Panel number 2, quarries and millponds

Met up with Derek first thing to discuss possibilities for a second panel (after getting some ideas yesterday) and we are up for it. Got some good ideas and he has been busy and got some sponsorship from John Grimes in the interim.

Then we went down to the granite quarries with Shelley finding, in the final one, past VC quarry, some beautiful smoky quartz crystals. Nipped into the tavern for a Lundy lamb pasty before the boat people got there and then pottered about till it was time to go down to the boat back to Ilfracombe. Mill pond crossing back which was welcome and then a trouble free coach transfer back from Ilfracombe to Bideford.

North Pole and back

Well North light anyway!

One of the staff, Shelley who works in the restaurant, came with us for the morning as we explored northwards up the main track going over to the east side from time to time to look at the tors

We would like to have found basalt dykes cutting through the granite but didn't. however we did find quite a lot of aplite dykes, and found out that the stiles in the Quarter-, Halfway- and Three-quarter-walls are made of slabs of slate from the old billiard table from the Tavern.

We eventually found some mafic dykes down the steps towards the North light, and then some more as we wound our way back down the west side of the island. Phew. They are rather brown and weathered up at this level though and don't show up so well as they do from the sea.

By the time we got to Battery Point though everyone was too footsore and weary to go down to see the dyke I know is there and we took ourselves back to the Barn and a welcome cuppa.

We did see some of the Sika deer though

Heaving ho in(to) the Bristol Channel

May Bank Holiday Monday saw us on Bideford Quay at 8am on a cold and - yes - frosty - morning (though we didn't go gathering nuts!)

Bags labelled and loaded onto the MS Oldenburg we found somewhere to sit and braced ourselves for 2 hrs of 'moderate' seas - there are moderate seas and moderate seas though and when they are coming broadside on  it can be less than comfortable at times and a few of the group began to wonder why they were making the trip!

Arrived on time and most impressed by new jetty - even though it was going up and down a lot which made the gangway rather interesting.







Assembled on quay and found Derek Green the Manager, then had a look at the rather lovely and generally ignored Devonian slates which have some super folds and a number of deformations visible.

A little way up the hill though we were dismayed to find that the Lundyite 'Castle' dyke has been gunite-ed in the name of preserving the road. Asked about this later Derek said that the engineers had advised that the dyke, as well as the shaley slates, needed to be sprayed. We were unsure that a few millimetres of concrete would actually do anything apart from obscure the surface and prevent us looking at it.

Onward and upward we enjoyed a pint in the sunshine in the pub garden before going on over to the St Helena's church to hand over the interpretation panel - the purpose of our visit. We were impressed - it looks absolutely super and the gap above the other cabinet is absolutely asking for its twin so we were delighted when Derek proposed that we might discuss filling the gap.

The afternoon gave us an opportunity to explore the southern end of the island - Benjamin's Chair, the Rocket Pole Pond, and the Old Light before seeing off the day visitor party on their way to the quay (hoping it would be a bit calmer on the way back) and then found out accommodation and sorted out how to sleep 3 chaps and 8 women in a 6 bed room and a 7 bed room. Found out that the tavern serves excellent meals for £7.50 - we had venison meatballs