Ed Note: Senior volunteer Warren Strotroen shares his experience with Earthwatch Institute.
The windswept moor looked just like any other, with grouse shooting stations scattered along one side and sheep grazing on the hillsides of heather and thyme. But, when we looked a little closer we saw outlines of ancient ring houses, terraces and cairns scattered across the whole area! These had recently become visible when the moor was burned to provide new heather forthe grouse. The Earthwatch expedition was ENGLAND’S HIDDEN KINGDOM in the scenic Yorkshire Dales National Park and the research site was on Dolemire Moor with wonderful views of surrounding moors and the village of Grassington in the dale!
This was an archeology project, but our mid-September team wasn’t digging – we were surveying and mapping ancient ring house sites on top of the moor and collecting core samples of ancient pollen from the peat bog near it’s base. The site may have predated both the local kingdom of Craven from around 400AD, and the prior Roman occupation.
I took a train from London to arrive two days early at Skipton, our rendezvous point, to visit some of the scenic and historically significant sights. After a comfortable night in a small hotel I toured the interesting and well preserved Skipton Castle and visited the local historical museum, and then joined two other volunteers, Julie and Gwynne, for a nice dinner at a local pub. Lorri, another senior volunteer joined us the next morning for a visit to nearby Bolton Abbey ruins, before the rendezvous with Roger Martlew, the Principal Investigator and the other volunteers. We then boarded the van for a winding and scenic trip to the village of Kettlewell and the Dale House, our base for the project.
What a wonderful, enthusiastic group of volunteers we had! All enjoyed working with Roger who led the surveying/mapping team on the high moor, and Margaret Atherden who led the peat bog team taking core samples and searching for ancient stumps. Most of my work was on the surveying team, but we all enjoyed time on both teams. Members of both teams learned quickly, worked hard and successfully accomplished the objectives of the expedition!
The Cottage Tea House next door prepared all meals, including packed lunches, and served breakfast and dinner in the Dale House dining room. Dinners were excellent, including such main courses as roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, lamb casserole and Scottish salmon, and always included great soups and desserts! We took turns providing wine for the dinners.
The Blue Bell Pub was just down the street and was popular with local residents, so we spent several evenings there mingling with the clientele and having a pint of bitters or a drop of single-malt scotch. On their popular quiz night our group entered two teams and one of the teams (not mine) won!
This was a great expedition and several of the non-retired volunteers said it was the best “vacation” they’d ever had! They asked if I would suggest an expedition in 2008. I recommended PREHISTORIC PUEBLOS OF THE AMERICAN SOUTHWEST, so three of them plus the husband of one joined me, the senior volunteer on that team in October! They enjoyed the experience in New Mexico and proposed getting together for DOLPHINS OF GREECE in October of 2009, so again I joined the enthusiastic team of Julie, Jeff, Laura and Lorri in Athens for some sightseeing and then a bus ride to the scenic fishing village of Vonitsa on Amvrakikos Gulf for the very wonderful and rewarding dolphin research project! Quite the life for a senior volunteer.