Month: April 2020
-
Finnhamn
It occurred to me that I haven’t posted any international photos. I’ve just stuck to the British Isles which of course includes Ireland. So to rectify that little oversight, here’s one from our visit in 2006 to the Stockholm archipelago, a myriad islands hugging the western edge of the Baltic Sea. In fact, there are…
-
Simon Howe on Goathland Moor
It was on this day, 29th April 1770, that Great Ayton’s famous son, Captain James Cook landed at Botany Bay in Australia and “with the Consent of the Natives” claimed the whole continent “in the Name of the King of Great Britain“. Now whether Cook actually discussed the matter with the aboriginals is a moot…
-
The Battle of Rannerdale
Nicholas Size, in his 1930’s novel ‘The Secret Valley’, tells the story of Norman attempts to quell the armed resistance of the Norse settlers of Lakeland. In the 1070’s Boethar the Younger chose Buttermere valley as his base to defend Lakeland and to carry out guerrilla attacks against the Normans. Before the modern road around…
-
Carrauntoohil from Cnoc na Toinne
Have we really been in lockdown for 35 days? That’s 5 weeks! Now, where can I go today? Haven’t been to Ireland for a while. At 3,407 ft. high, Carrauntoohil is the highest mountain in Ireland and the centrepiece of that wonderfully named mountain range, the MacGillycuddy’s Reeks. The name, Carrauntoohil, is an Anglicisation of…
-
North Ridge of Tryfan
I have not done much in Wales. Just a handful of visits really. I’ll always remember my Dad declaring that it always rains in Wales. Besides the Lakes are much nearer. Tryfan is in the Glyderau mountain range, the Glyders. Many consider it to be the finest mountain in Wales, one which requires scrambling to…
-
Calgary Bay
The Gaelic name for this idyllic beach of white sands is Cala ghearraidh, the ‘beach of the meadow’, which has been anglicised to Calgary. Like many other Scottish Highland communities, those at Cala ghearraidh were evicted, the land cleared and given over to sheep. This would probably have been in around 1817 when the Mornish estate…
-
The Mass Trespass, the Pennine Way, and some new Corona Restrictions
The Kinder Scout Plateau is dotted with Gritstone boulders and rocks of all sizes that, over the ages, have been sculpted by the wind and the rain, many taking on animalistic shapes. This day marks the anniversaries of two important events in the history of access to the hills and mountains that we take for…
-
Blakethwaite Smelt Mill
The name Gunnerside, in the Yorkshire Dales, derives from two elements: ‘Gunnarr‘ a Norse personal name and ‘saetr‘ meaning a summer pasture. Through the village flows Gunnerside Gill which was once a hive of industrial activity with several leads mines operating along the narrow dale. The Blakethwaite Mine began in 1806 operated by Thomas Chippindale…
-
Remains of old forest, Gleann Sithidh
Today is Earth Day 2020, an event which I fear will go largely unheeded. Without doubt Corvid 19 is a global crisis yet we are in another global crisis which is not happening so fast, but it is happening all the same. Climate change. The theme for this 50th anniversary of Earth Day is climate…
-
Loft Crag from Pike o’ Stickle
The Langdale Pikes is perhaps the best-known skyline in the Lake District. From Great Langdale, the towering pikes of Harrison Stickle, Loft Crag and Pike o’ Stickle are dramatic and majestic and were an early attraction for the first tourists. One such tourist was Joseph Budworth, a soldier and writer who travelled to the Lake…