http://becausetheyrethere.com ...and a few more reasons for climbing mountains Sat, 15 Aug 2015 13:09:50 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png http://becausetheyrethere.com http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/14/gibbet-hill-and-carlin-gill-thats-entertainment/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/14/gibbet-hill-and-carlin-gill-thats-entertainment/#comments Tue, 14 Apr 2015 08:00:14 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9141 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/04/14/gibbet-hill-and-carlin-gill-thats-entertainment/feed/ 29 McEff IMG_0004 Gibbet Hill is the slope in the foreground, immediately above the road, which is Roman in origin. This section of the road is known as Fairmile Road Roman road plus ancient chariot made by Germanic tribes Fairmile Road is in the foreground, with the West Coast Main Line and M6 motorway on the far side of the Tebay Gorge. The River Lune flows through the gorge but you can???t see it A collection of bones, none of which belongs to William Smurthwaite. I assume the larger samples are the remains of fell ponies, many of which roam wild in these hills IMG_0005 IMG_0007 IMG_0008 IMG_0010 IMG_0013 IMG_0017 IMG_0018 Little UlGill Beck tumbles down Black Force to join Carlingill Beck in Carlin Gill The Spout, at the head of Carlin Gill. The path continues up very steep ground to the left of the waterfall Stone of destiny. It would be nice to think this stone marks the site of the gibbet on Gibbet Hill, but it probably doesn't. Near enough, though . . . http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/03/24/a-fosdyke-saga/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/03/24/a-fosdyke-saga/#comments Tue, 24 Mar 2015 09:01:03 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=9043 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/03/24/a-fosdyke-saga/feed/ 30 McEff Fosdyke 1 Fosdyke 21 Fosdyke 6 Fosdyke 2 Fosdyke 9 Fosdyke 12 Fosdyke 17 Fosdyke 3 Fosdyke 13 Fosdyke 18 Fosdyke 5 Fosdyke 4 Fosdyke 7 Wish you were here? This is me at the seaside . . . Fosdyke 16 Fosdyke 11 Fosdyke 14 Fosdyke 10 Fosdyke 15 Fosdyke 20 Fosdyke 19 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/02/27/days-like-this-no-15-walking-from-penrith-to-ravenglass/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/02/27/days-like-this-no-15-walking-from-penrith-to-ravenglass/#comments Fri, 27 Feb 2015 09:00:36 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=8976 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2015/02/27/days-like-this-no-15-walking-from-penrith-to-ravenglass/feed/ 61 McEff ravenglass 1 Click map for full-size version ravenglass 2 Blea Water from near the summit of High Street ravenglass 4 ravenglass 6 Sunny Jim ravenglass 5 The beacon on Thornthwaite Crag A last glimpse back at High Street View down to Hayeswater ravenglass 10 Labouring through Langdale ravenglass 11 The bright blue waters of Red Tarn. Apparently, effluent from ancient iron-workings is responsible for the name. Crinkle Crags in the background Looking down Hardknott Pass into Eskdale ravenglass 15 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/12/01/sweet-tees-flow-softly-black-friday-aftermath/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/12/01/sweet-tees-flow-softly-black-friday-aftermath/#comments Mon, 01 Dec 2014 09:00:52 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=8592 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/12/01/sweet-tees-flow-softly-black-friday-aftermath/feed/ 51 McEff Piercebridge 1 Piercebridge 2 Piercebridge 3 Piercebridge 7 Piercebridge 8 Piercebridge 9 Piercebridge 10 Piercebridge 11 Piercebridge 12 Piercebridge 4 Piercebridge 5 Piercebridge 6 Piercebridge 13 Piercebridge 14 Piercebridge 15 This is part of one of those ceramic insulating pots you used to see on telegraph poles. I find it in the shingle at the side of the river. Only last week the young Inspector Morse charged a bloke with murder after finding one of these at the crime scene. It???s a scary world. Piercebridge 17 Piercebridge 18 Piercebridge 19 Piercebridge 21 Piercebridge 22 Ah, a recycled Belfast sink . . . Piercebridge 23 Piercebridge 30 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/11/27/not-everything-is-black-and-white-on-barningham-moor/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/11/27/not-everything-is-black-and-white-on-barningham-moor/#comments Thu, 27 Nov 2014 08:51:56 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=8552 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/11/27/not-everything-is-black-and-white-on-barningham-moor/feed/ 47 McEff How Tallon 2 How Tallon 3 How Tallon 1 How Tallon 17 How Tallon 5 How Tallon 6 How Tallon 7 How Tallon 10 How Tallon 8 How Tallon 11 How Tallon 14 That's the trouble with traps . . . How Tallon 18 How Tallon 21 If you were hoping to park a car or camp for the night and spied these two signs hovering above the grass verge, and you were feeling bolshie and fancied yourself as what people used to call a barrack-room lawyer, you might fancy taking a risk and challenging the authorities. NRCC stands for North Riding County Council, which disappeared in the local government reorganisation of 1974. Further along there???s a sign written in Latin banning chariot racing. Just kidding. walkabout 2 Crossing a field on a public right of way, I notice someone has placed a stone on top of a fence post. Closer inspection reveals the stone to be full of crinoid fossils. I???m not sure, but I think they were the stems of plants which inhabited this part of the world during the Carboniferous era. walkabout 4 The A1 is always good for a photograph. We???re right on Scotch Corner here, which along with Viking, Forties, Dogger, Sole, Fitzroy, Bailey and Hotton is famous for being one of those places that everyone has heard of ??? but has no presence in the physical world. This looks like it might be an Iron Age earthwork of the type incorporated into the nearby Brigantian fortress and Stanwick, but it???s the spoilheap of a 19th Century copper mine at Low Merrybent Farm. This part of the country is famous for its lead mines, but the copper-mining industry is very much a forgotten chapter. Diesel pump at Low Merrybent Farm walkabout 8 Just in case you were considering straying from the footpath . . . This is a section of Dere Street, the Roman road that runs from York to the end of the empire. Hadrian wouldn???t have approved. These terraces in the fields beneath the village of Middleton Tyas are the remnants of a mediaeval farming system We are still out in the country, but this wall surrounding a cottage garden has been capped with what appears to be furnace slag. More remnants of the Middleton Tyas and Merrybent copper-mining industry? And finally. Back to the allotment for a sit-down at the close of another dank and dismal November day . . . http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/11/07/faggergill-out-of-the-fryingpan-into-the-mire/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/11/07/faggergill-out-of-the-fryingpan-into-the-mire/#comments Fri, 07 Nov 2014 12:12:58 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=8502 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/11/07/faggergill-out-of-the-fryingpan-into-the-mire/feed/ 27 McEff faggergill 1 faggergill 2 faggergill 3 faggergill 4 faggergill 5 There should be a telephone number on this because I'd like to hire it faggergill 30 faggergill 7 faggergill 9 faggergill 10 faggergill 13 faggergill 14 faggergill 11 faggergill 12 The humble Belfast sink is one of Britain's most enduring inventions. I wouldn't be without one ??? and today I'm not faggergill 16 faggergill 17 faggergill 18 faggergill 19 faggergill 20 faggergill 21 faggergill 31 faggergill 22 faggergill 23 faggergill 24 faggergill 25 faggergill 26 faggergill 27 faggergill 29 faggergill 8 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/09/30/high-street-and-fusedale-war-and-pieces/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/09/30/high-street-and-fusedale-war-and-pieces/#comments Tue, 30 Sep 2014 07:00:08 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=8329 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/09/30/high-street-and-fusedale-war-and-pieces/feed/ 35 McEff high street 1 A wet morning in Pooley Bridge High Street 3 All aboard. Smiling faces greet we happy travellers High Street 10 Dunmallard Hill rises above Ullswater and Pooley Bridge High Street 6 High Street 9 High Street 8 High Street 7 High Street 12 High Street 13 High Street 14 High Street 15 High Street 16 High Street 17 High Street 18 High Street 19 High Street 22 High Street 21 High Street 20 High Street 24 High Street 25 Looking down onto Hayeswater The view along Martindale High Street ??? a Lakeland mountain over which Roman legions once marched High Street 26 High Street 27 The ruins of Lowther House shooting lodge. All that remains is this piece off chimney breast High Street 31 A lone walker takes a break on the top of Loadpot Hill High Street 33 A green mile left to walk to Pooley Bridge and the van High Street 40 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/01/20/stamford-bridge-a-long-walk-to-the-last-battle/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/01/20/stamford-bridge-a-long-walk-to-the-last-battle/#comments Mon, 20 Jan 2014 09:00:38 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=7215 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2014/01/20/stamford-bridge-a-long-walk-to-the-last-battle/feed/ 40 McEff hardrada 35 hardrada 2 hardrada 3 hardrada 4 hardrada 5 hardrada 6 hardrada 7 hardrada 8 hardrada 9 hardrada 10 There is life on the river even today, though rather more sedate, it must be said hardrada 12 hardrada 13 hardrada 14 hardrada 15 hardrada 16 Some parts of the Minster Ways are muddy ??? like this Other bits are flat and the grass has been mown to stop your boots slipping. And someone has stuck yellow flags in the ground so you don't lose the route. They're considerate folk in Yorkshire . . . hardrada 19 hardrada 20 hardrada 21 hardrada 22 hardrada 23 hardrada 24 hardrada 25 hardrada 26 hardrada 27 hardrada 28 This is the third of these signs I've passed. I think they refer to the Yorkshire penchant for exaggeration rather than the uncastrated adult male bovine hardrada 30 hardrada 31 This is the graceful though redundant railway viaduct. Stamford Bridge's stone bridge can be seen in the far distance hardrada 33 hardrada 34 hardrada 1 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2013/12/31/coniston-old-man-backwards-and-forwards/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2013/12/31/coniston-old-man-backwards-and-forwards/#comments Tue, 31 Dec 2013 06:00:10 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=7152 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2013/12/31/coniston-old-man-backwards-and-forwards/feed/ 27 McEff Coniston old man 1 The view across Levers Water to Swirl How This is a bit of an odd one. The black hole in the centre of the picture is the entrance to the Hospital Level, one of the higher entrances into the Coniston copper mines, situated at the side of the beck that runs out of Levers Water. The mines date from the early Elizabethan period ??? some evidence suggest Roman times ??? to the 1950s. Another world exists inside the Hospital Level. To crawl through that hole is like Lucy poking through the back of the wardrobe. But a bit wetter and dirtier. And there are no fauns. At least I???ve never seen any Coniston old man 4 I've still got that anorak. Tried to give it to my son but he just laughed Coniston old man 7 Coniston old man 8 Coniston old man 9 Coniston old man 10 Coniston old man 11 Don't know what happened to that hat. People don't wear them now. Perhaps it's just as well it's 2014 tomorrow http://becausetheyrethere.com/2013/01/30/stanwick-camp-a-thorn-in-the-foot/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2013/01/30/stanwick-camp-a-thorn-in-the-foot/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 10:31:00 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=5717 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2013/01/30/stanwick-camp-a-thorn-in-the-foot/feed/ 32 McEff stanwick 1a stanwick 2 stanwick 4 The ramparts of Stanwick Camp are marked in red dashes. Public footpaths follow some, but not all, of the route. There was also an inner fortification. at The Tofts, within the red circle stanwick 13 stanwick 5 stanwick 6 stanwick 7 stanwick 8 stanwick 11 stanwick 12 stanwick 9 stanwick 10 stanwick 14 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2012/04/17/counting-the-stones-on-the-brough-bowes-turnpike/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2012/04/17/counting-the-stones-on-the-brough-bowes-turnpike/#comments Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:49:26 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=4464 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2012/04/17/counting-the-stones-on-the-brough-bowes-turnpike/feed/ 26 McEff summit maiden castle marker 1 marker 5 marker 4 marker 6 stob 5 milestone 3 milestone 2 milestone 1 palliard stob 2 stob 3 inscription junction gate stob 4 road junction2 http://becausetheyrethere.com/2012/03/02/the-great-north-road-carved-by-feet-and-hooves/ http://becausetheyrethere.com/2012/03/02/the-great-north-road-carved-by-feet-and-hooves/#comments Fri, 02 Mar 2012 09:00:38 +0000 http://becausetheyrethere.com/?p=4248 Continue reading →]]> http://becausetheyrethere.com/2012/03/02/the-great-north-road-carved-by-feet-and-hooves/feed/ 36 McEff a1m1 robroy cubby's cross gnr a1m2 great north road 5 great north road 2 great north road 3 great north road 4 dere street end of the road