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Stool End Farm, Great Langdale
Still the worse for wear after Sunday’s exertions in the Lakes so stayed local. Perhaps it’s cheating a bit but I took this photo yesterday morning when we woke up to a cracking sunrise. Stool End Farm at the foot of The Band, a relentless 800m ridge climb to Bowfell. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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White-throated dipper, Great Langdale Beck
Watched this little fellow for a while. Cinclus cinclus is its scientific name. Fairly common but elusive and delightful to see. A very busy bird, diving into the beck in search of invertebrate larvae and returning to the stone to eat. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Langdale Pikes
A view across Great Langdale to the Langdale Pikes. The tallest point on the Left is Pike of Stickle. Just to the right of this pike is a scree run at the top of which the archaeologists tell us was the site of the stone age Langdale axe industry. Axes of the Greenstone rock have…
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The Helm, Oxenholme
I have always thought of Oxenholme as just the railway station on the West Coast mainline with its junction to Windermere. In fact, it’s a small neat village of the outskirts of Kendal overlooked by a ridge of Open Access Land known as The Helm. I had a few hours to kill so I took…
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Job Cross
On Moorsholm Moor. Perhaps one of the North York Moors most elusive crosses. Job Cross stands 30 metres or so north of the modern track designated as a Public Right of Way open to all traffic but once found it becomes obvious from quite a way off. The modern route must have been diverted slightly…
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Kirkham Priory
The ruins of Kirkham Priory are idyllically situated beside the River Derwent, just before it enters a gorge through Corallian limestone. The priory was founded in the 12th-century by Sir Walter l’ Espec, supposedly after the death of his only son after a fall from his horse. L’ Espec was prominent in Norman England, controlling…
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Cliff Rigg Quarry
It was the extensive quarrying of whinstone during the 19th and early 20th centuries that created this massive gash in Cliff Rigg. Extremely hard, this narrow wall of igneous rock was formed by molten larva protruding through the sedimentary layers and was much valued for cobble setts and in road building. It has been almost…
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Battle of Stockton
Not my usual haunt but as today is the anniversary of the Battle of Stockton and I had an errand nearby I thought why not. The Battle of Stockton? I hear you ask, what’s this, some obscure skirmish in the English civil war? No, far more recent. In 1933 Britain was in the midst of…
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Great Ayton High Green and the former Friends’ School
In 1997 The Friends’ School closed its doors and the large complex of buildings were converted into apartments. It had dominated Great Ayton High Green and had been an important part of village life since 1841 when it was established by Quakers as the North of England Agricultural School “to cater for the children of…
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Waldeinsamkeit
A few days ago there was a posting on the village FaceBook page about a new “mindfulness” group being set up. When I enjoy the quiet tranquillity of the woods and moors that are right on our doorstep I find that I’m just a bit sceptical of the desire to find contemplation and peacefulness in…
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