Tag: cliffs
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Skinningrove
When ‘J.G.’ passed through Skinningrove bay in 1866 on his way from Saltburn to Whitby, the village must have looked very different. The stone built houses were set back from the shore, to give some shelter from the North Sea; the rows of terraced cottages had still to be built. To visualise it best, it’s…
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Bullers of Buchan
“The Pot”, once a massive sea cave with a collapsed roof. A buller is a whirlpool or in this case, it refers to the bellowing noise coming from The Pot as the sea roars through the arch. There is a local legend of a fisherman, in his boat one evening seeing a mermaid at the…
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Old Kirk Shore
Woke up to a sea fret but by the time I set off to explore the coastline north of the former fishing town of Stonehaven, it was well on the way to clearing. Stonehaven can just be made out through the mist. The coast comprises vegetated cliffs which form the eastern end of the Highland…
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Huntcliff, Saltburn
A dramatic farewell for Cleveland Way walkers as they begin their descent into Saltburn and turn west inland. Huntcliff rises 110 metres above the North Sea. Ironstone and sandstone strata form the upper shear cliff with softer mudstones lower down, all laid down in the Jurassic geological time period. The cliffs are losing a constant…
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Cuchullin’s Leap
Crossed the Shannon into County Clare. Cuchullin’s Leap at Loop Head is an impressive cleft in the headland, in theory, creating an island but I didn’t look over to see if there was actually water entirely along the bottom. The story goes that Mal, a local witch, fell in love with Cuchullin who was not…
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Dunlough Bay
Even on a calm day, the rolling waves of the Atlantic produce plenty of white water around the sea cliffs north of Mizen Head, the most south-westerly point of Ireland. Truly spectacular. The rocks of the cliffs are sedimentary sandstones and mudstones layered by million years of deposition with synclines and anticlines folding. Link to…
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Stop that pigeon
Catch the pigeon
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Kettleness Alum Works
The alum works at Kettleness has completely transformed the promontory jutting out into the North Sea. It resembles a moonscape where nothing much grows even after the 150 years sinceĀ the last alum was produced. Work started in the early 18th century. There are few remains. MuchĀ have been lost to the sea. It is only a…