Camera Club Outing into Northumberland

This was another outing of a small group (4 were free to come this time) to take some more photos for our Group Challenge (more explanation given on my 28th October blip here).

We headed off towards the moors near Otterburn, stopping first at Black Middens Bastle House. Bastle (or bastille) houses are a type of construction found along the border between England and Scotland in the areas formerly plagued by the border Reivers. They are fortified farmhouses characterised by security measures against raids. Their name is said to derive from the French word "bastille". The characteristics of the classic bastle house are extremely thick stone walls (about 1 metre thick), with the ground floor devoted to stable space for the most valuable animals and a vaulted stone or flat timber floor between it and the first floor without internal access such as a stairway or ladder. The family's living quarters were on the floor above the ground, and during the times before the suppression of the Reivers, were only reachable by a ladder which was pulled up from the inside at night. The windows were small or even only arrow slits.

The main blip is taken from inside the upper floor, showing the great thickness of the walls and a small window. The first extra shows the house from outside: the stone staircase is easily seen.

We then drove to the town of Bellingham and enjoyed a walk to the lovely Hareshaw Linn waterfalls, the lower of which is shown in the 2nd extra.

Our final stop was at the "Three Kings Stone Circle". This required a  hike uphill of about a mile over uneven ground from where we parked the car. Guess what I discovered when I got there! I'd picked up my camera bag with my lenses from the car boot (the "trunk" in America) when we left the car, forgetting that after visiting the waterfall I'd popped the camera safely on the floor of the back of the car (Doh!!). So I had 4 lenses but no camera, therefore I've no photos there. I enjoyed watching my colleagues taking their shots. However, when it was now too late to go back for my camera, the clouds cleared and they decided to wait another half hour until it was dark: they got some super shots of the stars - including some shooting stars!! (There's no light pollution out there).

Silly me!! At least I reckon this is derelict enough to qualify for Marlieske's Derelict Sunday Challenge.