Currents and art along the River Wye

  Ross-on-Wye -Monday 3rd March

The Wye, Ross-on- Wye - looking downstream towards castle near bridge.

From May Hill, we continued along the A40 to Ross-on-Wye. Again, the winter’s floods had receded in the valley. Even so, we found the Wye running a very strong current, comparable to how the Severn had been on its flood tide earlier in the day. Sensibly, most of the town was built on a hill. During our short walk along the river and walk back up the hill into town, we admired the three metalwork sculptures inspired by the river: mallards, swans and leaping salmon. After browsing the bookshop, we had coffee in a café. During the late afternoon, we headed into Gloucester city centre and got to the Cathedral, lit by the low setting sun. We then walked round the redeveloped docks and found a Pizza Express for our evening meal. 

Looking towards the town

Currents

Mallards - Walenty Pytel

Swans - Walenty Pytel

Leaping Salmon - Walenty Pytel  and juxtapositions of fishes

Chepstow before our journey home on Tuesday afternoon (4th March)

May Hill after the Bore - Monday 3rd March

The Severn from May Hill

Having made our early start, we packed in quite a bit more after the bore on Monday – a mix of sun and showers, making for dynamic skies, changing light. From Minsterworth, we headed west to May Hill (296m), with its distinctive clump of trees on the top, visible from miles around. I’d been here ten years ago with OUGS and knew it offered one of the best views there is over the Severn estuary – the S’bend with the Arlingham loop, the Cotswold escarpment on the diffuse horizon to the SE. On the west side, the Forest of Dean, into Herefordshire. Subtle colours in the foreground foliage. Hints near the top of the ramparts of the Iron Age hill fort.

Birch trees on May Hill

The trees at the top - visible from miles around

Among the trees at the top of the May Hill - marker commemorates Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee, 1887. There was something surreal  about it in this weather and this setting.

Mistletoe on the trees on the eastern side of May Hill

May Hill is formed of older rock than those around Gloucester and the lower Severn: the base of the hills is formed of Lower Devonian siltstone and sandstone. Above that are Silurian rocks which get progressively older going up the hill, with mudstones / siltstones / sandstones in the Llandovery Formation (428 – 444Ma) at the top. Gloucester is built on the Lias formation (Jurassic 172Ma – 200Ma), Much of the Severn west of Gloucester flows over the Mercia Mudstone Group (Triassic, 200Ma – 251Ma).

See BGS Geology of Britain online

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/discoveringGeology/geologyOfBritain/viewer.html

Zooming in on the Severn

Notes from the 2004 WOUGS trip

Around Sandhurst, Gloucestershire - Sunday 2nd March 2014

View over the floodplain from Sandhurst Hill

Sandhurst Hill and the River Severn above Gloucester

After our leisurely full English cooked breakfast at Brawn Farm on Sunday morning, we did a short circular walk up Sandhurst Hill, down through the woods on the NW side to the River Severn, then back via Rodway Lane. Began by following the muddy track near Brawn Farm  up the west side of the hill along a bridleway to the trig point at the top.  It was cloudy but we could see May Hill across the Severn plain. The River Severn skirted Sandhurst Hill to the west and northwest; the Cotswold escarpment to and its outliers to the east. Glimpses through the trees of Haw Bridge northwards up the Severn. Though the winter flooding had receded during the second half of February, there was still a large area of the far side of valley to the NW of Sandhurst underwater. 

 In the mud on Sandhurst Hill

As we walked up the hill, I contemplated all the flood-mud action my wellies have seen, nearly every weekend since I'd bought them in mid-January. The worst of the mud was as we came down through the wood on the western slope of the hill. It was very slippery here, too. A tricky bit where we had to clamber over a high fence beset with mud all round. In comparison, the path along the river wasn’t too bad, though the water level in the Severn was still high. The ground around the trees closest to the river was still submerged. In the overcast weather, an eerie scene of trees in the water and their reflections.  The strandline of debris on the far side of the field showed how high the water had been during the floods, reaching on the foot of the slope of the hill. I suspected we were now seeing a tidal effect, too. Sally at the B&B said there is one. The normal tidal limit and of the Severn is just south of here at Maisemore Weir (SO 817216). However, high spring tides, such as the one this morning, can overtop it, sending the tide upriver towards Tewkesbury, albeit without the bore wave preceding it. When we first got to the riverbank, the water was surprisingly still. Given that the river was still high, I expected a definite current here, just as there’d been at Upton yesterday. All the water movement was from the light wind. Then, very very subtly at first, there was movement downstream. We must have been at the turn of the tide. We noticed, too, a wet line at the bases of some of the tree trunks where the water had been, widening from about 9” to 12” as the current gathered.

 Signs of spring amid the remaining mud and flood on / around Sandhurst Hill

The bore timetable on the severnbore.co.uk website said 09:16 for the arrival of the bore at Maisemore weir, highwater about an hour later, presumably.  http://www.thesevernbore.co.uk/timetable/4579755614

Along the Severn below Sandhurst Hill as the high spring tide turned

We left the river about a mile down from the woods, turning left into Rodway Lane. Across the river here was Asleworth Quay and the church with spire. A line of white sandbags on the bank. Saw later in the day that the EA had a flood warning out for this area (and Minsterworth) because of the high tides at the beginning of this month. Today, they said Gloucester gauge reached 3.89m at high water Sunday morning, compared to 4.05m and 4.04m during the high spring tides / tidal surges on 3^rd January and 1^st February respectively.

Severn Mud Pie, anyone?

Nature in Art

With rain forecast for Sunday afternoon - which came in a bit late - we headed over to this plethora of wildlife art housed in Wallsworth Hall two miles north of Gloucester on the A38. Downstairs were two galleries of paintings and sculpture in their permanent collection. In room 1 the work was generally looser and more abstract, such as the mixed media scene in a forest painted by Jill Confavreux in 1994. I liked the tissue paper wheel of fish near the door for the intricacy and precision achieved here with what are very delicate materials. Spokes of the wheel formed of string. An semi-abstract oil painting of  butterflies, ceramics charger bowls suggestive of fish ponds and looking through trees. On the far wall a set of four large acrylic / gouache paintings depicting a woodland scene during each of the four seasons.

Room 2 housed the more representational, figurative work, including a painting of an elephant by David Shepherd, one of Britain’s most famous wildlife painters. The room was dominated by an impressive plaster sculpture of a Siberian tiger by Rembrandt Bugatti, overlooked by a rook on the mantelpiece. The Wildlife Photographer of the Year show in the rooms upstairs was on loan from the Natural History Museum. It was engaging because of the sheer quality and impact of the work among the prize winners and runners up from over 40,000 entries internationally.  There were different categories, such as urban wildlife, creative, under 18.  The notes with the pictures were useful as they explained how the photographer went about obtaining his shot and his motivation. In every case, they’d really worked at getting their photograph and planned carefully. We got round the sculpture garden just before rain set in for the afternoon. Prominent here were the golden eagle near the centre and the hind fin of a whale at the far end. There was a menagerie of birds, insects and a tortoise made from welded metal, recycled horse shoes, garden tools, bicycle bits and car parts. In the studio next to the garden, they have an artist in residence. Karen Coulson was there when we visited, working in coloured pencil. The 2014 programme, available on the NIA website, also includes, painters, printmakers and drawing. In the gallery next to the studio  the Wallsworth Art Group. The centre also runs a varied programme of art and photography courses, again available on their website. Tea in the café overlooking the sculpture garden.

Nature in Art is open 10:00am – 5:00pm Tuesday to Sunday and on Bank Holidays. If you are in the Gloucestershire area, I’d highly recommend a visit.

Nature in Art website

http://www.nature-in-art.org.uk/index.html

Upton-on-Severn After the Floods - Saturday 1st March

Flood defences - Upton-on-Severn

We arrived in Upton around midday after our journey from Hampshire. A bright day, with cumulus clouds building during the afternoon, making for striking skyscapes over the Cotswold Hills. While my Munros Man went to the map shop,  I introduced my wellies to Severn, and the mud it had left behind along its banks after the winter flooding. 

We made this trip after what had been the wettest winter in England and Wales since records began in 1766: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2014/early-winter-stats  - my entries in Water and Art during winter 2013 / 2014 about the flooding closer to home go to show this. For much of the time since Christmas, there had been flood warnings from the Environment Agency all along the English stretches of the Severn between Shropshire and Gloucester, along with severe flood warnings throughout the estuary amid the high spring tides and storms at the beginning of January and early February. Just upriver in Worcester in mid-February, the Severn topped its July 2007 high, reaching 5.67m (18ft 7") at Barbourne during the early hours of 13th February. Thankfully the flood defences held here, but the main road bridge in the city centre was closed for about a week, as debris brought down the river with the flood accumulated behind it. There were knock-on road closures and considerable disruption to traffic. 

BBC News - 9th February 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-26107609

Worcester News - In Deep Trouble - 10th February http://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/local/10998463.In_deep_trouble/?ref=rss

BBC News - 13th February - River Severn at Record Level

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-26167360

Flood defences, Upton-on-Severn

The Severn floods every winter (and sometimes summer). I saw this for myself at Bewdley in late December 1994 (before flood defences were built here) and Worcester in February 2004. Usually it all lasts about a fortnight, as rain falling on the Welsh Hills takes several days to flow downriver to the Worcester area, then a few more days for river levels to fall afterwards. What was unusual this time was how long it went on, simply because of all the rain. The jetstream got stuck again, this time in a pattern which brought a succession of storms and rain-bearing weather fronts across central and southern England for about two months. The water didn't have a chance to drop. It's only been during the second half of February that the weather has calmed down and the rain eased off. We wondered, then, what we'd find this weekend. 

During the past fortnight, water levels have fallen considerably, along the Severn and elsewhere, though we found the river here still running high and ominous looking with a strong current. Near the bridge, things still looked a bit messy. Reddish mud coated the  paths all along the river, with woody debris and strandlines where the water had been. A tatty Union Jack was draped forlornly over one of the benches nearer the river, with water still overflowing into pool on the side of it facing the bridge.  As well then, that the flood defences under construction when we stopped here in early January 2012, had now been completed. There was a new flood wall alongside the pubs etc near the bridge, along with the a sturdy wide green floodgate just along the lane to the east. The field at the end of the lane was passable in my wellies and there was no standing water here now, just muddy. After everything I'd heard in the news about the floods, the tranquility of shadows and reflections of the trees somehow seemed all the more pleasing. I admired the view from the field with the two church towers, the Malverns behind before heading back along the river and up the M5 to spend the rest of the afternoon with family.

Youtube - Midlands Storm Chasers - Severn floods Bridgnorth, Ironbridge, Bewdley, Stourport, Friday 31st January
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OF47p-92AE

Gloucestershire and Around - Severn Bore Revisited - March 2014

The next series of entries are all about the trip we made to Gloucestershire at the beginning of March 2014. Based near Gloucester, we made two trips to see the Severn Bore, in daylight, at Minsterworth, along with walks on Sandhurst Hill, May Hill and also revisited the Wye.

The Severn Bore, Minsterworth - Monday 3rd March

The Wye Valley around Tintern

Sunday 22nd September

Tintern Abbey and the River Wye from Offa's Dyke

Saying farewell to the WOUGS people and leaving our somewhat quirky accommodation (especially the plumbing), we headed to Tintern in the lower Wye valley, parking near the Abbey.

Following the road past Abbey Mill, we crossed the old railway bridge over the River Wye. The tide was still high, though the strong current was already gathering speed and ebbing. From there, we turned right and went up a bit from the river to follow the route of the old railway for a couple of miles. Then steeply up the hill near the disused Tintern Quarry towards Tidenham, to join the Offa’s Dyke path to the Devil’s Pulpit.

Black and white photo of flow patterns on the River Wye, Tintern

The steep uphill bit was sticky in the still muggy, overcast weather. The main drawback of this walk was the lack of views for much of the way. Even on the lower levels, nearer the river, the Wye was hidden by trees still in full green leaf. We did though, get a sneaky view from the Offa’s Dyke, just before we got to the Devil’s Pulpit – across a cow field to the 2^nd Severn Crossing, with the upper parts of Chepstow in the middle distance. Had lunch here. Then, there was a view over the Wye and Tintern Abbey from one of the few open stretches of the Offa’s Dyke path here. There was still a similar view over along the valley from the Devil’s Pulpit, but disappointingly, the pulpit itself, a big lump of Carboniferous limestone shaped a bit like a pulpit, was now fenced off, with the Offa’s Dyke path now running above it.

 

Second Severn Crossing from Offa's Dyke

Zooming in on Tintern Abbey, viewed from Offa's Dyke

The second half of the walk, was down from the Offa’s Dyke, passing the now closed Horse Rescue Centre at Brockweir, Que Sera Sera and the like permeated from the vintage / military vehicles / 1940s nostalgia fair on in a field on the Welsh side of the Wye between Brockweir and Tintern. Though this felt a bit intrusive and not really my thing, the steep incised valley made for good acoustics. Then followed the lower level path back to the bridge we’d crossed this morning, back into Tintern. There, we had an ice cream at the Abbey Mill – now a café, craft centre and tourist info-cum-gift shop. Liked the ceramic tiles on one of the walls, designed by local school children, depicting views along the Wye Valley, many of them suggesting windows and arches in the Abbey. The Abbey Mill was the last of a series of mills once built along the small stream which ran steeply down the Welsh side of the valley into the Wye, the Angidy. By the now the tide on the Wye was well out, with shallows just above the old railway bridge. The tidal range here is still 20ft (6m) on springs. River was still muddy, the current strong, as always here.

 

Wye Valley tiles at Abbey Mill

Left Tintern around 3.00pm to head home. As the First Severn Bridge (Severn Road Bridge / Pont Hafren) was still closed, we followed the M48 westwards to the M4 to the Second Severn Crossing which we’d used to cross into Wales on the way to Pembrokeshire.

Severn Estuary - Beachley Point and Sedbury Cliff

Second Severn Crossing from Beachley Point

This excursion was part of a Geological field trip, organised by the Wessex Branch of the Open University Geological Society WOUGS, led by Alan Holiday on Saturday 21^st September. After doing the Upper Soudley Geological Trail on the eastern side of the Forest of Dean during the morning (see separate entry), we headed south along the A48 to the Severn estuary near Chepstow and the First Severn Bridge.

To get to Beachley Point, we turned off the main road just before the Chepstow bypass bridge over the Wye. This took us through Beachley, past the army barracks and college. We parked at the end of the road, underneath the bridge. The bridge towers were now painted off-white. Near here was the quay for the ferry which plied the Severn between here and Aust, before the bridge was completed in 1966. There was also a slipway for the SARA, the Severn Area Rescue Association who go out in high speed motor boats to assist people in trouble in the treacherous estuary. Indeed turbulent water swept round the slipway, the bridge spanning narrows in the channel. Beachley Point has the highest tidal range in the UK and one of the highest globally, after the Bay of Fundy in eastern Canada. Spring tides can exceed 14m (46 feet). Hence the massive support pillars at the base of the bridge towers.

Geologists at the rock face

Thankfully, the tide was now well out, enabling us to turn left off the track and on to the shore to the rock outcrops. These were set back from the water and the banks of deep, soft Severn Mud, behind salt marsh grasses. Judging from the flotsam on the grasses, it still looked as if high spring tides could reach the foot of the rocks. Perhaps they’d done so this morning and last night.

We started with the exposure beneath one a tall electricity pylons. On our left, facing the rockface, was cream coloured Carboniferous limestone. On our right were rusty red Triassic beds – mudstones, sandstones and conglomerates. These were brought together by a fault, which was most obvious when stood back from the cliff. This was also an unconformity in which strata spanning much of the upper Palaeozoic era were missing. A bit further along, near the fine grained, slippery low cliff of limestone we clambered over, there was some conglomerate – fine grained rusty red Triassic material containing rounded pebbles of limestone from the Carboniferous, and a fault breccia with more angular pebbles. This and the limestone were coloured with yellow lichen above the high tide mark Some of the limestone was stained red from the Triassic material being washed over it.

Carboniferous outcrop at Beachley Point

From here, there were good views of both Severn bridges, as well as Austcliff on the far side of the other side of the first bridge. The first bridge, now known as the Severn Road Bridge, is a Suspension Bridge, like the Forth Road Bridge which was completed two year earlier and is now afflicted by corrosion problems in the cabling. The same problem is highly here, then. Being a suspension bridge, it is vulnerable to the wind and, used to be at least, closed during high winds. The estuary here is about three quarters of a mile wide. At the Second Crossing it is about three miles wide, where the Severn estuary opens out into the Bristol Channel. This is a sturdier bridge – only the middle bit is suspension. Of the two, I reckon it’s the better looking one. The first one looks a bit old tired by comparison (like many other structures built during the 1960s-1970s do now), even if the view is more restricted when crossing.

Views of the bridges

Add caption

Both bridges have become increasingly expensive to cross – the tolls are now £6.20 for cars, payable going west only. In my dim and distant past (mid-1970s) they started at 12p. For some time, they’ve been steep enough to put people off crossing too often, though I dare say that if they lowered them the traffic and development would become even crazier.

Pedestrians enjoying a traffic-free Severn Road Bridge

It took me a while to register it, but there were no cars or lorries crossing on the bridge as we went under it walking to and from the rockfaces, only a few vans which were probably people working on the bridge. It was closed at least throughout this weekend for maintenance – it’s always needed lots of that. I now saw why the M48 was so quiet when we came into Chepstow yesterday. Come to think of it, I don’t think I registered much road noise. Invariably it’s so ubiquitous that it blends into the background. There were, though, quite a few pedestrians. Locals, perhaps, enjoying a rare, quiet traffic-free view. There is a foot-cycle way on the north side. The Second Crossing is motorway only. As with any normally busy road devoid of traffic, it seemed a bit creepy. It would just have needed thick Severn fog to complete the picture.

Further to the lecture given by engineers from Cardiff University at this year’s WOUGS AGM my Water & Art piece shortly afterwards (30/01/13 – Renewed Interest in Severn Barrage, ref 5), nothing’s happened and it looks unlikely that anything will for the foreseeable future (ref 6,7)

Sedbury Cliff

Leaving Beachley, we continued north of the bridge, onto Sedbury Cliff parking on the road out from Beachley (Loop Road), just opposite the public footpath sign for the southerly end of Offa’s Dyke . We crossed the road and followed dyke part of the way, before turning right and going through the wood down to the shore. As at Beachley, a wide strip of saltmarsh grass separated the cliff here from water and mud of the estuary. The First Severn Bridge was now to the south.

Ammonite

The geology in the cliff is the same as Austcliff across the estuary: rusty red Triassic mudstones overlain with younger Blue Lias beds of Jurassic age, though actually, these were pale creamy colour limestones and shales. One of the upper layers in the Triassic sequence is known as the Westbury Bone Bed as it contains the bones of fish and marine reptiles living in lagoons in a hot dry desert. A small landslip near the northern end of the cliff had brought down chunks of the creamy material containing fossils. One chunk was full of oyster fossils. A couple of other pieces contained small ammonites, up to 10cm across. Otherwise rockwise, there was less to see here than we’d hoped. This is because the cliff was tree-clad and overgrown. According to Alan, it had become all the more so since his recce in July. The last bit we looked at was muddy underfoot, too.

Austcliff

Though Austcliff is much better exposed, it doesn’t seem as easily accessible as Sedbury (conveniently accessible via Offa’s Dyke), though it is listed as an SSSI and described in a Geology Guide to South Gloucestershire (ref 4). I went down there on a field trip led by my secondary school Geography Teacher during the mid-1980s, later that same February Saturday he took us to the see the Severn Bore (see separate entry). From about that time, too, I have a photo of my father sketching the First, then only, Severn Bridge, above the cliff. This would have at Aust Services, on the way to Pembrokeshire, or the camping in the Forest of Dean. Back then, it was the highlight of the journey, though very regrettably now, that’s all gone. There’s still Severn View Services near the bridge, but that’s set back about 600m from the bridge, the area where we’d picnicked for free having been privatised with the building of motel and conference centre. From Sedbury we could see a silvery sheened executive building just north of the bridge. As we saw on the way to Pembrokeshire last week, there are no services near the Second Crossing. I won’t bang on about much more here, but when they tell motorists and their car loads to take a break from the motorway, please give us a proper break, with seating outside, away from the car park for some air.

Views of the Severn estuary from Sedbury

Naturally, I was reluctant to head back to the cars from the Severn, seemingly so soon, just as the weather was brightening, with the sun on the river, bringing out the rivulets in now silvery looking mud (mentally filtering out d Oldbury Power Station, of course). Continuing on from the series of paintings and printmaking I’ve done on this theme during the past year, I’d looked forward to revisiting the Severn estuary this year for more reference material and inspiration. I took lots of photos, but was unable to do any sketching, due to time constraints. I’d liked a bit more time at Beachley, particularly, to walk along the track above the rocks to get a better view of the confluence of the Wye., though I did go down that way in 2003.

  

References and Links

1.Alan Holiday, The Severn Bore, Soudley, Beachley Point and Sedbury Cliff, Open University Geological Society Wessex Branch field trip handout (2013).

2. Wikipedia – Severn Bridge, accessed 24/09/13

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Bridge

3. Wikipedia Aust Cliff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aust_Cliff

4. The story of landscape and geology in South Gloucestershire, Avon RIGS pdf

http://www.brerc.eclipse.co.uk/files/rigs_boards/geo_landscape_sglos.pdf

5. Joan Lee, Renewed Interest in Severn Barrage, Water & Art, 30/01/13

http://artywater.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/renewed-interest-in-severn-barrage.html

6. Wikipedia – Severn Barrage -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severn_Barrage

7. MPs say case for Barrage Unproven, June 2013

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/energy-and-climate-change-committee/news/severn-barrage-publication/

Geology in the Forest of Dean

Upper Soudley Geological Trail - Saturday 21st September

Near Upper Blue Rock Quarry

Here are some photos and a couple of pencil sketches of rock outcrops / former quarries seen along the Upper Soudley Geological Trail on the eastern side of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. This was part of a Geological field trip in the area, organised by the WOUGS and led by Alan Holiday on Saturday 21st September. After the trail, we had lunch at the Dean Heritage Centre, before heading south to Beachley Point and Sedbury cliff, to look at rock outcrops along the Severn estuary near Chepstow and the Severn Road Bridge – see next entry. 

Particularly for late September, it was an exceptionally sticky Saturday, with little or no wind and temperatures in the high teens – low 20s degrees celcius. It was better near the estuary this afternoon, where there was some breeze, though it felt oppressive in the Forest, which had a close, hemmed in feel to it, anyway and no wind at all. In such weather, the cooked breakfast at the start of the day felt a bit much. Particularly near the start of the trail, the ground underfoot was very moist, a bit muddy in places. I preferred the cooler, much fresher weather we’d had on the north Pembrokeshire coast the week before.

Hod Boy Memorial

Taking the road through the heavily forested eastern side of the Forest of Dean – a mix coniferous and deciduous woodland, we headed towards the  Dean Heritage Centre at Upper Soudley. Here, we met some of the  WOUGS members, before going on to Upper Soudley village Hall. From there, we took a short walk through a residential area to the start trail, our leader. Pointing out a couple of houses built with the local Devonian Old Red Sandstone. 

The trail followed the track of a former railway line servicing the former mining and quarrying industries in the Forest. As Alan said near the beginning, part of the trail was very overgrown, so we didn’t see everything in the guidebook. Moving along it, the outcrops of rock became progressively younger: the Devonian Old Red Sandstone Series near the entrance to the trail to limestones of upper Carboniferous age further along. The big geological picture was a syncline, in which the beds are folded to form a trough in cross-section, with the youngest beds in the core. Some of these contain coal seams. These were once mined, though not on the scale of the coal fields in northern England. 

Tree Sculpture on the Upper Soudley Trail

As well as Geology, there were hints of the Forest of Dean’s industrial past. Between the first two rock outcrops we visited, we went down some steps to the Hod Boy Memorial, a poignant tree sculpture placed here in 2002, the year of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.  It honoured the young boys who went down the mines, and very young they were. I suppose they wanted people small enough to squeeze along very claustrophobic narrow passages. In the Heritage Centre car park, there was another powerful image tree sculpture of two men in a mining rescue. This was one of the more serious sculptures amid a company of Gruffaloes ( as in the popular children’s stories by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler) and a praying mantis. I didn’t notice it on the way in, but on the way back along the trail at the end, I saw the carving of an older man sitting by what would have been the railway side here. 

Lined stream

Some of the streams were still lined with impermeable material to stop the water sinking down through the cracks in the Carboniferous Limestone.

The Upper Blue Rock Quarry and Shakemantle Quarry were interesting for me both from a rocky and arty perspective. At both, the beds were fairly steeply dipping, like the lower Palaoezoic sandstones and mudstones in Pembrokeshire. At Upper Blue Rock Quarry, up the hill from the track and into the woods, were two rows of archways, where quarry workers had cut in to the stone. A few loose blocks containing fossils - crinoids and a few corals. This quarry was set amid ferns and beech trees, rooted into the rock face.

Sketch at Upper Blue Rock Quarry

Shakemantle Quarry was high, a much more open rockface, with pine trees growing on the slopes. The greenery of the trees complemented the  pale pinkish grey of the dolomite limestone. Near the middle of it, a near right angle chunk had been blasted out, exposing the the bedding plane.

It was a pity we didn’t have more time here, as I’d liked to have sketched and looked at the rocks in more detail, but time was getting on and we still had more rocks to see by the Severn this afternoon. 

Sketch at Shakemantle Quarry

Links 

Open University Geological Society homepage

http://ougs.org/index.php?branchcode=ouc

Wessex branch

http://ougs.org/index.php?branchcode=wsx

1.Alan Holiday, The Severn Bore, Soudley, Beachley Point and Sedbury Cliff, Open University Geological Society Wessex Branch field trip handout (2013).

Shakemantle Quarry

Miner rescue tree sculpture