Travellers' Tales - The mysterious Ring on Cleeve Hill

I spotted this image on Cleeve Hill via Google Earth and looked it up and apparently it is:

The Ring’ is a circular earthwork on the upper part of the scarp slope, some 50 metres in diameter. It is believed to have been built as an enclosure for animals in the Romano-British period (the early centuries AD) and provides clear evidence of the use of the Common as pasture at the time.

Jay and I decided to walk to find it. the big pink A is where we parked and a little above the pink B is the location of the Ring

My first mistake was thinking that the landscape would be easily walkable as some parts of Cleeve are as it 'looked flat on the map'. However as we toiled up and up and up Jay reminded me that the printout I was clutching was in 2-D and that the mountain we were scaling was inconveniently 3-D when you were actually on it.

We never found even a sniff of the Ring no matter which way we turned the map but we did find we had climbed all the way to the top, 1038 ft or 338m above sea-level

Approaching the trig point at the top

A nice flattened area here has a commemorative plaque with etchings of the views you can see - all the way to Wales (and from some parts of the hill to Somerset, on a very clear day)

The views are stunning and these pics do them no justice (being 2-D with a poor camera)

Jay dashed back for the loo (climbing hills has that effect on her) but I dallied by a small quarry which gave me the interesting information that I was, despite the height of the hill, standing on the bed of a vast Jurassic sea that once covered Britain! and, should I care to rummage through the rocks, might find some fossils as there are many to be had.

No dinosaurs apparently but many smaller creatures. I'll definitely return with some fossil hunting in mind, and will maybe look for the stone-age hill-fort and barrow in the area.

Pity about never seeing the Ring though :lol

It must be difficult to spot on the ground, or maybe we just went very wrong. Will take Jane the sat-nav next time and insist she leads us to the correct co-ordinates.

Merry, what a wonderful place to have on your doorstep - I'm envious.

Was there a lookout post actually on that top point? It must have been useful to keep an eye on the enemy. Not to mention getting advance warning if the in-laws are visiting

If I stood there could I say "I can see your house frome here!"

Oh, what a terrific jaunt.

Sorry you couldn't actually get to the elusive ring, but your pictures of the scenes indicate the hike was very well worth it, despite your disappointment. It does look like the sort of ring that would be hard to locate without the elevation of flight. Super pictures, thanks for posting them, and your spirited travelogue.

[Sounds like my quests with Thingummie Minor in search of the London Stone and Wellington's Nose. If I can sort out how to post photos {now that AOL doesn't do that anymore, sigh} I'll try to put up some of our trip.]

We would really love to see them Asy. If you need any help owing to the vagaries of the board, just ask.

Love the sound of Wellington's Nose! Thank goodness it was only his nose :lol

Do you like Jane? Kate directs me, and she's very good too.

We have a love-hate relationship with Jane, she is very bossy and always knows best but so does Mr M so sometimes arguments ensue. :bash

There is always a note of slight but very well-bred panic in her voice when she cries 'Take the Exit!' for the second time.

A friend has a similar but updated model as mine, both of us using the same voice. If I cancel a route, Kate says nothing, but if the friend does the same, she says "Route cancelled" in a rather petulant voice. I think she may eventually add ".. and on your head be it."

If we go against Jane's advice she keeps her voice low but urgent as she urges us to 'Make a U-turn when possible!' but you can hear a thread of underlying hysteria on the second go: 'MAKE a U-TURN'... ad then a disapproving silence falls.

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