Silverdale field trip rained off!

A quick write-up of the weekends field trip.
There were five of us at Gibralter Farm campsite, Paul,Mikki,another Paul, Tricia and me. Brilliant site overlooking the sea.
Set up camp,wandered around and went to the pub. The one north of Siverdale, not easy to find but worth looking for,good real ale and the locals for company, about half an hours walk, if you don't get lost as we did walking back.
During the night the skies opened, it poured down!
The grass turned into a skidpan and there was no way to keep the mud,(which was an attractive ochre) out of your tent, (esp. with a dog!)
The weather was still overcast in the morning and the road into Silverdale was flooded so the rest of the party lost faith, packed their gear and headed north to a stone circle which might be called 'Swindels stones'.
As they left the weather cleared up and the sun started started to dry things out. The forecast still wasn't good but I decided to stay another night.
Glad I did.
Sunday was a much better day and I found the wood at the bottom of the site,ace!
Its an ancient forest, never farmed as it is full of limestone outcrops, totally magic! It even had a cave which I will explore on my next visit.
What did I find?.....A stone circle, well I didn't find it, it wasn't lost, it was quite obvious, I nearly fell over it. Strangely I did fall over a few times this weekend, covered my favorite camping shirt in red wine, took ages to wash it out.
Trish said it looked like camouflage,can't imagine a pink background that this would work with though (Its an army shirt).
Anyway, the stone circle.
Probably a victorian folly methinks as I can't find any reference to it.
It is made up of ten stones with two more as an entrance and the largest one with a flat top in the centre. They are all less than three foot high and stand in a clearing surrounded by outcrops. Its a lovely setting not a hundred yards from a rocky inlet to the sea.
It is about eleven yards in diameter and the entrance stones are to the south approx.
If you're up that way its worth a visit just for the woods, I'll certainly be going again.
So that's the Silverdale weekend folks, you didn't miss a lot!
Rodaxe

It was a great camping session! Proper Yorkshire weather (in Cumbria).

I'm glad I went. The view from/at the campsite is stunning. I wanted to stay & see more - but unfortunately we had to leave early as the person driving wanted to break camp.

The wind howled and the rain fell,keeping some people awake (apparently there was also thunder), but I just curled up, went to sleep and woke up bright & bubbly having slept through it all.
Before we left to go home, Paul, Paul B, Tricia and myself went to look at a stone circle - which was awesome.

Anyway, I enjoyed it & look forward to doing it again.

What a shame the weather didn't want to play.

Saying that though, no slight on you two, if anyone had seen your "camp" on Gardoms edge, there could be no question of your durability to inclement weather, you're fucking nuts.

Silverdale camp was a brilliant idea and I enjoyed every raindrop that fell
The campsite is brilliant right next to the sea with stunning views between rain showers across the bay to the mountains beyond.
Silverdale is untouched by modern life and a throw back to the Victorian era virtually, and entering the local pub is like a visit to the League of Gentlemen where anything peculiar could happen and it wouldn't be out of place.
The beach has what looks like the remains of some fortification and there are woods all around that need at least a few days to explore.

Went to Swinside at last, this was my third attempt to get there this year, and the circle didn't disappoint. Magical scenery, beautiful views of sea beyond, and not a hint of motorway traffic or a Mac or KFC, but expect this to change once Cameron forces through new planning laws to help his friends jump in it all together...
Worrying that access is free only till 2019 and no news of what's happening after that....Monsanto could be waiting in the wings undoubtedly or could even now be reproducing GM circles for all we know..
We could have gone on to the Pepperpot stones at Millom but I declined and think I have seen that one once before some years back. Anyway the weather was improved by Saturday evening as we wended our way down from the circle so it seemed better to get home to dry out before the sunset too firmly on what was a wet camp but really memorable one.
Still thinking I might go back this week to get to see the circle Rod found, temps great for today and tomorrow and we could even sunbathe on the beach....if it wasn't stony and full of quicksand:-)

tricia wrote:...Silverdale is untouched by modern life and a throw back to the Victorian era virtually, and entering the local pub is like a visit to the League of Gentlemen where anything peculiar could happen and it wouldn't be out of place

A superb pub, where Hermann Munster looks like he's gonna creep out the door to greet y'! Lovely people int here and loovely landlord & landlady. One of the best pubs I've been to in a long time...

tricia wrote:.....if it wasn't stony and full of quicksand:-)

Quicksand!?? I missed that! Next time we go, show me where it is. I luv the stuff!