Grassfield Hill

Quite a contrast with the bright winter sunshine down in the valley.

Judging by the timber these two urinals will be plumbed in at some point - otherwise a pointless exercise. There are acres and acres of open countryside here in which men can relieve themselves, thereby dissipating the smell! I took the picture because it was such a strange site - Northern European pissoirs in the middle of nowhere. This area is just North of a large forest and, whilst the track serves as a through road to the handful of houses further North at Ruddenleys, at this point it is/was occasionally in use as some kind of outdoor activities centre. There were signs up and I forget the business name, but considering I was here on an unusually hot Sunday afternoon in July it is odd that there were no activities taking place. Maybe it has gone bust, or maybe the owners are enjoying a holiday somewhere even warmer...

This has to be one of the most precarious ruins I have ever come across. Thankfully it is nowhere near civilization; otherwise it would have been demolished, or fenced off awaiting a decision on demolition! Stones - if pushed - just fall off the walls, the far gable end is leaning at a worrying angle, and there is one squarish stone over the main arched doorway into the old house (which may or may not once have formed part of a lintel - the building is so far gone it is by no means certain that the arched-looking doorway always looked this way) which pretty much defines the word 'precarious'! The 1850s OS naming book (these were written up mainly to establish agreed-upon spellings for everything that got namechecked on the first OS maps of an area) for here describes Grassfield as a "one storey cottage with garden attached". This suggests, surprisingly, that this large building wasn't a proper farm, though the crumbling remains of a low wall in front of its entrance indicates that there must have once been animals around, belonging to other farms, or, more likely, a small number belonging to the occupants of this rather large 'cottage'. The grass field that must have once been a big garden is now a nettlefield. Long trousers are required to get this close if you are a normal person.

In ten years time most of the large field this hill is in will be a plantation - small saplings, now around a foot high, have been planted in rows in most of it, and a deer fence is in place to stop any potential nibbling. The young trees have been planted pretty much exactly two metres apart - meaning that a sapling, if not at the edge, has a two metre gap to a tree to the left and right, and to a tree in front and behind. This is surely startlingly unscientific and a cause for concern, considering the research that must be put into these things. Commercial forests are designed to maximise timber output in an area. Obviously the more trees you have per area the greater the yield. However, there is a trade-off. The closer the trees get (only applicable when really close, as is the case with commercial forestry) the less sunlight their lower branches receive. And therefore there are less leaves on the branches, meaning less energy can be made within them to be passed on to the trunk to make it grow taller. A couple of sources online mention this 2mx2m grid layout being the standard in UK forestry. Even in the highly unlikely event of the above trade-off calculation leading to a distancing of such a conveniently round number, this should surely be adjusted almost all of the time to take account of climate, soil type, hours of sunlight and the aspect of each plantation, and sometimes to small sections of trees within the same plantation. To apply the two metre rule across the board in all circumstances seems pretty lazy, not very business-like, and perhaps even stupid.

Recent clearance to the east

Revisited to celebrate Colin's 600th Marilyn (second round) "Hall of Mirrors" and Rick Salter's 700th Marilyn, with Colin Crawford, Bernie Hughes, Jenny Hatfield, Rick Salter and Alan Dawson from Newlands Church, via sub-Hump Drum Maw on an initially grey day, improving to good visibility and sunshine. A fine summit party was had due to goods found in Colin's rucksack. Then onto a sub Marilyn and a P30. Name: Wether Law Hill number: 1817 Height: 479m / 1572ft Area: 28A: Firth of Forth to the River Tweed Class: Ma Grid ref: NT 19467 48374 Summit feature: trig point Drop: 212m Col: 267m NT252549

A mobile catering outlet for the organic farm food.

On the A701 near West Linton. Farm shop, restaurant, gallery and walks.

Part of the Whitmuir Organic Place near West Linton, with farm shop, restaurant, gallery and walks.

Looking along the summit ridge.

Looking southeast over a field of winter cereal.

A view northwest from near the entrance to Halmyre House. The large plantation is Halmyre Wood.