Month: August 2016
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Brothersâ Parting Stone
âIt was pretty grim on Fairfield today. I had expected an hour an an half to kill waiting for my DoE group to summit so I put on all my spare clothes, got the bivvy out, and hunkered down behind the low summit shelter to listen to a Radio 4 podcast. Half an hour later…
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The Grot and The Waterfall
âThe best part of this game is when I discover something new and unexpected. I have never seen Rydal Hall before hidden away in its wooded grounds. I new it existed of course. It says so on the map. I didn’t even know there was a campsite in Rydal. Hidden away in its grounds, on…
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Thorneythwaite
âBorrowdale, one of the wettest places in England. The hamlet at the bottom of the photo is Seatoller nestling at the foot of Honistor Pass. And the farm left of centre is Thorneythwaite, the National Trust’s latest acquisition. Besides the fields the 300 acres of land the Trust has brought includes woodland, fellside, wood pasture…
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Crag Hill
âThere’s always been a sense of permanence about Ordnance Survey triangulation points. Manmade clutter on the hills yet viewed upon with some affection. They’ve been immortalised in the drawings of Wainwright and in countless photographs that prove that folks have bagged the summit. So it’s sad when a trig point is no more. And a…
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Robinson's Cairn
âBelow Pillar Rock and overlooking the rewilding valley of Ennerdale. The copper plaque says it all: For the remembrance of John Wilson Robinson of Whinfell Hall in Lorton who died 1907 at Brigham one hundred of his comrades and friend raised this. He knew and loved as none other these native crags and fells. whence he drew simplicity strength and charm. âWe climb…
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Low Scawdel
Three days in the Central Fells of the Lake District which is a black hole as far as mobile reception is concerned. This is the view down the valley from Borrowdale YH on a sunny Thursday afternoon. Wispy clouds above Low Scawdel, a knoll on the slopes of High Spy.
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Greenhow Bank
A sultry evening view towards Botton Head where the forestry plantations are systematically being clear felled. The Ingleby Incline, a former railway incline, can be seen ascending the bank right to left. Greenhow Bank is capped by a series of crags and rock outcrops over a distance of a hundred metres or so. This crag, with…
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Pond on Great Ayton Moor
For all the whinging about the British weather there are not many days in the year when I actually end up running in the rain. I did so this morning. With poor visibility I headed up onto Great Ayton Moor intending to look at the heather and ended up by this pond. I’m not sure if it’s natural…
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Red Barns
I read somewhere that if Gertrude Bell had been born a man she would be as well known today as Lawrence of Arabia. Even so a film âQueen of the Desertâ has been made of her life played by Nicole Kidman. Writer, traveller and mountaineer, Gertrude survived more than 50 hours on a rope on…
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Capt.Cook's Monument
I recently read an article which suggests a Masonic connection to the obelisk and with the great man himself. Apparently obelisks symbolize the Egyptian sun god Amon Re and its cap  or ‘benben’ is actually a pyramid. Now a pyramid forms the basis of the Freemasonry symbol The Eye of Providence, a symbol which can be seen on the reverse of the Great…