophonist?
Yes. Lisa turned out wild
Walking through the Lustleigh Cleve found a very lovely (I mean friendly) naked lady posing in the river. She and the photographer wished us good morning. She looked very cold bless her.
I spotted a Berghaus Dart 35 rucksack deep in a blackberry bush in Knole Park in the 90s when out on a run. No one was around, so I fished it out and had a look inside. A black and red lingerie basque and a single sock. I took it home, binned the clothes and kept the sack. Within a week I left it by mistake on a train up to London, karma for not handing it in to the authorities.
> Trail Dumper Weekly?
> How DOES taking a dump look 'planned'?
Happy and relaxed with a magazine, compared to squatting in a nervous and uncertain way?
I had a most unplanned dump, when I had to beg some toilet roll from the Norfolk Arms on Ringinglow and dig a hole in the woods up the road. During lockdown times, when their toilet wasn't available.
Aaah! Norfolk Arms! I dream of their ham hock. And a pint. One day.....
I shall avoid strolling in Lady Canning's Plantation though..
> I spotted a Berghaus Dart 35 rucksack deep in a blackberry bush in Knole Park in the 90s when out on a run. No one was around, so I fished it out and had a look inside. A black and red lingerie basque and a single sock. I took it home, binned the clothes and kept the sack. Within a week I left it by mistake on a train up to London, karma for not handing it in to the authorities.
I assume that you threw the undies away when you found they didn't fit...?
Badly injured wood pigeon fluttering in a small low bush two feet away.
I stopped running.
The wings fell at my feet, and a large brown bird of prey rose in my face, carrying the rest of the body.
Not so much a run as having to stop running during a walk.
Useful things I've found:
Police Federation pen on the slopes S of Askham Fell, used it for some years.
Silicon NPN medium power transistor beig part of a weather balloon found high on the steep slopes across the bay from Applecross, was need to fix a TV I'd diagnosed as needing such a device the day before (was living in the Estate office house on the shore at the time, late spring 1984, with no hope of getting out of Applecross to get any parts - "Legs" was rumoured to have some valves in his garage but they were not what I needed so I was amazed when I ran down the hill straight to the balloon transmitter half hidden in the heather.
Back in the 90s a fiver hiding below a rock away from the path L (looking out) of the steep rocky section of the Swirls descent which I'd lost the week before near the same spot. A waterproof 1:25000 OS map found in the same area in the early 2000s. Carnivorous plants in the same area
More recently, an assorted collection of nylon rucsac covers found over the years in various high and inaccessible places, sometimes frozen in place
Larkspur A41 (pre clansman) military radio battery remains on the ridge topping Sron na Ciche, with some U2 (D) battery cells still cased in cardboard (how long ago is that) and some very early ringpull cans (the ones that actually pull off leaving a proper hole) - What was going on there? (A rebro site during a military rescue?)
Once narrowly missed by a squirrel... dropped by a buzzard
Perhaps why there are so many buzzards here. I'm surprised they can catch them.
I put my coffee grounds into a box in the greenhouse to dry for fuel or compost. A squirrel has got through the cable duct to bury an acorn in the box.
Well I've learned something there, thanks. There are loads of them near me. I always knew they were for shooting deer, but I didn't know why they were high up.
When I was out running over Christmas, I saw a couple of girls running, one of them in tights, crop top and rucksack, her friend in trackie bottoms and the most enormous puffer jacket.
When I passed them a bit later on another lap, she had got hot and tied it round her waist!
I've seen them a couple of times since when I do that route - one always in leggings and crop top, then other always overdressed with a top of some sort tied round her waist!
It's because we're namby pambys in this country.
In more wugged places like the USA and France, real men are happy to use their fellow hunters / members of the public as back stops. I think the average in France is 20 dead each year and 300 injured. Some people killed have been in their gardens sitting out in the Autumn sunshine on their patios.
In the hunting season, when you're cycling along country roads in France that pass deep through the forests, it's sobering to think how much high velocity lead is flying about. I wear a high viz vest when cycling on traffic free routes through the woods rather than on busy city streets!
Found an early backpacking trip in the Swiss Alps in October to be a rather hair raising occupation. Guns everywhere. Just hoped that there was some protection from sticking to recognised routes.
I don't know if this link will work without being a member (no pun intended) of the group. Worth a try though as it is very funny!
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4230279056986651&id=1000001379422...
> Once narrowly missed by a squirrel... dropped by a buzzard
I had something similar. Not sure what it dropped but startled a buzzard and whilst it tried taking off with lunch it gave up and dropped it.
Who knows ? It was big, very dark brown, and filled my unfocussed world for an instant.
Today's run was less eventful. Only the strange disappearance of the new footpath sign across the farm.
That was me. The magazine was one of those glossy ones and no good for wiping. The rest of the walk was uncomfortable and itchy.
> > We also have a naked hiker locally, but he's friendly and goes at dusk.
> Does he come at dawn?
Or is his timing faultless and he comes at the crack of dawn? 🤔
I met the (in)famous naked rambler at Malham Cove. I was with a gang of 3rd year undergrads, who were very respectful, but very chatty and questioning. I left them to it, I don't think he was expecting the Spanish Inquisition, but then nobody does
Yesterday whilst walking on the Isle of Oxney I noticed little pebbles with painted faces etc left in the corners or on posts in kissing gates
> Yesterday whilst walking on the Isle of Oxney I noticed little pebbles with painted faces etc left in the corners or on posts in kissing gates
Last summer saw a spate of these stones with painted faces along one of our local riverside walks. They were a delightful sight.
Some time ago: 2 sizeable (3 feet) cod in the entrance to a pub car park miles from the sea. Several people were examining them, and one of these people was pointing to the sky. Odd.
> Some time ago: 2 sizeable (3 feet) cod in the entrance to a pub car park miles from the sea. Several people were examining them, and one of these people was pointing to the sky. Odd.
Touched by the Hand of Cod?
The Piece of Cod that Passeth All Understanding?
> I shall avoid strolling in Lady Canning's Plantation though..
I made a hole with a metal bicycle tyre lever to be considerate/ecologically minded, and buried the toilet roll. I think best practice is to either burn conventional toilet roll, or use a kind which degrades more readily when in the outdoors, though
Disappointing but sadly neither strange nor surprising - what I discovered as I wheezed my way across the top of Agden Rocher yesterday was that patches of the Bradfield and Broomhead moors were on fire.
https://markavery.info/2020/12/08/rspb-press-release-moorland-burning-is-ma...
Season's started in the Lammermuirs too. Noticed they were using leaf blowers to get the fires going. Also found an antique "No access to mountain bikes sign". Should have gone a long time ago and as it was on an important paved road pass it should never have gone up in the first place.
Even more of an anachronism as all but one of the six other cyclists I saw yesterday were on gravel bikes.
Reviving this thread before it goes into the archive...
There's an unremarkable looking little stone barn with a relatively new tin roof just below the approach path to Agden Rocher, or perhaps right on the approach if you're toiling up the hill on foot from Low Bradfield.
I stuck my head around the doorway and had a look inside for the first time recently, and was not expecting to see the impressively ancient cruck beams holding up that modern tin roof.
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1286629
According to Wikipedia, the barn was used for "educational purposes" in 1980. Does anyone know anything more about this? Was it linked in some way to the now derelict and fire-damaged outdoor pursuits centre across the other side of the valley on Windy Bank?
I've been back since to get some photos:
That's a great find!
So the structure is basically a listed building hidden inside a modern shell.
I wonder how many more things like this are hidden out there.
> So the structure is basically a listed building hidden inside a modern shell.
I think it's just under a modern roof, but I did wonder if the wooden beams might also pre-date the stone walls. I've no idea really. It isn't hard to believe that the walls go back to the late 17th century but it's also quite easy to imagine the beams might be even older.
The listing describes it as having a stone slate roof, and some of the stone slates are still stacked up inside. There's a photo there of the outside of the building with its tin roof dated 2000, so presumably the roof was replaced some time between '85 and 2000 as a cost-effective way to protect the wooden structure. (If it had started to collapse, god knows how much renovating the original stone roof would have cost.)
There are some remains of a demolished smaller building next to it, a cottage maybe. There are old OS maps online that show that building. eg: (lets see if this link works..) https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17&lat=53.43476&lon=-1.60211&...
The map I've tried to link to there also shows Rocher End and Rocher Head farms intact at the beginning of the 20th century. The entire farm at Rocher End has been demolished some time since (most of the stone still seems to be there, under the moss and the brambles and the gateposts are still standing). The barn at Rocher Head is still used, but the house is a roofless ruin.
I read somewhere that the farmer was moved out of Rocher End relatively recently (1950s?) to protect the water quality in Agden Reservoir. (Anything that ended up in Sick Brook would go straight into the reservoir.) Maybe the same thing happened at Rocher Head.
The map shows the lane from Brown House that doglegs along the brook and across the bridge to Rocher End farm that's a public footpath now, but it doesn't show a little spur that comes off about half way along the stretch along the brook and crosses the remains of an old ford. Presumably that originally carried on up the hill the other side to where the curious 'S' bend in the lane past Bowsen abruptly stops.