[00:00] This was meant to be a video about dry stone walling. It is actually a video about two nerds piling up some rocks. joined by a friend for this stop of the road trip.
[00:14] First, Dave, who runs the academy. And second, taking a brief stop away from her work as an astrophysicist
[00:26] who also runs a YouTube channel about space. We had a competition: which one of us was going to be better Walls like these are all over the country,
[00:40] Even if you’ve never paid attention to them, So, I set up some cameras, Dave got to work teaching us the basics, and I’m now going to try and cut down a half hour of training
[00:54] This is a fairly traditional sort of dry stone wall in so much as so, two sides to it. so, whether it’s the first one, the second one,
[01:09] every single stone that you place, “Dry stone wall” means a wall that is made of just stone.
[01:22] well, possibly centuries? using nothing but roughly shaped rocks. we don’t put any mortar in it,
[01:35] That’s the name. Dave had five basic principles Number one, lock every big stone in place
[01:49] Some people, depending where you are in the country, might call it a wedge. A shim if you’re a DIYer, I guess.
[02:01] Yes, call it what you like, but I call it a pin. So, we’re not going to put it in the side, we’re not going to put it in the front, Just to be clear on that, because it went very fast:
[02:15] and it must not be sticking out towards That got drilled into us a few times. Dry stone walling is a human endeavour.
[02:31] Maybe they will, maybe they won’t. But it’s a human endeavour. and we’re putting the bit of stone in the place that we can feel with our hands.
[02:44] You put down a stone, whether that’s on the ground or on top of another stone, If it moves even slightly, It should be, well, rock solid.
[02:58] If I can ask you to imagine haven’t been built yet. And what we’ve done is we’ve placed these stones and pinned them,
[03:11] So, if you can imagine, Contrary to what people have said to me a million times,
[03:23] It’s the opposite of a jigsaw. has only one space that it can fit. You build the two sides of the wall,
[03:37] you lock everything in with bulk and mass. Or some people call it hearting. You’re putting the heart of the wall in.
[03:49] So, what we’re doing is we’re going to put other stones into that space. So, can you see in your mind’s eye   that meandering river of space? We’re swapping the space for stone.
[04:03] We’re putting as much stone in the space, ’Cos the second enemy of a dry stone wall So, the first one was movement, and the second one is space.
[04:19] If you’ve ever built with Lego, then you know this already: because that’s a weak point. When I’m thinking about creating this structure,
[04:33] knitting the structure. Because building to me is block, block, block, block, blocky, isn’t it? It’s...
[04:45] Some of the stones should be through stones that connect both sides. linking longer distances laterally within the wall. You want gravity to help you, to keep everything locked together with friction,
[04:59] If you’ve just built two sides with random rocks and put some stuff in the middle... So, whether gravity is your friend or your foe depends on how you’ve built it. your train tracks and just stacked the stones up there,
[05:16] ’cos it’s going to exacerbate your problem. and so gravity, that pull, will help to force... Centre of mass is going to move outside, whole thing’s going to tumble down.
[05:31] Rule number four of five: the sides of the wall are not vertical. Now, for some reason, that somebody will tell me one day,
[05:43] There’s a distance, quite a considerable distance, So, if that’s vertical, this structure before it even gets to vertical,
[05:56] That’s one of the reasons that these walls are so stable. partly because they use the most stable shape, if you just dropped a pile of rocks in a place.
[06:11] it’ll hold together. Becky and I would not have to worry about that. but for completeness...
[06:24] the simplest and equally the best, is to just plonk...technical term. So, that they, like this one,
[06:39] So, it is effectively a through stone. Our old friend friction will step in and hold the whole thing together. So how are they not all tipping over? Is there just one stable one at the end?
[06:53] Right! Okay. Sure. two wooden constructions, connected by string on the ground. but also, it helps with that angle, the batter.
[07:09] Say, for the sake of argument, you’ve now done a row of stones, as we discussed earlier on. “and I want to build on top of that row of stones.”
[07:24] And as you move that string up, guess what? And so, provided you use the strings correctly, So, as you’re building up,
[07:39] is you want to be putting your stone as close as you can to the string, All right? So, you can start in your own sections.  -Yep.
[07:55] You know exactly how to build a dry stone wall, so I’m expecting... Do I just plop it down and schmuf it in?  -Pin every stone. And our supplies for pinning are there and there.
[08:12] You’ve got buckets, you’ve got a load of packing and pins. There is stone all over the place.  -Yep. So, everything now has been very prescriptive.
[08:27] There are...there is the laws of physics. So, I’m going to let you make a start. We had until the camera batteries ran out to build...
[08:43] and if you build fast, I think the obvious question is, (laughing) That’s not my obvious question.
[08:57] I’ll go for how you ended up running a dry stone walling academy? I had a 35-year career doing...
[09:09] things not related in any way, shape or form to dry stone walling. And I didn’t really know what to do. I love walking, love the Lake District, you know, love mountains.
[09:24] -Oh, especially in the Lake District.   -Especially in the Lake District. And, yeah, so it just kind of dawned on me that, you know what, So, I ended up paying a dry stone waller to teach me.
[09:40] I just didn’t really know how else to do it. And so I learned, and then I started building walls myself. And then I had this memory of how difficult I found it
[09:52] And I thought, do you know what, maybe people would like to come on a course. Seven years or so down the line, we’re up to nearly 700 people through the course.
[10:07] Is that a pin in the side? I thought we weren’t putting pins in that side. Right, okay, yeah.
[10:22] No, I’d just forgotten that. I don’t know how I forgot that, he said it three times. because then you can’t put another stone right next to it.
[10:37] which I’m not sure was valid, -Ooh, there’s a fossil in this one!   -Oh, nice. Can you see it?
[10:51] That’ll focus, but... We do need a freeze, zoom and enhance on there, but yes, fossil! If you gain a lot of satisfaction from making a table or a chair
[11:04] when you sit down at a restaurant not wobbly, by folding a load of beer mats and putting it under the leg of the table... ....then you’ll really enjoy dry stone walling.
[11:17] so I need to pin... and possibly there as well. All right. it now is wobbly.
[11:31] they’re not designed to hoik the stone up. You’re filling little gaps to stop it from moving.
[11:43] but as soon as I start adding a second leve-- that’s wobbly...! I find dry stone walling a little bit of a leg out of bed, Have you not heard that one?
[11:58] and leave one leg out of the...   -No, you guys are too young. You’re too young, you don’t know all these old sayings. I’ve got a son your age.
[12:12] You’re ageing better than I am. -No, I...yes!  -Hey! Yeah. It’s that age where you start to think you know everything,
[12:28] That’s been my entire life. That’s been my entire life. In my defence, I can’t find any evidence of that idiom... But there are plenty of old-fashioned and local English phrases
[12:43] dry stone walling doesn’t really fit into one category. Anyone who comes on our courses would be
[12:55] with the idea that dry stone walling is a trade. -Yeah, any other building or...  -Correct.
[13:08] especially seeing like a lot of the dry stone walls in the Lakes and stuff. Each region of England that has dry stone walls has a slightly different style. Other parts of the UK, Europe, the world, all have their own variants too.
[13:23] watching this video and going, “Ooh, you forgot about this”, There are different schools of dry stone walling. What do I do with this? Is this a bad place?
[13:38] It’s flat as anything, but there’s no pin in there at all. -You can’t find a space for a pin?  -I can’t find a space for a pin. because I like to stand up and say that every single stone I’ve ever laid...
[13:57] and I do, and hand on heart, I have pinned, Now you might say, “Oh, you’re just doing that for effect.” I’m not, because what’s more important to me is the habit.
[14:11] So, absolutely drilled-in habit.  -Yep. She’s trying to get some extra points by doing through stones, I didn’t think they were long enough, but I thought,
[14:24] You do. You do learn by trying. I was somewhat copying the homework there and then realised, no, hold on, ...that doesn’t work.
[14:37] You haven’t got enough space on either end of that to put another stone in. Right. Now you’re cooking on gas. Do I need to find stones to fill that now?
[14:50] What you’re trying to do there is probably a non-starter. It’s just not long enough. -Okay.   -And it’s too long to enable you to...
[15:04] -So, something like this, where...?  -Yes. and it’s bridging, but I need to fill that gap, presumably. So, that needs to be packed.
[15:19] or do I just keep...? But this is, I mean, this is coming on okay-- absolutely fine. It’s...it’s, yeah.
[15:34] What we want to be a bit careful of, despite the really good attempts, There’s not enough, there’s too much space, yeah. Yeah, we could end up going down the train tracks route.
[15:48] And I’ll find a longer one that I can put... is make sure you’ve packed the work you’ve already done. It’s desperately keen.
[16:00] That’s the discipline of dry stone walling, is that you... ...is that, you know, it takes time to pack.
[16:12] In fact, one of the things that I think most people are surprised about is, it’s a bit dull, you know, but... “Oh, I have to do this with patience and time and rehearsal.”
[16:30] Yeah, absolutely. This one’s got a really cool bit of quartz running through. I don’t know if I can even hold that up to the camera to show people.
[16:42] The good news is, though, that once you get in the right brain space, Just really meditative. Flow state.
[16:55] You get it in, for me, programming, coding, anything like that. But all sorts of artistic work, thinking work, anything like that. But also physical stuff like this.  -Yes, yeah.
[17:10] Where the rest of the brain kind of just goes and floats away from... Whoa, spider! Sorry. -Yeah, that’s right.  -And you’re completely out of it.
[17:22] Oh, it’s the tiniest little spider on the planet. Put that rock down, sorry, Mr Spider. You’ll get that from this.
[17:34] it can just fly by. Have you noticed any difference putting stones on stones There’s much less give, which is an obvious thing to say.
[17:49] But if your lower stones are moving around, you’ve got a big problem. It’s good, but it’s not pinned yet.
[18:05] Oh, yeah! -So, this is limestone.  -Limestone. What I love about dry stone walls is that they’re oddly nostalgic to me,
[18:19] in a sense, ’cos I mean, I grew up in Lancashire And even at, sort of, eight years old,  like I would notice the difference versus in the Lake District, just because,
[18:32] and with how they’re built with such thin, thin slate rocks and everything, it can really transport you like up there just from a dry stone wall,
[18:45] Well, it’s part of the tapestry of large swathes of the country, isn’t it? It is a very British thing.
[18:57] people didn’t move very much.   -No. So, if you worked, if you were a dry stone waller, you know, you’re not going to use a trailer to start lugging stone
[19:11] you’re going to be working in your vicinity. Oh! So, your style is going to be your region’s style. You’d only have to drive a handful of miles
[19:24] Yours is looking a lot neater than mine is, I’ll tell you that. Dry stone walls get points for sturdiness.
[19:36] -Well, yeah, there’s the two...   -But maybe mine’s too regular. That’s been jiggling for ages, and I could not find a way to lock it in.
[19:49] -Fun.   -Is it enjoyable or frustrating? My brain’s treating it like a complicated 3D logic puzzle, It’s one with an endless number of possible solutions.
[20:07] Yeah, yeah. That’s a good... -Which kind of sounds like science to me.  -I was gonna say it sounds like life. you have, especially with astrophysics, where, you know, people say,
[20:20] that you can repeat that’s testable and repeatable. and you have to, you know, find the best hypothesis And not all of them will be the best fit,
[20:35] and so you just have to figure out what is, you know, the best one. so I’m kind of more okay with this than I thought I would be. -Really?   -...very soon.
[20:49] is doing a lot of work there. I mean, that’s very soon in an astrophysicist’s perspective. So, say if you want to build a moon base,
[21:01] you’re going to need to build a launch pad of some form. to protect your moon base from your launch pad. All you have to work with is lunar regolith. Exactly that.
[21:15] Because otherwise you’re having to start shipping rocks to the moon, Yeah, that does sound expensive. And so if you’ve got lunar regolith
[21:28] because water is obviously very in short supply, How I’m reading what you’re saying is that actually -It’s the moon, you know?  -Yeah, do it.
[21:42] You know that, what was it, Armageddon?  -Armageddon, yeah. You can be the new, I was gonna say Bruce Willis, At which point, the batteries on the cameras started to expire.
[21:56] Because dry stone walling is a slow process, even the best, or maybe the fastest, professional dry stone waller So, with two piles of rocks to judge,
[22:10] Which one of us was the more promising dry stone waller? You’ve listened to what I’ve said in terms of getting pinning and the packing, You’ve paid, you’ve paid good attention to that.
[22:26] I would call them rustic. I think rustic is a nice word, isn’t it? -You know, and certainly, I’m pleased.   -I said all I was going for was aesthetic.
[22:39] I was going for something that didn’t fall over, so... What I’m also loving is that you’ve both been really thoughtful for the ecology. So, that you’ve got plenty of space for mice and things to get in.
[22:52] Right, yep. I’ve just realised that I have not looked at this side of the wall once. Oh! That side’s, that side’s great.
[23:05] Great, did you say great? But this is marginally better in terms of the structure. I would say, this is marginally better.
[23:22] Good game, good game, good game. If you’d like to see the next episode of this series right now, very soon you’ll be able to see me on Jet Lag: The Game!
[23:36] I’m almost certain it’s August 19th. Japanorama, because we go see all of Japan.
[23:48] From the southernmost to the northernmost train station. Well, there's the Layover podcast.  -There is. Which will be covered with B-roll right now as I tell you...
[24:03] ...that Nebula subscriptions are currently 50% off. -Damn! uh, it’s a very good deal.  -$30 for a month? -That’s outrageous! -I know!
[24:15] Damn. Thank you, folks! It was a pleasure to be on the season. Next time, or right now on Nebula: I visit an attraction
[24:28] that is legally required to get me a little bit wet.