Tag: crag
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Recent rockfall, Roseberry
Spotted this morning, it must be fairly recent. Nothing untoward, just part of the natural weathering process. Imperceivable then suddenly … My first thought was that the enigmatic carved face of Roseberry was lying face-down but it’s actually on the lower crag. An odd carving, not exactly a Michelangelo but somehow quite intriguing. The big…
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Holly Tree Wall
That holly tree must be at least 35 years old. I remember it being there when I climbed a route on this face on Park Nab. The large flat field left of centre is a former cricket pitch. The Kildale Cricket Club was founded in 1902, and this field was offered to the club by…
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The “Roseberry Stag”, a local exponent of pedestrianism
The “Roseberry Stag” was the nom de guerre assumed by Thomas Glasper of Stokesley. He was a “Ped”, an exponent of competitive walking or pedestrianism. He seemed to have had a short lived career. In April 1848, he ran against “T. Kitching of Yarm over 120 yards, for £5 a side … at the Nelson…
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A lichen covered Highcliff Nab
I’ve heard my first cuckoo of the year. Cuckoo – an echo of the bird’s call – an onomatopoeia. Words come and go. Some words are just made up – neologisms. Shakespeare was apt to make up words, so was John Milton. In 1667, Milton was blind and impoverished, and it was on this day…
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A dismal day
I don’t usually moan about the weather. Just accept it as it comes. But today is indeed a dismal day. At least the Ancient Egyptian astrologers thought so. They calculated certain days of the year to be unlucky or evil, and today, 4th February, was one of them. There were 24 of them altogether, two…
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Edward Jenner, the pioneer of the smallpox vaccine
Today’s photo is of Ward Nab, or Cook’s Crags, the name by which the climbers know it. It’s on the southern tip of Easby Moor. A completely unrelated fact is that today in 1823 Edward Jenner, the pioneer of the smallpox vaccine, died. He has been referred to as the ‘Father of Immunology’ whose work…
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A match and a hatch in a Yorkshire village
Capt. Cook’s Monument was busy, busy this morning. The early sunshine brought out the crowds. But while everyone headed as far as the monument, a hundred metres or so south-east, Cook’s Crags above Kildale was deserted. A favourite viewpoint of mine. And now, still in the festive mood, a complete rambling diversion. A quiz question,…
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Park Nab
A sunny evening after a day of rain. This is one of a pair of blue fields flanking Green Gate Lane, better known as the Little Kildale road. The crop is Lacy phacelia or Blue tansy. The photograph has actually rendered the colour less blue than I remember. I am a bit disappointed. Must be…
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The Matthew Paris map
How do you like your maps? Do you treat them with reverence, still in their pristine covers and neatly filed numerically? Or are they coverless, coming apart at the seams through years of use and being folded in origami shapes to cram into a map case? The thing we all probably have in common is…
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Shoulthwaite Gill
Thinking about somewhere to aim for, it suddenly occurred to me that I have never been up Raven Crag overlooking Thirlmere. It’s not a particularly prominent fell, its 461m summit is almost covered by aged coniferous trees planted by Manchester Corporation when they built the Thirlmere reservoir. More interesting was the little subsidiary summit of…