Wednesday August 6, 2003

Greetings,

Monday morning a little after 8:00 a.m. Kerith and I drove up to Scotland entering at Gretna and the marriage bridge; a sign proclaimed that more than 1000 weddings performed there by eloping British couples. Our first stop was Drumlanrig Castle home of the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensbury. Paintings by Da Vinci, Holbein, Rembrandt etc. were really were worth the look but I found the view out the entry hall, due north, the most spectacular, looking at the Highlands. It is a working estate of 120,000 acres. From there we drove north into the Higlhands and spent the night at a B&B in Wanlockhead, the highest village in Scotland situated at something over 1500'. Wanlockhead and Leadhills, two villages about a mile apart, represent the heart of lead mining in Scotland spanning back over 1000 years. The small collection of minerals at the Lead Mining Museum was worth the trip. Since I was driving, we also made the pilgrimage to the Susanna mine just outside the village of Leadhills. So many great minerals first found from this famous area - leadhillite, caledonite, lanarkite etc.

Since even Scotland was in a heat we did not need to light the coal stove in our room at the B&B that evening. Dinner involved driving over the hills and down along some very curvy roads where many people were camped, out with their gold pans looking for gold. A nugget of over 1.5 oz. from this area is in the Royal Scottish museum. Our hostess at the B&B had recommended the town of Moffat in Dumfrieshire about 20 miles away. A drive but well worth it. Too bad all the cute shops were closed but we had a selection of perhaps a dozen restaurants and pubs.

Tuesday morning we left before 8:30 a.m. and drove down toward Castle Douglas stopping to see and hike to the Threave Castle, first built in the 11th century of wood and burned down then built again in the 13th century of stone on an island. Home to the Archiblad the Grim and the Black Douglas'. From there just 1.5 miles to Threave estate and gardens where we spent an hour plus and also had lunch. Then a longish drive down to the Scotch coast to the artists town of Kirkcudbright pronounced Kirk ka bee. Tide was out when we arrived and it was obvious that the tide is in the neighborhood here of about 15' looking at all the fishing and leisure boats sitting in the mud. It was stifling hot here - temperatures in the mid 80's, no wind at all and humidity, well we were on the coast so it was very high. Lots of art galleries all over town and there was a special showing of Glasgow artists which was superb, in the town hall. The local museum was truly fascinating, started with the town's neolithic history and worked forward. You would just have to see all the nifty stuff they have crammed into this two story building; minerals, fossils, stuffed critters, all sorts of implements and tools going back to medieval time including the towns original tower clock innards which were put in sometime in the 13th century. We spent a delightful 30 minutes watching a couple pairs of older women having lawn bowling matches. Everyone wore white blouses and gray mid-calf length skirts and golf shoes. We were both worn out from the long day so we ate at our hotel and went to bed.

Wednesday morning we left about 8:30 a.m. again and drove back to St. John's Chapel via Penrith and the A689; a 102 mile trip which took 2 hours and 45 minutes. No matter what the size of the highway, during August 40 mph is max. We arrived, unpacked and put things away and I changed clothes and headed up to the Rogerley mine about 11:30 a.m.

The big news at the mine is that they have gotten the timbering in the pocket zone between the north and south West Crosscuts. Things there were getting dicey and a blast just before we left today dropped the final bits of obstructing rock making it possible to get to some very nice specimens still in a pillar and wall that will be brought down and timbered as we head south. The main tunnel face shows a small pocket of green over purple crystals and the next blast there should bring us onto the vein again. A fairly large pocket of purple fluorites with white quartz overgrowths occupied Byron the past two days. With all the work in the Crosscuts and Byron at the face I decided to spend my time digging up the floor of the Dipper pocket and move back toward the end. Around 4:30 p.m. I managed to get into a little pocket which produced a couple of very nice gemmy twins with crystals on matrix in the 1.5" on edge range.

Our heat wave continues and the oddsmakers say England might actually see a 100 degree day, first in recorded history. Lots of betting action on that, so we shall see. That's all the news fit to print from here.

Cheers, Cal & Kerith

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