Tag: coast
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How Long Is the Coast of Britain?
We took part in a Skype quiz yesterday and one of the questions asked was how long is the coastline of Britain. My first reaction was that this is variable. It surely depends on how small the measurement interval is. Thus, a measurement in a straight line directly to the headland on the far side…
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Beadnell
I suppose I am drawn to the sea, perhaps I am a thalassophile at heart, but not quite ‘sjøvant‘ as the Scandawegians would say, not being entirely at ease. I remember a works outing in 2003, a sailing trip from Hartlepool to the Farne Islands for the weekend. I was so bad, even though the…
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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…
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Isthmus between Port an-t Slaoichain and Port Bheathain
In Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Kidnapped‘ the hero, David Balfour is kidnapped and is shipwrecked landing up at Erraid on the Ross of Mull. The story then follows his journey back to Edinburgh to confront his wicked uncle. In June 2016 two mates, Bob and Andy, and I followed in the footsteps of Balfour, from Erraid…
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Overnight camp Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon 1997
This is a scanned image and to be quite honest, I am not 100% sure that it’s actually one of mine. I did do the 1997 Lowe Alpine Mountain Marathon with my eldest son, who would then have been 17. However neither he or I are in the photo and I can’t think why anyone…
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Fossilised Tree
MacCulloch’s Fossil Tree is a fairly popular tourist destination on the Isle of Mull although the trek in is not an easy stroll, certainly not for the faint-hearted. It is located at the western tip of the Ardmeanach peninsula. Parking is at Tioran and in our case a 6km cycle to the township of Burgh…
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Bamburgh Castle
Or should I say Bebbanburg, the ancestral home of Bernard Cornwell’s Uhtred in the book and film ‘The Last Kingdom‘? An Uhtred the Bold did exist, he was made Earl of Northumbria in 1006. But Cornwell’s Uhtred lived 140 years earlier. A long, long time ago, maybe the time of Uhtred, maybe before or maybe…
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Stratification at Jet Wyke
A step-change today in reducing my patch for wandering. No more nipping out in the car to distant hills. William ‘Strata’ Smith was born on this day 251 years ago. He went on to develop much of the current understanding of geological science as we know it today and became known as the father of…
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Saltburn darkening
Down to Saltburn for the end of the day. And so busy for a Sunday evening with the fish and chip shop doing a good trade in spite of Il Duce’s flying visit during the last election. Quickly forgotten. But oh so cold. Cold enough to freeze the tail, nose, ears and other parts of…
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Runswick Bay
Regarded as one of the quaintest of all the fishing villages of the Yorkshire coast but sadly not much fishing goes on from here now. I suspect there are not many cottages which have year-long residents. In the middle of the 19th-century, Runswick had 18 boats fishing for the herring and another 20 on the…