A quiet day by necessity (sore heads from celebrating DM's birthday) though with a few high points.....and this is one of them.

The Cheesewring quarry is an amazing place, just a short distance from home. We've been over there today for another look, this time approaching from a different direction, via the disused railway line and into the middle of the quarry. I don't know when the quarry was abandoned though I don't believe it outlasted the mines that surround it so I'd say late nineteenth century.

Liskeard and Caradon Railway once went into the quarry to haul down the granite blocks that were hewn from the hillside. The railway wasn't powered by engines in the early days, the granite, copper, tin and arsenic that were mined and quarried here were carted down by gravity and the uphill journey had the carts pulled up by horses roped to the carts. The old track can still be clearly seen and there is even a short bit still with rails inside the quarry itself. There is a pond inside the quarry that Rosie and Archie had a great time splashing around in off the leads because there were no sheep around so we could risk a let off for Archie.

DM is still thrilled with his medium format camera and has carted it around religiously all weekend. I like this shot of him sitting on the ruins of an old engine house from one of the mines (I'll check out which one when I get time for some browsing of the books). He's using the engine house wall as a tripod and waiting for the sun to hit the granite of the quarry face. The day has winds and whizzing clouds scurrying across the sky so you see your shot but have to wait for the light. I got the light on my subject before he got it on his!!! We are something around 1200 feet above sea level where this photo is taken and the views are of Dartmoor in the background.

So, he's 40 and a day today and that 'new' camera is 34 or so. I'm looking forward to seeing his shots from it when we get back to see if they really are as good as he's expecting.