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BB2303
: She of the Resurrection
Thursday
26th January 2023
For
reasons with which I shall not bore you,
I was unable to join the Bboys at the start
of today’s adventure which, sadly, meant
that I missed out on the sausages at Mike
B’s house. Suitably fuelled, they
set off up into the Whitbarrow National
Nature Reserve.
Fortunately,
I was able get into action sooner than expected
so parked at the bottom end of Whitbarrow.....
.....
and headed north in the hope of meeting
up with them as they walked south. I
can’t say whether it was superb map reading
on our parts or the use of mobile phones
to communicate but we successfully rendezvoused
between Watson’s Wood and Anastice.
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Now,
the reason for the name of the
former is pretty obvious. But
what about the latter? Anastice.
I can’t say it is a word
that I had previously considered.
Uncle
Google tells me that it is the
feminine variant of the Greek
name Anastasios, meaning "she
of the resurrection", a
name given to girls born on
Easter Monday. What that
has to do with the film "Green
Eyes for Anastice, I don't know".
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Her
name seems to have subsequently
morphed into Anastasia.
Of
that version was a 4th century
saint of Surmium whose main
claim to fame seems to have
been a maker of medicinal potions
to protect the faithful.
Anastasia
was martyred during the Great
Persecution under the Roman
Emperor Diocletian.
But
what is the claim to fame of
Whitbarrow's Anastice?
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We
all headed south and round to the massive
White Scar limestone slab. It was
treacherously slippery, as you can tell
by the grin on TV Mike's face. Care
was needed to avoid indignity.
Subsequently
we turned north and climbed up through the
wood and onto the open fell.
There
were two important topics under discussion.
No, not Blackpool Tower. Once
upon a time it would have been whether or
not we could see it but today there was
no question. We could.
The
first important topic, naturally, was when
should we stop to let Tony have his lunch
before he became too cross with us?
The
second was to try and understand what had
happened at Heysham Nuclear Power Station.
All of a sudden a plume of smoke could
be seen rising from it.
Had
the Russians expanded their campaign?
After
we reached Lord’s Seat.....
.....
it was decided to head back down through
the woods to return to Mike’s. It
is a good job he and Martin knew the way
as there were many paths leading off to
He of the Seat knows where.
Eventually
we came to a clearing where there is a giant
millstone on the ground, next to a stone
on which is recorded the date of the allotment
of the Township parcels of land to the people
of Crosthwaite and Lyth. 1815.
Close
by was a notice concerning coppicing on
the Township Plantation.
Martin
explained that although coppicing is necessary
for the reasons stated on the board, it
was becoming increasingly difficult to find
people to do it. Their reward is the
logs that they can take away and, after
leaving them for a couple of years to dry
out, they can then burn on their stoves.
The
problem is twofold. Firstly the effort
to reward ratio is not great compared with
buying kiln dried logs for immediate use.
This is exacerbated by the fact that
users of chainsaws now have to pass a rigorous
safety check to ensure their competence.
Martin had gruesome tails of folk
who had inadvertently lost fingers, limbs
and even life so maybe the tests are necessary
but they have radically reduced the number
of coppicers. Not surprising at something
like £1,000 a test.
Soon
we were back at Mike B’s house but I had
a problem. My car was two miles away
to the south. Bryan kindly offered
us a lift but Stan and I felt that we needed
the extra exercise so decided to walk. It
might not have been such a good idea as
it was mostly road work and hard on the
legs. But we are in training so we
have to suffer for our cause. Fortunately
not so much as was the case for poor Anastice.
Don,
Thursday 26th January 2023
Thanks to
Mike B and Tony for many of the photos
Comitibus:
Bryan,
Martin, Don, TV Mike, Tony, Mike B, Stan
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