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Category Archives: Life
London 5: Butchers, Saints and Sinners
BLOWN on a thin wind around a corner from the Barbican tube station past a private park surrounded by private railings to a place where knights once jousted on a meadow called the Smooth Field – which was situated just … Continue reading
London 4: William Morris and a Wander Through Walthamstow
A WIND to slice ears off whips across the entrance to Walthamstow Central tube station. The temperature is below zero degrees Centigrade and snow settles behind chimney stacks on bleak roofs. This is London at Easter. There are no bunnies … Continue reading
Posted in Beer, History, Life, Pigeons, Politics, Ranting, Walking, William Morris, Writing
Tagged general francisco franco, Lake District, London, The Lakes
12 Comments
London 3: A Cold Wet Walk for Pie and Mash
THE worst weather is wet snow. It saps the spirit and soaks through to the shoulders. When it whips off a river on an easterly wind it stings and sucks life from fingers and feet. Just as well we’re searching … Continue reading
I Must Go Down to South Gare Again . . .
Searching for the meaning of life on the beach at Teesside . . . Continue reading
Posted in Environment, Hiking, Industrial archaeology, Life, Recycling, South Gare, Teesside, Walking
Tagged outdoors
25 Comments
Mud: It’s Alive and Sticking
MUD. Don’t go there except with your feet. Let it fill your boots and stick like it’s supposed to. But don’t delve any deeper unless you want a shovelful of acronyms . . .
Posted in Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, History, Life, Ranting, Walking
Tagged outdoors
27 Comments
Stanwick Camp – A Thorn in the Foot
A walk to Stanwick Camp – the capital of Brigantia . . . Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Environment, Footpaths, Great North Road, Hiking, History, Iron Age, Life, Stone Circles, The Romans, Walking
Tagged outdoors, Pennines
32 Comments
Causey Pike – A Country For Old Men?
NEAR the summit of Causey Pike, where the heathery track gives way to steep rock, an elderly man sits on a boulder. He’s wearing a wide-brimmed hat and his white hair wisps about his ears. I get the impression he’s … Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Environment, Ghosts, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Walking, Writing
Tagged Lake District, outdoors, Pennines, The Lakes
32 Comments
It’s Time to Migrate
I HEAR wild noises and glance into the sky as a skein of geese passes over the garden. So I light a fire in front of the shed and prepare to move my sheep to winter pastures . . .
Posted in Beetroot, Great North Road, History, Life, Mountains, Vikings
Tagged Lake District, outdoors, The Lakes
15 Comments
Lucero – Where Old Hatreds Linger
LUCERO is a prominent pyramid of baked rock that looks ten times more a mountain than nearly everything twice, three times and four times its size. The approaches from the south are long and incredibly steep. From the north, though, … Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Hiking, History, Life, Mountains, Politics, Ranting, Spanish Civil War, Walking
Tagged general francisco franco, Lake District, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Sierra Tejeda y Almijara, Spain, The Lakes
6 Comments
Among Mules, Mountains and the People of the Sierra
A walk in the mountains of Andalucia in search of forgotten history . . . Continue reading
Posted in Climbing, Hiking, History, Life, Mountains, Politics, Spanish Civil War
Tagged general francisco franco, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Sierra Tejeda y Almijara, Spain, The Pyrenees
21 Comments
