Digging wells

Back in August 2008 I published a photo of a deep well in France and asked how on earth it could have been dug. The best suggestions I have had were from Scott George in the USA.

On the subject of drystone well construction, when I was much younger, a friend of my grandfather told me they used to dig down a couple of feet and place a large metal ring at the bottom of the hole. They would then lay up there stone to the surface and then dig under the ring to slowly lower it and then add more stone to the top. He said the kept doing this deeper and deeper. I have no idea if this is possible or accurate. Either way, it sounds dangerous. I also have heard that they would excavate the hole, so that the holes depth and width at the top were the same. So a hole 10 feet deep would have a width of 10 feet at the top in the shape of an inverted cone. They would then lay up the well wall and backfill as they went along. This sounds more plausible to me, but that is a tremendous amount of earth being excavated. Where I live many of the wells are around 10 to 20 feet deep and the walls are mortared. I don't think I have ever seen a drylaid well around here. Scott

Tasmanian tracks

John Hughes has been moving these enormous rocks with his team in Tasmania. They are building pathways using man power. For more information contact him on trackdesign@hotmail.com

Swiss Mountain Pass

This photo was sent to me by Urs Lippert. The sheep are being driven up a recently restored track in the high alps . An earlier entry ( July 2008 Swiss 4 )showed the reconstruction of this hillside path. I did pass this way before the track was rebuilt and it was very tricky to negotiate then. Great credit to the Swiss who are really beginning to work hard to improve these ancient ways in a most extreme environment.

Swiss work completed

I am delighted to publish the result of the work carried out this summer by Urs Lippert and his helpers. Wonderful to see dry stone walls being used for their traditional purpose. Something that is becoming more and more rare. The sheep gathering and marking is treated as a festival at Belalp. Have a look back to the blog June 2008 (world heritage site ) to see the scale of repair that was required

This style and the castellated cope are typical of the walls round Crieff in Perthshire Scotland. This lovely photograph was taken by Blanche. To see other photos by this artist, mainly featuring the wildlife of Scotland go to:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51169&l=f16a0&id=551445756

Mongolia 3 Eagle Stand

Another entry from landscape garden designer Duncan Haddow seen here admiring the eagle . http://www.earthmagic.eu

The Kazakh nomads of Western Mongolia are the only people in the world who hunt with Golden Eagles. The eagles are captured when young and trained to catch hares, small deer foxes and wolf cubs.The birds are released back into the wild after eight years. This carefully constructed cairn at the top of a high hill in the Altai range of mountains is used in the winter for hunting eagles to spot their prey.

Mongolia 2

This shelter on a hill top is used by hunters in the snowy Mongolian winter.The smaller teepee would be for storing gear and supplies. Gaps between the stones were plugged with moss.

Duncan Haddow

Mongolia

Duncan Haddow has just sent this entry after a time spent in Mongolia.

Dry stone walled area used for livestock in the summer months by nomads next to a "ger" the traditional felt lined tents of the area.