Beavers, burial mounds and bikes.

Work-wise I was back up Stoneycroft track last week to retrieve the bags of grass seed that the footpath team and volunteers did not need for their maintenance job up there.  Once again the ATV did a great job accessing the high fells with heavy loads.  Its other great advantage is the time it saves.  In one trip it can shift what could otherwise take a number of people days to do.

Force Crag mine across the valley in middle distance.

I’ve also spent a few days with Jan staying about 20 miles south of Oban on the coast.  We took the bikes and cycled around the area.  Whilst we were there, we took the opportunity to visit a Neolithic and Early Bronze Age site at Kilmartin.  We joined a guided walk and saw superb examples of both rock art and chamber cairns.  Kilmartin is surrounded by an astonishing number of prehistoric sites including burial cairns, rock carvings and standing stones.

We also have many archaeological sites in the Lakes including the rock art and burial mounds we have in Borrowdale and also Castlerigg Stone Circle.  Sometimes I include these in guided walks so it’s always useful for me to see how someone else does the kind of thing I do and watching our guides at work gave me some good ideas that I can use in future.

Unfortunately, one of our hopes didn’t quite work out.  There have been some planned releases of beavers back into some areas of Scotland so we went looking for them.  We found plenty of evidence of their presence but, sadly, didn’t actually see one.  We knew that we would have to be incredibly lucky to see them but there’s always a chance!

Evidence of beaver activity.

Of course, we also managed to enjoy some stunning views plus do some great cycling and walking.