there's an old myth
near long compton is a hill with an iron-age formation of standing stones.according to legend you can count them as many times as you like and never come up with the same number.i really like this legend,i first read it when i was knee-high to a grasshopperand it's stuck with me.
i'm going there this weekend ; how quickly do you think i'll realise that this myth is bullshit,thus shattering the tentative grasp i've got on the hope that there is magic out there and adding to a less-than-brilliant week?
(Fuckpig "That's not even a pound a midget.", Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:41, 14 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

That all depends on several things...
Can you count?
Can you remember things?
Are you going to be drunk?
( Cawl, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:46, Reply)

Rolright stones, no? (possibly sic)
I've been there and it's an atmospheric place, although far too close to a main road and vandalised a couple of years ago. Good, but overhyped..go north to the NW of Brum or go south to Wiltshire for a better experience.

I counted the stones correctly on the second try.
(lost, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:49, Reply)

Is there some trick?
Like, they're actually gravel?
( Cawl, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:50, Reply)

Hmmm..
..nearby is Belas Knapp (NW end of the Cotswolds) if you can stick the steep walk uphill. Climb inside the main cavity during a storm and have a smoke..
(lost, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:50, Reply)

Cavity?
I'm not going in any damn cave.
I fucking hate caves.
( Cawl, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:52, Reply)

@kaol
I just like these places. There's something cool about massive lumps of rock moved 1000s of years ago to make weird formations in what are often very picturesque locations. Was surprised to find someone else on b3ta with the same interest..
(lost, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:52, Reply)

not really a cave..
..more the space of the inside of a MG midget, with a large opening to the sunset. Convient stones for seats. Great place!

probably not for the claustrophobic
(lost, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:54, Reply)

Fair enough!
I agree that places like that are amazing though.

I went to a few in Cornwall last Summer, they were cool :)

I just hate being underground.
My rubbish ex decided that it'd be a good idea to "help me get over it" by taking me to some mountain in Scotland that had a powerstation in it. And was a half a bloody mile underground.
Not nice.
( Cawl, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 22:56, Reply)

Free rum
if you get up early on the right day and count them. Went with my Dad once and ended up getting stuck talking to the local Vicar. :-((((((((((( x 1 million billion.

Edit: Slacked off for a few years but well into that sort of thing if anyone else is - Warwickshire especially.
(Oil Slick, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 23:08, Reply)

We should camp out for a bash..
..ideally at Belas Knap.. hands down the greatest sort of place like that I've been to. Properly spooky, in a good invigorating way - you have no choice but to let go to the weirdness. Google the name for my review of the first time.. and Winchcombe - the local village - is widely regarded as the most haunted place in Britain. I reackon Kaol wouldn't get too freaked out - it's not really a cave at all.
(lost, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 23:41, Reply)

Haunted?
Sounds like good Kaol Black inspiration :D
( Cawl, Tue 2 Dec 2008, 23:43, Reply)

I know a good lost valley type thing
down in Cornwall. a series of cave type things mostly open to the air at the top, albeit narrowly.

At Porthcothan. also home of the best campsite in the world.
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Wed 3 Dec 2008, 9:53, Reply)

Callanish, Isle of Lewis
Simply stunning: a Google image search backs me up. Not so much spooky as just beautiful.

*is something of an expert on pre-Roman British religion and neolithic monuments*
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Wed 3 Dec 2008, 14:19, Reply)

@ lost
Belas Knapp is brilliant. Apart from the obvious draw of the barrow (and the inevitable Goth poetry that always seems to be found in one of the recesses) the night sky up there is amazing. There's the usual bollocks spoken about it being being on top of ley lines and being used as a flight path for UFOs, but I have to say I've seen more shooting stars sat up there than anywhere else I've ever been.

In fact the whole area is lousy with history - you've got the Iron Age hill forts on Crickley Hill and Nottingham Hill, the Roman villa ruins on Cleeve Hill, more barrows up near Birdlip and standing stones littering the Cotswolds.

P.S. - you're wrong about Winchombe being the most haunted place in Britain, it's Prestbury that claims to be that. Winchombe has got bugger all apart from an overabundance of 4X4s and the most inbreeding you'll outside of the Forest of Dean...

Edit: @ Koal - I've just remembered there's supposed to be a big cat roaming about up there as well actually, so if the caves put you off you can always indulge your cryptozoology habit.
(Frank., Wed 3 Dec 2008, 18:28, Reply)