Category Archives: Potholing

Karst Adrift

Posted on November 3, 2016 by

LOTS of interesting stuff happens when you go walking without a map in a strange country. You see things you didn???t expect to see. Conversely, you don???t see the things you expect to see because you can???t work out how … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Caving, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, Industrial archaeology, Karst, Mountains, Potholing, Rivers, Ruins, Walking | Tagged , , , , , | 31 Comments

The High and Mighty Mines of L??jar

Posted on July 11, 2016 by

A hard slog to the ancient mines on Sierra de L??jar, in southern Spain . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Caving, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Potholing, Quarrying, Ruins, Slate quarries, The Romans, Walking, Weather, Wildlife | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 28 Comments

Forgive Them Their Trespasses?

Posted on September 10, 2015 by

IT???S a perfect spring morning in 1982. Arkengarthdale slumbers green and shadowy beneath a blue sky as we sit in damp grass and drink tea from tartan Thermos flasks. Nothing moves except the wind in the heather and the birds … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Caving, Climbing, Country Land and Business Association, Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, Environment, Footpaths, Highland Clearances, Hiking, History, Hunting, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Politics, Potholing, Ranting, Rivers, Walking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 34 Comments

Days Like This, No 5: Ireland’s Deep Secrets

Posted on April 18, 2014 by

DAWN breaks over Belfast. A van and a minibus rattle through the city and head down the main road towards Dublin, stopping only at the cross-border road block on the hills above Newry where a British squaddie peers at our … Continue reading →

Posted in Bronze Age, Camping, Caving, Environment, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Potholing, Ruins, Vikings, Walking | Tagged , , , | 30 Comments

Coniston Old Man ??? Backwards and Forwards

Posted on December 31, 2013 by

WHEN I was a teenager I made a pledge to climb Coniston Old Man at least once every year because it was the first mountain I climbed and it was special. I also grew up within sight of its familiar … Continue reading →

Posted in Allotments, Caving, Childhood, Climbing, Environment, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Life, Mountains, Newsquest, Northern Echo, Politics, Potholing, Redundancy, The Romans, Unemployment, Walking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 27 Comments

The Long Surrender: Brandy Bottle Incline

Posted on October 28, 2013 by

THIS is an account of a short walk in the hills above Arkengarthdale ??? but it has a back story that begins in the early 1980s and involves a group of mine explorers and an elusive portal into the underworld … Continue reading →

Posted in Allotments, Archaeology, Caving, Environment, Geology, Hiking, History, horse gins, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Potholing, Railway goods wagons, Recycling, Walking | Tagged , , , , | 26 Comments

Manod and Mysteries, Earth and Environment

Posted on May 28, 2013 by

Underground bunkers in the Welsh mountains . . . Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Camping, Caving, Environment, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Potholing, Quarrying, Ranting, Second World War, Slate quarries, Walking | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments