Quote:
Originally Posted by Happyman  "It has to be a man made wall surely, but how did they build it over the edge of the cliff and down the face."
A quote from one of your posts a little while ago regarding a drystone wall on a cliff face .
The answer is " they didn't " 
When you get a cliff like that you start at the botton and build UP the clif !
By doing this you have a stable base to work ( the wall you are building) from and what you end up with is a vertical stack of stones against the cliff face .
If you get the chance to have a close look at one of these vertical walls you should be able to see exactly how it is done .
A wall on level ground has the major axis of the individual stones parallell to the base of the wall - as the base of the wall changes from level to vertical the orientation of the stones gradually changes from parallell to the base to right angles and when you get to the top it reverts back. This gives you a firm base to stand on when working and also makes the stack more stable. Every 10' or so there will be a notch cut into the cliff face and longer stones inserted and incorporated into the wall to "Key" it to the face.
Hardknott Pass Roman Fort
This is a good one to have a look at if you are interested in things Roman !
The foundations of the walls gates and buildings are all intact and give you a good idea of the layout of a typical fort and also makes you wonder about the work involved in building it. While you are there spare a thought for the poor buggers dragged from the sunny Med and stationed up there in mid winter !
At the time the fort was called MEDIOBOGDUM and guarded the supply road to and from the nearest port GLANNOVENTA (Mancaster/Ravenglass) on the Esk estuary and their main administration depot at GALAVA (Ambleside)
Wrynose Pass
Many years ago I took my kids ( 7 & 9 years old )and a couple of their friends ( and two dogs ) I must have been bloody mad ! - for a week in the lake district and we went up to Wrynose Pass. As we were going up the kids - and the dogs- were very quiet for a change .
Turned out they were watching for Rhinos !! 
Took a lot of explaining that one especially as I was home after a contract in Tanzania and they had seen all my Serenghetti photos !!!
Still not got my PC (all the above was from memory!) but when I get back on it and access to database I have a load more comments ( if you want them ! ) |
It makes perfect sense when it's pointed out. Thanks for that.
You have some great tales Happyman, obviously you have enjoyed a full and extremely interesting life to date. Thanks for sharing your valuable knowledge and some of your 'escapades' on here. It always makes for good reading.
Indeed the more you put on the better.
Once again thanks a lot for the input you give, it's appreciated and it's bloody good.
It's a brilliant feeling when you stand in places like this and really take in the surroundings.
Simply thinking about people treading these same lands over thousands of years, it's a nice sensation in a manner of speaking. People such as yourself who have obviously studied the 'messages' must be left with a really great sense of satisfaction.
You can look at a photograph such as the one above and almost imagine a small tribe of stone-age people walking through these lands. The water cascade would have been a great attraction to them I would imagine
Take a look at us now.
Portable caves and all the mod cons.