Thanks Fairygirl, I never tire of seeing the Cobbler and the Ben. These were my playground when I was young, I think I first climbed Ben Lomond in '69.
Some shots of the Hindhead Alps. Amazing to think that this was once the A3 - one of the major A roads in the country. This was after about a year I think when the soil retention membranes were still visible. The road surface is still under that membrane and thousands of tons of soil.
Eighteen months on and nature is taking over.
You can see London 40 (miles away) on a clear day, the tall spike is the Shard.
The A3 round the Devil's Punchbowl was a serious bottleneck for traffic from Portsmouth to London, it was the only stretch of single carriageway on the whole route. A lorry breakdown climbing up the hill or one of the frequent accidents could have tailbacks stretching for miles in both directions. That big bend saw quite a few deaths unfortunately. Putting a bridge over was seriously considered but the land is owned by the National Trust so that didn't happen thankfully. They built tunnels instead after a bit of land swapping with the NT. In Switzerland it would have been a no-brainer but of course in the UK it took decades to get the go-ahead. Some locals still wanted the old road kept for their personal use!
Here is the entrance on the north side, the old road used to run up through the trees on the left.
Great photos Steephill. We got tickets to walk through the tunnel just before it got opened to the traffic - think of that every time I drive through it
Interesting gardening fact about the old road...... The plan is to return it to heathland, so in the first season they planted thousands of heather plants....all of which died. They scratched their heads and wondered why, since the soil is acidic and heather thrives in the area. But then they tested the soil, and to their surprise, found it was alkaline. Turns out that when they were repairing the road in the sixties, they had imported ballast that had been created when they carved out a road in nearby chalky Hampshire, and it had changed the characteristics of the soil in the strip of land where the road once was. So back to the drawing board
Our garden is on the north slope of a hill so doesn't get any sun in winter. A few cold days like these means frost can really build up but it can look wonderful. This is a blade of grass overhanging a wooden edging board.
Close up you can see the hexagonal structure of the frost whiskers.
Steephill your photos are amazing. We had lovely frost on snow earlier in the week so I took my camera out on the dog walk the next day and they had collapsed. The structures look hollow, which I hadn't realised before, Thank you.
All the photos here are wonderful. Fairy deserves to get hers as she walks so far. And uphill.
Posts
07/01/16
Thanks Fairygirl, I never tire of seeing the Cobbler and the Ben. These were my playground when I was young, I think I first climbed Ben Lomond in '69.
Some shots of the Hindhead Alps. Amazing to think that this was once the A3 - one of the major A roads in the country. This was after about a year I think when the soil retention membranes were still visible. The road surface is still under that membrane and thousands of tons of soil.
Eighteen months on and nature is taking over.
You can see London 40 (miles away) on a clear day, the tall spike is the Shard.
Looking east over towards Box Hill.
That's amazing steephill - what were the circumstances that led to the creation of it - submerging the road, I mean ?
Great views too
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
The A3 round the Devil's Punchbowl was a serious bottleneck for traffic from Portsmouth to London, it was the only stretch of single carriageway on the whole route. A lorry breakdown climbing up the hill or one of the frequent accidents could have tailbacks stretching for miles in both directions. That big bend saw quite a few deaths unfortunately. Putting a bridge over was seriously considered but the land is owned by the National Trust so that didn't happen thankfully. They built tunnels instead after a bit of land swapping with the NT. In Switzerland it would have been a no-brainer but of course in the UK it took decades to get the go-ahead. Some locals still wanted the old road kept for their personal use!
Here is the entrance on the north side, the old road used to run up through the trees on the left.
Great photos Steephill. We got tickets to walk through the tunnel just before it got opened to the traffic - think of that every time I drive through it
Interesting gardening fact about the old road...... The plan is to return it to heathland, so in the first season they planted thousands of heather plants....all of which died. They scratched their heads and wondered why, since the soil is acidic and heather thrives in the area. But then they tested the soil, and to their surprise, found it was alkaline. Turns out that when they were repairing the road in the sixties, they had imported ballast that had been created when they carved out a road in nearby chalky Hampshire, and it had changed the characteristics of the soil in the strip of land where the road once was
. So back to the drawing board
It's great when something is done to benefit everyone. Think of the benefit for wildlife...makes you feel a bit more optimistic somehow
A few from yesterday's 'half walk' on Beinn Dearg in Glen Lyon
Looking across Glen Lyon to the back end of the Lawers hills- before it started snowing again
There's a herd of deer on that hill - honest guv!
The burn at the start of the walk
The WW11 memorial at the parking area - at Meggernie Estate. You can see the snow on the road - glad I didn't stay out any longer!
A nice day out - but it's a three hour drive when you can't get across the minor road and have to go round the long way!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I took these pictures in Autumn in Rivington Chorley
Our garden is on the north slope of a hill so doesn't get any sun in winter. A few cold days like these means frost can really build up but it can look wonderful. This is a blade of grass overhanging a wooden edging board.
Close up you can see the hexagonal structure of the frost whiskers.
Just like Superman's Arctic cave!
Steephill your photos are amazing
. We had lovely frost on snow earlier in the week so I took my camera out on the dog walk the next day and they had collapsed
. The structures look hollow, which I hadn't realised before, Thank you
.
All the photos here are wonderful
. Fairy deserves to get hers as she walks so far. And uphill
.
Amazing photos