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The old schoolroom, Strathan
A tin hut stands at the confluence of Glen Pean and Glen Dessary at the head of the 12 mile Loch Arkaig. This is Strathan, the end of the public road from Spean Bridge and a parting of the old routes north to Loch Nevis and south to Glenfinnan. It is probable that the Glen…
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Derwentwater
I wanted to post a photo of Castle Crag today, the smallest Wainwright, but I couldn’t find a decent image, just a long-range shot from Swanesty How near Grange. Instead, I found this photo of Derwentwater taken, by coincidence, on the same day as my photo of Honister Pass posted four days ago. It actually…
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Yew Tree Farm
Ancestry, the genealogy website, is offering free access during this Easter “break” and I put that in inverted commas as it seems just like any other day. Anyhow, I thought I would do a bit of research on the history of a property rather than my family history. I found that it’s not that easy.…
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The Legend of Armbroth Hall
Yesterday’s post, about Sir Guy the Seeker, reminded me of another ghostly story, but from the other side of the country, Thirlmere in the Lake District. Before the reservoir was constructed by Manchester Corporation Water Works in 1894, there was a lake Thirlmere, or rather a pair of lakes, connected by a strait narrow enough…
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Sir Guy the Seeker
This legend reminded me of Freebrough Hill when I first read it. A supposedly hollow hill in which King Arthur, sleeps surrounded by his knights. Sir Walter Scott told a similar tale of Thomas the Rhymer in Eildon Hill, not a million miles away from Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumbrian Coast. But the hero of…
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Honister Pass
Looking back on a long slog up to Littledale Edge from Gatesgarth on a glisky autumnal morning. 24 hours earlier the Lakes had been inundated by a tumultuous downpour with 75 mph winds forcing the abandonment of the 2008 Original Mountain Marathon (OMM) that “could have ‘turned mountains into a morgue’” according to one sensationalist…
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The Giant’s Boot
Northern Ireland’s most visited attraction is the iconic Giant’s Causeway, polygonal columns of basaltic rock formed sixty million years ago when molten lava spread across the land and created clouds of steam on meeting the sea. The lava cooled and began to solidify into basalt. While most tourists only get as far as the Causeway…
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Rydal Water
Today would have been the 250th birthday of William Wordsworth, arguably one of the greatest poets of the English language. Born in Cockermouth in 1770, both his own parents had died by the time he was 13. He was educated at the grammar school in Hawkshead and went to St. John’s College, Cambridge University in…
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Milecastle 39 and the Sycamore Gap
Day 14; 2 weeks now into this lockdown and the morning routine has developed into my daily exercise during which I look for inspiration for a photo to post that evening. This morning I had read that it was on this day in 1199 that King Richard I, perhaps better known as Richard the Lionheart,…
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Brotherswater
Originally called Broad Water (and before that Broader Water) it is generally accepted that Brotherswater was renamed after two brothers were unfortunately drowned in there on New Year’s Day around 1812 whilst skating on the frozen lake. Apparently underground springs flowing up from the lake bed caused patches of thin ice. I found this information…
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