Feet First: I’m Not a Pheasant Plucker . . .

SO I’m sitting at work doing my job – which consists of creating and editing the national news pages of The Northern Echo and one or two other things – when my eyes alight on a story from the Press Association about buzzards being wiped out by a government department to further the interests of the pheasant-shooting fraternity . . .  Continue reading

Posted in Climbing, Environment, Feet First 2012, Hiking, Hunting, Mountains, Northern Echo, Politics, Ranting, Walking | Tagged | 12 Comments

Haunts of Ancient Peace

VALLEYS that wriggle into hills. Hills that merge into ridges. Ridges that ascend into clouds and silently collide with other ridges. A man can easily get lost in the Howgills. And I did once. Not truly lost. Just temporarily misplaced at the point where several Ordnance Survey maps joined at the corners . . . Continue reading

Posted in Archaeology, Bronze Age, Climbing, Cup and ring carvings, Environment, Hiking, Mountains, Walking | Tagged | 19 Comments

A Final Voyage

YOU can see Scafell Pike – the highest mountain in England – from the forecourt garden of the terraced house in which I spent my early childhood. From the back garden of the bungalow the family moved to when I was eleven, which is on the other side of the village, stretches a panorama of Lakeland fells, from Black Combe in the west to the edge of Helvellyn in the east. Few finer views exist . . . Continue reading

Posted in Camping, Chockhead, Climbing, Death, Hiking, HMS Theseus, Korean War, Life, Mountains, Sanquhar, Walking | Tagged , , , | 41 Comments

The Howgills – and the Sound of the Wind

SOMETIMES it’s enough just to walk, to place one foot in front of another and allow the miles to slip by. What’s that old Irish saying . . . ? Continue reading

Posted in Bronze Age, Climbing, Cup and ring carvings, Environment, Hiking, History, Mountains, Railway goods wagons, Railways, Walking | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Counting the Stones on the Brough-Bowes Turnpike

BELDOO Moss is not the most spectacular hill in the north Pennines. Few people have heard of it; even fewer have tramped across it. But it does harbour one or two surprising features that make it worth a visit.

I’ve driven over Stainmore between Cumbria and County Durham hundreds of times and got my boots claggy with its peat on several occasions. But I’ve never climbed the high ground – Beldoo Moss – to the north of the summit, which rises in gritstone terraces to a plateau of bog and heather. And up there in that bog and heather, according to my dog-eared map, is a Roman road leading to a Roman fort.

This is a bit like Channel 4’s Time Team. I’m on a tight schedule today. I’ve only got a couple of hours before I’m off to work. Will I find what I’m looking for? Will I unearth any fresh mysteries? Join me again after the break . . . Continue reading

Posted in Archaeology, Bronze Age, Cup and ring carvings, Great North Road, Hiking, History, Mountains, The Romans, Walking | Tagged , , , | 26 Comments

London 2: Casting Bells, Fighting Fascism, Hanging Pirates

THE name Whitechapel has a ring to it that awakens childhood memories. It’s the brown square on the Monopoly board along with the Old Kent Road. It is also where Jack the Ripper butchered his victims and has associations with the Elephant Man and the Krays. But Whitechapel is more colourful than Monopoly brown. And it’s a great place to start a walk through London’s quirky history . . . Continue reading

Posted in Battle of Cable Street, Beer, Food, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Politics, Prospect of Whitby, Ranting, Walking | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

London 1: Old Roads, Karl Marx, Two Dicks

I HAVE a theory about Dick Whittington. After backpacking from the Forest of Dean to London and discovering the streets were not made of gold, it wasn’t the stirring sound of Bow bells that persuaded him to turn again and make the capital his home – it was the steepness of Highgate Hill . . . Continue reading

Posted in Beer, Dick Turpin, Environment, Great North Road, Hiking, History, Karl Marx, Politics, The Spaniards Inn, Walking | Tagged , , | 16 Comments

Stainmore Summit: Signs of the Times

THE last train steamed over Stainmore Summit in 1962. I missed it. It’s not my fault – I was only five-and-a-half at the time. But if I hang around there just might be another along shortly . . . Continue reading

Posted in Environment, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Politics, Railway goods wagons, Railways, Walking | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

The Dodds, the Coach Road and the Railway Wagon

HAIL blasts across the fell and bounces off rocks. Wind stings the land. There are no shapes in this grey world – only noise and coldness and sloping ground. Then the mist parts briefly and something dark and vaguely eerie hovers on the edge of the visible world. It’s an old railway goods wagon – twelve miles from the nearest siding and at an altitude of 1,684ft.

That’s thrown me. I’m descending Clough Head, above Keswick, to the Old Coach Road, and was dwelling on a mystery concerning coaches and horses. But now I’ve got a railway wagon near the top of a mountain. Better start at the beginning . . . Continue reading

Posted in Climbing, Environment, Ghosts, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Railway goods wagons, Railways, Walking | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

The Great North Road – Carved by Feet and Hooves

I LIVE on an ancient highway. It’s called the Great North Road. For many hundreds of years it’s been the main arterial link between the capital cities of two countries – England and Scotland. It is woven into history, folklore and legend. Dick Turpin galloped up it to his death. The Gododdin rode down it to theirs. Bonnie Prince Charlie got part way down, bottled out and turned back. The Leather Boys drove all the way up and all the way down in one day from the Ace Cafe on the North Circular. I consider it a privilege to be able to sit in my front room and watch traffic pass by . . . Continue reading

Posted in Archaeology, Environment, Great North Road, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Life, The Romans, Walking | Tagged , | 30 Comments

Swindale – and this is Alvar Lidell . . .

I LIKE Swindale because it’s not an easy place to find. It’s an even harder place to visit because parking’s not allowed in the valley. Outsiders are obliged to leave their cars on the common at the entrance because the road is so desperately narrow. I don’t like using the word “remote” because it is so often abused. St Kilda is remote. Terra del Fuego is remote. But if you want remote in a Lakeland context, then Swindale is as close as it gets . . . Continue reading

Posted in Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Quarrying, Railways, Slate quarries, Walking | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Feet First: Keep on running . . .

This gallery contains 2 photos.

I HAVE a plan. Tomorrow is my day off because I worked Sunday. I’ll drive across the icy Pennines to the Lake District, abandon the car on a rough piece of land at a charming cross-roads above Dockray, climb Birkett … Continue reading

More Galleries | | 6 Comments