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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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Loch nam Ban Mòra
I read this morning that it was on this day in 1997 that the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust finally succeeded in buying the small island off the west coast of Scotland from the laird after an eight-month ownership battle. The community buyout was a forerunner of land reform in Scotland under the Community Land…
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Roseberry Topping, December 2005
Lockdown Log Day 10 ….. I thought I would post this, my most favourite photo of Odin’s hill, as a reminder that it will still be there when this is all over. I have deliberately avoided mentioning the word ‘Coronavirus’ in recent posts. This now dominates our lives and is inevitably jeopardising our access to…
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Hilda and the petrified snakes
I’ve been two days now in a virtual Scotland. Long enough, time to head south. This is the classic view of Whitby Abbey, founded by St. Hilda in the 7th-century. Of course, she wasn’t a saint when she first stood on this cliff overlooking the small settlement of Streanæshealh at the mouth of the Esk…
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The Cuillin Ridge
The Black Cuillin Ridge is one of the classic mountain ridges in the United Kingdom, some say the only true mountain ridge. 14 km of rough igneous rocks, gabbro and basalt, with 11 Munros many requiring rocking climbs and abseiling. This image and the one below are scans of proper photographs taken on a traverse…
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An ascent of Na Gruagaichean
Na Gruagaichean, a Monro of the Mamores, translates as The Maidens (or The Damsels or the Virgins). There is an interesting folktale associated with the hill about two maidens, each represented by the twin tops of the summit. It was originally in Gaelic so I’ll cut and paste the translation directly from Wikipedia: “There once…
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The wreck of the Admiral Von Tromp
When I took this photo in February 2008 I was not convinced that this was indeed the wreck of the Scarborough trawler, the Admiral Von Tromp. The Yorkshire coast is notorious for shipwrecks, there have been so many that identification can prove difficult. However, there are now plenty of photos on the internet saying that…
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Grinton Lead Smelting Mill
Arguably the best-preserved and most visited lead ore smelting mill in the Yorkshire Dales. Located by Cogden Beck, south of Grinton village, it probably dates from about 1820 and was saved from becoming a derelict ruin by being reused as an agricultural barn soon after smelting ceased. The two ranges remaining are the mill itself…
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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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