Monday, June 9, 2003

Good Morning. The weather - sunny and clear this morning. Saturday was similarly nice here in Weardale, but just so we don't get use to it, yesterday it was damp and drizzly most of the day, with the occasional downpour. A good wind came up late yesterday, which cleared everything out and made for another nice sunset.

Saturday morning Byron and Jonina headed down to the mine to finish wrapping and hauling out some of the accumulated specimens. I got some sawing done in the morning and then headed down the dale to meet a couple of mine tour groups at the Mill Race. One bunch never showed up, so after waiting a bit I headed off to the mine with Neil, a mine engineer and collector from down around Leeds who had his new wife's son Callum in tow. The new wife was evidently not too keen on getting muddy and wet just for a few bits of pretty rock, but the kid was up for it.

Got to the mine and found the crew had hauled a good load of specimens out onto the landing for a final go at getting some mud off them before packing up. Byron was doing some picking around in the Dipper, which has turned into a well-developed rat hole and will need to be opened up in order to do much more work. He did get a few promising bits so we have hope for the area still. In the West Cross Cut, the suspect section of the roof had finally decided to move, so that area will need some clean-up and stabilization before more collecting is possible.

After giving Neil and the kid a tour around the mine I turned them loose to do a little collecting to one side of the West Cross Cut where Dave had timbered the tunnel. Both got muddy in a short time and came up with some souvenirs of the trip. While washing up after the adventure I found out that this was the kid's first collecting trip, and explained to him that when collecting partners divide up their finds, it is customary to flip a coin to decide who gets first pick. I heard later from Neil that the concept got altered a little and he had to flip for each specimen. Sounds like the kid got most of them. Guess part of being a parent (even a surrogate one) is learning to loose gracefully.

After packing up to leave we discovered that the little white Peugot company car would not start. When we first picked up from Watson's Garage there had been some problem with the electrical connections to the starter. Guess they didn't get completely solved. Being late Saturday afternoon it was obvious that we weren't going to get much done about it until Monday so we loaded as much into my rental car as possible and headed back up the dale. Made a quick stop at the Grey Bull in Stanhope and found a very sun burnt Noel fresh from a victorious cricket match. He had a nifty new hat on but unfortunately had only thought to get it late in the game. Nice effect, though. Made him look rather like an Aussie fresh from the outback. Only thing missing were the little corks dangling on strings from the brim to keep the flies away.

Back at the cottage I got dinner on for the crew and waited for David Rennison to make his appearance. Finally got a call from him explaining that his in laws had invaded and looking to move the appointment back a day.

Sunday dawned cloudy and wet, somehow in keeping with the fact that it our official day off while mining. Oh well, no bother. After everyone had their fill of coffee we took off for a hike up Middlehope Burn, through Slitt Wood and past several old lead mining sites. The trail leads out of Westgate and heads up the burn along the stream through a wooded area full of wildflowers, ferns and a few small waterfalls. After emerging onto open moorland the trail passes the sites if the old Slitt and Middlehope mines before looping back along a roadway past the Westrigg mine. The whole walk was quite beautiful and is described on a nice new brochure and map that Killhope is handing out. Somehow, the rain managed to hold off the whole time, but the threat had the effect of keeping most everyone else away and we had the trail almost entirely to ourselves. Today's photo is of the site of the old Slitt mine.

After the walk we headed up to Allenheads for lunch where I was presented with a Plowman's containing an enormous hunk of a very nice cheddar. Took at two pints to finish it off, but this was not a problem as they had both Black Sheep and Timothy Taylor's Landlord on - two of the best beers in there parts. After lunch we went over to Alston to check out some antiques shops and a large, very cluttered and only slightly organized bookstore. A very eclectic mix of stuff - everything from pop memorabilia to old Victorian era cookbooks. By the time we emerged it rain had begun in earnest, which was actually a good thing as the rental car was in need of a washing after two weeks of driving into the quarry.

After getting back to the cottage, Byron and I went down to the Golden Lion for a bit. The place was quite lively on a Sunday afternoon. There had been a christening for someone's kid that afternoon and it seemed that a good portion of the attendees had adjourned to the pub afterwards. Most were dressed in their "Sunday go meeting" clothes, which included suits and ties that probably see the light of day once or twice a year and a fair number of tight, low-cut "cocktail dress" type things. Quite the crowd, and things were really jumping by the time Byron and I headed back to the cottage for out postponed meeting with Mr. Rennison. He never showed up. At first I was a little annoyed but then realized that had we not had the appointment I might have stayed at the pub to enjoy the goings on, which would likely have had the result of me not getting up in time to compose today's report.

On today's schedule is more mucking and sorting things at the mine, along with getting the Peugot resurrected. Jonina says that Monday is shopping day, so along with a new collection of specimens to clean she will likely be making a trip to Consett.

Forward in all directions…

Cheers,

Jesse, Byron and Jonina

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