Turners Hill Transmitters

Today the cloud ceiling was high enough for the transmitter masts on turners Hill to be visible so the walk was definitely on.  However the first thing I noticed when getting of the boat was the folding gangplank had moved.  there was no wind last night but I do remember the boat rocking slightly after we had gone to bed.

The person who attempted to remove the ladder must have got the mat it rests on caught under the lip of the handrail.  I know from my own experience that the ladder is sufficiently heavy that to remove it you need to stand on the gunwale.  That would have seriously rocked the boat and the person must have decided not to do that.  All that has been taken is a length of our old centreline. 

I had previously planned the route to the masts on Turners Hill using the Open Street Map (OSM) and already noted the route would have to be via the other side of the hill.  The route took me up through Warrens Hill Nature Reserve.

This area has a number of pools.  Bumble Hole Pool is a former clay pit and I assume the other pools were also former clay pits.  My guess is the clay was used to make bricks?

Discovering the public footpath through Dudley Golf Course resulted in a shortcut back to the boat.

The Wheatsheaf pub is located on the corner of Oakham Rd and Turners Hill Lane.  I only mention this because there is another pub opposite which I missed.  It’s name is more relevant to the area.  More on that later.

The two Transmitter Masts are at the top of Turners Hill which at 271m is the highest ground in the West Midlands.  The Transmitters consist of a free standing steel lattice structure.  The No2 is 60m high and has a concrete base.

They both broadcast radio so there’s no point in aiming the TV aerial at them!

Thick vegetation prevented me from visiting the adjacent gaping hole of the former Edwin Richards Quarry.

You can see the size of the former quarry in the above Google Earth photo. 

Originally there were three quarries.  One has been used as landfill and is now a golf driving range.  The other two were combined to form the pit in the above photo.  Quarrying finished in 2008 and the current plan is to use the abandoned pit as landfill.

The quarries produced a local stone known as ‘Rowley Rag’ and was primarily used for road construction.  That pub I missed opposite The Wheatsheaf was named the Rowley Rag.

I detoured on the way back to Waiouru finding a high knoll in Warren Hall Nature Reserve which had clear views to the south.

I was about to walk down off the knoll when I noticed the erosion immediately in front of me.  It appears this large knoll is artificial being made from ash? 

 And Open Live Writer has stopped publishing posts, which is making blogging slightly more complex. :-(