The Money Pit.
Hawker Hurricane Z2801 on Cotherstone Moor
(Distance covered =
2.5 mile/Ascent =+90m)
Another short one meant that the Grandson could tag along again. We had visited a couple more crashsites* in this area a week or so earlier and were going to do this one as well, but the little man had suffered a bit of car sickness and was not in the mood for walking so we left this one for another day.
The weather was very pleasant when we parked at a carpark at the far end of the dam at the eastern end of Balderhead Reservoir. We set off up a landrover track that passed by a small group of farm buildings, before we reached those there was a gate with a sign attached to it stating that the moor, in the area we were wanting to be, was out of bounds to the general public. We were starting to resign ourselves to the fact that this one was going to be an 'FTF' before we'd even started but on re-reading the sign we noticed it was out of date and the only restrictions currently in place was 'No Dogs'.
The little car park next to Balderhead Reservoir.
Above and below:-Off up the track.
Past the gate with the restrictions sign
with Blackton Reservoir and Hury reservoir in the background.
above and below:- Early enthusiasm still going strong.
Early enthusiasm gone!
After his early enthusiasm ran out, as an incentive to keep him walking without whinging his Dad told him that he would give him 50p for every bit of aeroplane he found once we got to the crashsite. This incentive did the trick and he walked the rest of the way with little drama.
Above and below:-As well as being a short walk there was also a landrover track to follow for 95% of the way.
As it was such a nice sunny day we did think about extending our little walk by heading over to Red Gill Moss so Stuart and Theo could see the wreckage of a Curtiss Tomahawk that crashed over there**. We decided against that option as it would have involved an extra 6 mile of walking over unknown terrain.
The bump in the distance is called Shacklesborough,
we also contemplated having at walk over to that.
We had to exit stage left from the track here.
above and below:-On Cotherstone Moor approaching the location where the Hurricane crashed.
We had a 10 digit reference number for this one so the site was quite easy to locate despite there being no wreckage immediately visible on the surface. There was however a very discernable depression and a quick run over with the metal detector confirmed we were at the right spot.
above and below:- Two views of the general area where Hurricane Z2801 ended it's final flight, the Pilot had bailed out before it crashed.
above and next two photos:-Although not clear on these photos there is a distinctive crater/depression to show where the aircraft impacted.
There was one bit of the Hurricane sticking up out of the reeds, not much to see but I was quite happy with that as it meant it could be added to my 'crashsites found' list. Theo however had remembered his Dad's offer of 50p for every bit of aeroplane that he found so he started going over the area with the metal detector to see if there was anything else hidden in the vegetation.
Stuart locating the piece sticking up out of the ground.
After getting a very strong signal at one specific point he proceeded to pull aside a big clump of moss and underneath it was a void which contained numerous pieces of wreckage. I think when he eventually became bored with pulling pieces out his Dad owed him about £20. The group who originally discovered this site in 2016 had found all these pieces and then put them all into one hole when they left, which had then became overgrown with moss in the interim years, and that's what Theo had found.
above and below:-Theo busy pulling bits of Hurricane out of the hole.
Instead of following the landrover track back to the carpark we straight lined it over the moor which made this short walk even shorter. This was the 7th crashsite Theo has been to now, and so far he has maintained a 100% record for finding something.
Above and next two photos:-Arriving back at the little carpark, campervans are allowed to overnight here for a modest fee!
