1965 replies to this topic

[RiSuther]

Thanks Jamie. I'll take it.

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I'm looking for the name of this famous mountain and hoping it hasn't been done before. It's a wee mountain but worth its weight in gold.

[RiSuther]

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Next zoom level and another clue:

This saintly mount is a pilgrimage site in a temperate region.

[RiSuther]

Keywords: pilgrimage, mountain, gold

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Though not officially clothing-optional, the climb on Reek Sunday has folks removing shoes and shirts.

[birdseye]

Ah yes. That would be Croagh Patrick, in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.

In this imagery, North is to the left.

[RiSuther]

Ah yes. That would be Croagh Patrick, in County Mayo on the west coast of Ireland.

In this imagery, North is to the left.

Right on, birdseye.

This is the site where St. Patrick in 441 A.D. was said to have fasted for 40 days. There is a chapel on the summit to commemorate this. It was also a significant site in pagan culture as evidenced by the Celtic Hill Fort. The mountain was shown to have gold deposits but mining is prohibited due to the cultural significance of the site.

Over to you.

[birdseye]

The key was a mountain that was a pilgrimage destination in a temperate climate. It wasn't Mont St-Michel, so.... but that's pretty interesting about the gold there.

For our next spot: the white things that cast such long shadows are visible day and night for miles around, and they are functional day and night, 24/7, operated via remote control by people about 800 miles away.

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[birdseye]

Pulling back a bit, we can see many more of those white things--perhaps two-thirds of the total number onsite. Also visible now is a bit of a hint as to the setting.

For a hint as to what this is all about: You've probably figured out that this place has something to do with communication. The installation was built in the 1960s to transmit extremely specialized communication throughout the Atlantic, Arctic, and Mediterranean regions. It is still in constant use and may be the most powerful such station on the planet.

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[pghardy]

Pulling back a bit, we can see many more of those white things--perhaps two-thirds of the total number onsite. Also visible now is a bit of a hint as to the setting. For a hint as to what this is all about: You've probably figured out that this place has something to do with communication. The installation was built in the 1960s to transmit extremely specialized communication throughout the Atlantic, Arctic, and Mediterranean regions. It is still in constant use and may be the most powerful such station on the planet.

Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station in Cutler, Maine?

[birdseye]

Yes, exactly! The Cutler Array on the coast of downeast Maine is one of three VLF (Very Low Frequency) transmission installations operated by the U.S. Navy to maintain secure communication with ships and especially submarines at sea. This one includes the tallest towers (two are just under 1,000 feet in height) and most powerful signal in hopes of reaching vessels far above the Arctic Circle, where electromagnetic pulses from the aurora borealis can overwhelm normal communication technology. The messages sent from Cutler originate from, and are encrypted at, a naval base in Norfolk, Virginia; the only personnel actually working at Cutler are civilians in a maintenance crew.

A geometric curiosity: the array operates as two completely separate double rings of towers, linked by a "bowtie" in the middle of the installation, at the building housing the site's electrical generator. Each of the double rings can be closed down separately as necessary for maintenance. However, it has been determined that the electromagnetic field here is so powerful that sustained work in the "bowtie" area is not safe even when one ring of towers or the other is offline; as a result, the generator housing and the four towers closest to it have not been repainted since the installation opened in 1961. Recently, the maintenance contractor requested a four-month total shutdown for painting; the navy refused.

And a historical curiosity: the very first naval battle in U.S. history, in 1775, was fought in the waters of Machias Bay, just to the left of the birdseye view here. The night photo was taken from the far side of the bay, about two miles from the towers.

Looking forward to your contribution now.....
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[pghardy]

This is an an ingenious workround to a regional geophysics problem.

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[pghardy]

Here's a bit wider view. The workround to the geophysical 'problem' I'm looking for is because something that happens in most maritime areas is rather bigger here. The coast to the East is also interesting because of a different sort of geophysics, and in the 1920s was almost the start of a major industry.

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[pghardy]

Some wider landscape including the hills that give this region its name. There is a steam railway running through the town. The coast is also famed for fossils.

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[Hans van der Maarel]

I would imagine it's a lock to prevent the harbor from draining at low tide, so an area with extreme tidal ranges. Somehow the images seem to scream "England" at me, but there's very little areas of generally E-W coasts there. The fact there's a steam train running doesn't narrow it down all that much

[DaveB]

Credit should really go to Hans. His clues really helped me zoom right in on the spot. (although Paul's clues about fossils and the tidal/geophysical bit helped, too)
That's the marina at Watchet, England.

[pghardy]

That's the marina at Watchet, England.

It is indeed Watchet - see attachment below for location, which has the southernmost bit of Wales at the top. To be precise, it's not a lock, but a mechanical sill (or cill), raised automatically to keep the boats afloat in the inner harbour as the water level drops as the tide goes out. They need it because Watchet is on the Bristol Channel, with tidal range up to 7 metres (22ft) there - much more than most world coasts.

The other geophysics mentioned is the coast just to the east, which is The Beach that Burns - which in the 1920s had an early industry at Kilve, using a retort to extract oil from the shale rocks (long before they thought of 'fracking'). Now it's a protected nature reserve. The coast also has a good range of fossils.

Inland are the Quantock Hills, and the whole area is known as 'The Quantocks'. The steam railway is the West Somerset.

Watchet is an interesting little town and port. For a bonus point, can anyone link This sculpture on Watchet waterfront, with another poem that might have been longer had not 'a person' passed through Watchet, from his home just west, to call on someone in a village just to the east (both named in the attached map)?

Dave, you're up next!

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