Ramparts at Avebury:-

If you follow the path round you come to the outer circle of stones complete with grazing sheep:-

Standing Stones from road:-

Inner circle of stones with people communing with the spirits of the past:-

The B 6278 road between Stanhope and Barnard Castle (see previous posts on those settlements) has a seriously sharp turn and then very steep climb just after Stanhope. Before long you are in middle of nowhere territory. Nothing but the road and moorland hills.

And then you come across the sheep. (Well we did.)

I eventually stopped for this photo to be taken. Earlier on there had been several sheep on the road but I managed to navigate past them going slowly before I thought there was a photo opportunity. (I noted the snow poles by the roadside while I was driving. You could almost be in Scotland):-

At least these two weren’t a hazard to drivers:-

Driving in upland Britain. Always an adventure.

Mind you I’ve come across sheep blocking the road before. Once on a trip up East Lomond (aka Falkland Hill) from Leslie to the pass at the top over to Falklkand. A whole flock was being moved from one field to another. They covered the road and there was no option but to stop. They were jumping and climbing all over each other but they must have had an excellent sense of space because they all passed the car without any of them touching it.

Once, on Wemyshall Road by Hill of Tarvit Mansion, there was a single sheep on the road which obviously thought the grass there would be sweeter than in the field.

And then there was Duirinish.

I hadn’t expected to find statues of sheep in Lockerbie town centre but there they were.

These two were across the street from the road the cinema is on:-

A bigger flock was bit further down the main street:-

The statues commemorate the throughput of sheep via the town’s sheep market. 30,000 to 50,000 according to the inscription in the stone to the front here (from the Gazetteer of Scotland 1832-1885.)

Apparently some locals complained about the expense and upheaval.

I quite liked them.