A panoramic view of a disused quarry with sides of gorse, and a rocky outcrop, all blanketed in snow, with a distant hill partially shrouded in most.

Sliding into Oblivion: Adventures in Cliff Rigg Quarry

Ah, Twelfth Night at last—perhaps now we can be rid of those garish Christmas lights for another ten months, though no doubt someone will cling to their festive cheer until next month.

After all the news programmes whipped themselves into a frenzy last might over the impending snowstorm and freezing rain, waking up here in Cleveland to quite a pitiful covering, what the Scots might call a fyoonach, was less than thrilling. By the time daylight began to pierce the gloom, the snow had already begun its vanishing act. Was it all just a tease?

The slog across the soggy fields to Roseberry was everything one dreams of—if one dreams of wet feet and mud. Once again I could resort to the Scots dialect for a more descriptive word of trudging laboriously through snow — meggle. At least, after a hundred metres of ascent, there was a faint attempt at proper snow. Not the dry, powdery kind, of course, but something slightly less than wet. How utterly invigorating.

Descending through virgin snow into the old whinstone quarry at Cliff Rigg might have been fun, had it not turned into a grim exercise in futility. Like a hapless insect in a pitcher plant, I slid back down the subnivean shale slope three times, questioning my life choices with each graceless slither. Crampons would have been useful, but no, I made do with grasping gorse bushes, which were as pleasant as one might imagine. A delightful outing all round.


Posted

in

, ,

by

Tags:

Comments

2 responses to “Sliding into Oblivion: Adventures in Cliff Rigg Quarry”

  1. marlies avatar
    marlies

    🙂

  2. Chris avatar

    Thanks – very amusing! 😅 You got a good photograph, though.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *