About McEff
Journalist on The Northern Echo, former shipyard electrician, former quarryman and tunneller. Climbs mountains and runs long distances to make life harder. Gravitates to the left in politics just to make life harder still.
Swindale has grit, bog, remoteness and bed linen. It’s a valley with attitude but no railway wagons . . . Continue reading →
Posted in Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Quarrying, Railways, Slate quarries, Walking
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Tagged Lake District, Mining History, The Lakes
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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 →
GLEN Roy is the place that thwarted Darwin. That’s Charles Darwin – the man who turned conventional knowledge on its head with his revelation that our ancestors emerged from the sea, not the Garden of Eden. Glen Roy is a … Continue reading →
Posted in Charles Darwin, Climbing, Environment, Geology, Glen Roy, Hiking, History, Louis Agassiz, Mountains, Parallel Roads, Walking
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Tagged Munros, Scotland, The Munros
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IT’S 7.45am on Friday morning and I’m standing on the flight deck of HMS Invincible, watching the sun rise over a scarlet Morecambe Bay. I shouldn’t be up here; I should be down in the aircraft carrier’s aft engine room … Continue reading →
A final trip back into the Bronze Age in search of rock carvings . . . Continue reading →
Posted in Archaeology, Bronze Age, Cup and ring carvings, Environment, Geology, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Stone Circles, Walking
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Tagged Lake District, Mining History, The Lakes, The Pennines
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Exploring the Bronze Age rock art of Barningham Moor . . . Continue reading →
Another walk in search of Bronze Age rock carvings high on Barningham Moor . . . Continue reading →
Searching for Bronze Age cup and ring carvings on Barningham Moor . . . Continue reading →
THIS is a tale of bewilderment and defeat in a strange and hostile environment. It started out like any other day in the mountains – one man with a cheery whistle and a bag of food. Then things deteriorated . … Continue reading →
The most spectacular walk in the Atlantic . . . Continue reading →
A clifftop path through some of the most spectacular coastal scenery in the world . . . Continue reading →
Levada walking in the mountains of Madeira Continue reading →