Up in the air and down underground

I had my third 50+ Adventure Club outing in a week yesterday.  Last weekend it was the canal trip that I blogged about last time, then midweek we played Pétanque at a pub and followed by a sit down meal.  Great social evening.

Yesterday was a new activity and we were going to climb the only wind turbine in the world to it's viewing platform.

The door at the bottom ....

with the viewing platform at the top

We had a briefing before we started and looked at the meter connected to it -

Wind speed 10.8 miles/second - 19.5 rotations per minute 

- looked at the ladder used by the maintenance men -

Up the outside - gulp!!

- then went inside to start the climb up the 305 spiral stairs.

The whole structure was shaking because it was windy and there is also a certain amount of movement anyway.  The 'pod' where the blades are attached also moves to catch the wind and so when this occurred there was a loud noise and because it was windy we could hear the blades swishing as they went round.  I hung onto the banister and climbed and felt so relieved when I got to the top!!

The views from the viewing platform were spectacular

The blade going round outside

 

We saw Ely Cathedral on the horizon. though too far away to photograph and looked down at the organic kitchen garden attached to the wind farm.  It provides the café with vegetables.

There are people in the picture but you can't see them

Going back down was quite quick and when I reached the ground I had a strange swaying sensation and felt a little giddy for a while.  After lunch we proceeded to the next activity!

We drove for about 30 minutes to Grimes Graves, a Neolithic flint mine.  If we were expecting any fancy accommodation - forget it,  there was  a large hut in the middle of Breckland with an earth toilet!!  Here we had a guided walk over the landscape that reminded me of the moon's surface with craters covered in a lovely hay meadow with wild flowers.

We had a talk about how the people in this period, between about 2650 and 2100BC, had worked these open cast pits, now infilled.  They were after the black flint or floorstone, which they needed for their everyday life, from axes to arrows, to working tools.  We were shown a modern reproduction of an axe, but using the techniques the Neolithic people would have used.

The large flint head, set into wood with pine pitch and very heavy

The miners would have used antlers from red deer to work the chalk and open the pits.  We climbed down a ladder into the only one that is accessible to the public -

Chalk walls worked in Neolithic times

and were shown a sample of the black floorstone they were looking for.

Black flint or floorstone

A strange feeling looking at something so old and worked with what we consider primitive tools.

I have been busy making pyjamas with these fabrics -

Bought in the sale here

Donated by a kind friend

 People have been brilliant with fabric, which must be 100% cotton.

Finally, I have been using the skein of very expensive silk that I blogged about here as I wanted to make an evening wrap for the summer.  A friend lent me her pattern because I liked it so much and I am getting on well with it -

 

Once I had worked out the pattern it is so easy to do.  I found following the chart much easier than the words and the amazing thing is that the ball of silk is just not getting any smaller!!