We were all expecting a great inversion. God had turned the cooker on that causes the mist to boil up on the valley floor over Castleton. But he forgot to turn the gas down, once it was boiling and soon the mist just came up and up, over us and over the top of the hill. We were waiting for sunrise, for the sun to illuminate the top of the inversion but in the meantime I thought I would amuse myself with a shot of the other togs, which I always find more interesting than the view itself. Strange man, apparently.

PS THERE were many others dotted along the ridge. 0652 hrs on a Monday morning. I couldn't stay. some people have got jobs you know.

Tags:   photographers togs mam tor derbyshire peak district castleton sunrise dawn inversion fog mist landscape with real human in it blurry figures slapdash social distancing

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What would they tell us? I'm thinking of the men who built these barracks for the slate workers. I'm thinking of them when they had only part built the cottages up to this height..... the point to which they have now crumbled.

Perhaps they were working on a day like this 150 years ago, cloudy but with sun beginning to break through. And maybe for a moment one paused the back breaking work, and stood upright to straighten his back. They had found a nice piece of slate (actually there was no shortage) as a lintel for the doorway, built the roof ridge and had now created a small window that looked up the valley, across the lakes to the mountains and on to the pass of Llanberis. He stood there for a moment feeling the ache in his back subside, the beauty of the landscape soothing his body and mind. What a stunning place God created!!

And then a shout broke the relative calm of men placing stone upon stone in the background.

"Merfyn get back to work you lazy b-stard!!"


For more images of Dinorwic Slate Quarry see www.flickr.com/gp/pentlandpirate/3WU3JS

Tags:   the beauty of slate snowdonia north wales ruins derelict dinorwic dinorwig llanberis llyn peris barracks gwynedd slate quarry

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This mine is known for being both cursed and haunted, wrote
Virginia Lamkin on the Seeks Ghosts website

The Magpie mine is located in the Peak District of Derbyshire, just south of the village of Sheldon. It's shut down today, but many visitors come to see it at the weekends. And some at night.

It is a well-preserved example of the lead mining industry history in the district. The Magpie mine was mined for 300 years, but trouble came to the district in the 1820s and 30s when a dispute occurred over one vein of lead.

Miners from the nearby mines, Maypitt, and Red Soil would periodically break through on each other’s workings. When this happened, one side would light a fire underground to smoke the others out.

Tragically, in 1833, a fire lit by the Magpie miners caused three Red Soil miners to die. These Magpie miners were tried and then acquitted of the charge of murder because of “lack of intent” and “conflicting evidence.”

It is said the three widows of the Red Soil miners, bitter about this verdict, placed a curse on the Magpie mine. Many felt this curse took hold, for after the murder trial, floods and fire plagued the Magpie. In 1880, the Magpie Mining Company even changed its name in an attempt to rid the mine of this curse. However the name, Chaffinch Mine, never stuck.

The mine continued to be plagued by floods and people’s belief in the curse, and in 1835 it was closed down. However it reopened four years later and continued to produce lead until its final closing in 1954.

A side story to the curse is the fact that after the three Red Soil miners lost their lives the Magpie gained a reputation as being haunted—supposedly by these three unfortunate men.

One well-documented encounter with this activity occurred in 1946.

A survey team working in the Magpie spotted a man holding a candle further down the shaft. This figure vanished as they watched it.

But later, as the team emerged from the tunnel, late in the evening, under a starlit sky, one team member managed to get a photograph that shows a ghostly figure standing in a deep puddle of water with the Milky Way magically reflected in its surface. Whilst the mine's preservation society have pulled together much historical information and artefacts, unfortunately this photograph seems to have vanished.

Tags:   sunset sheldon derbyshire peak district Horse gin magpie lead mine

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I've been hearing voices recently. It's down to a new hearing aid I'm trying to get used to. Suddenly the world is a noisy place. And I'm not so sure I like it. I've been wearing it at work and now my wife wants me to wear it at home. She wants me to hear her. But all I want after a hard day at work is some peace and quiet. So tonight, as it was still a nice warm summer's evening I went to the fridge to get a couple of cold beers, removed the tops and went to join a friend already sat out on the patio in the garden. I put on a smile as I approached and put one of the bottles on the table in front of him, knowing he would never drink it, but I could politely take it off him in a while and not have to go back to the kitchen for another beer.

I slumped into a chair with a sigh. It was so peaceful out there, even though I could now hear things I haven't heard for ten years or more. But the sun's rays were warm on my face as I turned it upwards, the head of a tall sunflower being in just the right place to shade my eyes from the most intense light of the sun. And it was as I closed my eyes to soak up the pleasure, that he spoke to me for the first time in a while.

"Oh, for God's sake look who it is?"

I opened an eye and looked to my right. "Who?" I enquired.

"Peter. Always following me around. Can't get rid of him. Damned pest!"

I looked around, now with two eyes. Surprised. Not spotting anyone I said, "Where is he?"

"Up there, sat on that sunflower petal. Most annoying person I know!"

I had no idea how he knew this. They must have met before but I had never met Peter before and it seemed a little harsh to slag him off within earshot of him.

After all, I had only just sat down and was trying to relax before my friend spoke, but what he had just opened the conversation with had suddenly set me back. Curious, no, a bit anxious, that my after work relaxation might be about to be spoilt I squinted up into the sun to see if I could see the little irritant. Aaah there he was, about eight feet up, Looking down at me. Cheeky little face.

Well he really didn't look much bother to me. I was sure I would be able to take a deep breath, close my eyes and start my relaxation all over again.

But Bob continued, "He thinks he's a fish today!"

Oh no, I thought. He's not going to shut up. Can't he just realise I want some quiet after a hard day's work? A good friend would understand that surely, or at least engage in some enjoyable banter. But he just started it off with Peter.

"I'm not a fish!" said an indignant little voice from up on the sunflower. "I'm a whale!"

Oh dear. Whatever next? I thought it best to take a long hard swallow of Corona. And hoped that things subsided.

"You're just an idiot! The driving instructor must have thought you were mad when you told him that! You're just a fly!" retorted Peter rather aggressively I thought.

I looked at him next to me, sideways, not quite believing what I was hearing, and then up to Peter in his lofty perch.

His reply when it came was equally scathing. " You're just a know it all. Think you are something special. A well bred fly when really all you did was emerge out of shit: old shit. Go back where you came from!"

I looked from one to the other and thought I better call for peace in my garden. I thought I would set my stall out. "Now, now boys, play nicely or.........."

At that point my wife came out of the conservatory carrying a tray, teapot, cups and saucers and some cake and biscuits. Oh how delightfully English, I thought, as she placed the tray on the table, shooing a fly away from by my spare bottle of Corona. "Who were you talking to?" she asked conversationally.

I peered up to the petals on the big sunflower. But Peter had gone. And then I looked down to the waiting bottle of beer on the table where my friend had been sitting until a few seconds ago. But both flies had vanished.

I smiled sweetly at my wife and reached for a slice of cake. "Nobody Dear, you're hearing things. But you'll be pleased to know I have been too. Even you!"

Tags:   fly sunflower petal macro yellow blue insect story

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I believe the climbing fraternity call this Mistress Slab, because it is so smooth on the other side it is a slippery bitch to climb on top of. I think I've called it Behemoth before as from the end it looks like the sharp bows of a massive ship, just the bows poking up above the waves, like Titanic. Whatever it is, this picture is not about that, but about the solitary mountain ash that has found the perfect niche to grow out of. I'm quite sure it will flourish there and grow to become quite a special feature of Dinorwic quarry as man's industry returns to nature.

Tags:   rowan tree mountain ash dinorwic dinorwig snowdonia gwynedd slate quarry genus Sorbus

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