When the red, red robin comes bob, bob...

If this fat little robin had come much closer, I'd have been in danger of stepping on him. 

I suspect  he finds a ready supply of food from soft hearted climbers :)

Cratcliffe profile

Does anyone else see the face here?

Elliot's Unconquerable

This is Elliot's Unconquerable...

...except that Mark and Alex both conquered it quite comfortably!

(Cratcliffe Tor, Derbyshire. 'Hard Very Severe')

Aggregate

This bulk bag of 'Harvest Gold' was delivered just before 10am Monday.

It took a flatbed lorry with a crane to lift it onto my front. The driver operated the arm by remote control, like some enormous Meccano set. With the precision born from countless years of practice, he dropped it exactly where I wanted it; the closest possible point to its destination! Then, with a cheery wave, he was off, leaving me to complete the job using my own technology.

Not a remote control in sight.

Nineteen loads of this wibble-wobbled their way down the side of the house, through the back gate, across the corner of the lawn (avoiding the scratchy pyrocantha!), down the path, over the slab and swooosh.

A bit of attention from the garden rake, smoothing out random heaps, and...

Hey presto!

It's taken me two years to create this from the remnants of Mark's pond!

All I need now is a small table and a wooden bench with the correct number of slats!

Oh yes... and some sunshine (which currently appears to have disappeared again!).

Red sky

Red sky at night, shepherd's delight!

I took this on Saturday evening. In theory, that means that Sunday was dry and sunny.

Something went wrong! Sunday was foul! Wet, windy, cold...

It barely stopped raining all day.

I suppose the partially obscuring clouds should have been a clue!

Red sky at night, shepherd's delight as long as there aren't any dirty big obscuring clouds in the equation.

It doesn't quite scan.

Wonderful or weird?

From the top of the Robin Hood's Stride, it is possible to see this stone circle. There are around 20 such circles in Derbyshire and the Peak District and it is believed that they were built sometime during the early Bronze age, which would make them around 5,000 years old. 

This particular circle is the Nine Stones Close Circle.  As it's name suggests, it was once a ring of nine stones, forming a circle with a diameter of 45 feet. These are the tallest standing stones in Derbyshire; up to 2.2 metres high.

No one knows exactly why these circles were erected, but it's likely that they had some religious significance, probably connected with the cycle of the seasons and the relative positions of sun and moon at particular times of the year.

Of course, such places grow legends. This circle is also known as the Grey Ladies; the belief being that, at midnight, the stones turn into ladies and dance on the moor.

Another legend tells of a 19th century farm worker who was walking near the stones when he found a clay pipe. As soon as he lit it, his head was filled with the most beautiful aroma. He gradually became aware that the ground around the stones was transparent and he could see down to another world, filled with brightly clothed little people; possibly faeries.

Wonderful or weird? What do you think?

To see what other people have chosen for W, wander over to Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.

Mock Beggar's Hall

Mock Beggar's Hall is the local name for this gritstone outcrop on the edge of Harthill Moor near Winster in Derbyshire and it's easy to see why with the stones standing erect like the remains of a once grand building. Look on the map, however, and the name you will read is Robin Hood's Stride.

Legend has it that Robin Hood himself strode between the two rock towers. If he did, he must have had jolly long legs because the stones are 15 metres apart! A feat even for a legend like Robin!

It's a straightforward scramble up the side (or you can take the easy way on the path round the end), 

but the towers themselves present rather more of a challenge. 

I contented myself with the view from the ridge.

Following the path back down, I noticed this curious hollow in the side of the rock. It looks like it has been eroded by a whirlpool, but I imagine it must be the power of the wind. Odd that it should circle so often in this one spot.