- BECAUSE THEY'RE THERE is about climbing mountains – nothing else. Well, actually, there are one or two other things. But it's mostly about climbing mountains. And fish and chips. And politics. And doing a bit of fell running. And wondering where the hell your life's gone – and where it might be going next. And cooking kippers in a wet tent. And people you bump into who do similar things. Actually, that last one doesn't happen very often . . .
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- Days like this, No 27: The Old Man of Hoy
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© Alen McFadzean and Because They’re There, 2009-2017. Unauthorised use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Alen McFadzean and Because They’re There with appropriate and specific direction to the original content
Category Archives: Caving
Rivers and Rocks, Tracks and Tunnels
DAWN in a river valley. Ink-blue shadows beneath tall mountains. A chill in air that is perfectly still. Smell of piny trees and the sound of rushing water. Pin-pricks of red lights as a truck crosses the Seven-Eye Bridge. Day … Continue reading
Posted in Caving, Climbing, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, History, Mountains, Rivers, Spanish Civil War, Walking
Tagged Alpujarra, Alpujarras, general francisco franco, Mining History, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Spain, Travel, WPLongform
30 Comments
Karst Adrift
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 Cumbria, Ireland, outdoors, Pennines, Spain, WPLongform
31 Comments
Forgive Them Their Trespasses?
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 Cumbria, Lake District, Mining History, outdoors, Pennines, Scotland, Snowdonia, The Lakes, Wales, WPLongform
34 Comments
Days Like This, No 12: Dawn on Dove Crag
WALKING is a dangerous business. Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov has just been stabbed while walking over Waterloo Bridge. And get this: his assailant used an umbrella with a poisoned tip. We down another round of pints in the Brotherswater Inn … Continue reading
Scaud Hill and Beyond – At My Leisure
An angry walk between Teesdale and Weardale . . . Continue reading
Posted in Caving, Childhood, Environment, Hiking, History, horse gins, Industrial archaeology, Life, Mountains, Newsquest, Northern Echo, Politics, Ranting, Redundancy, Ruins, Second World War, Unemployment, Walking
Tagged Mining History, outdoors, Pennines, WPLongform
39 Comments
Days Like This, No 5: Ireland’s Deep Secrets
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 Cumbria, Ireland, Mining History, outdoors
30 Comments
Coniston Old Man – Backwards and Forwards
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 Cumbria, Lake District, Mining History, outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Sierra Tejeda y Almijara, Spain, The Lakes
27 Comments
The Long Surrender: Brandy Bottle Incline
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 Mining History, outdoors, Pennines, transportation, WPLongform
28 Comments
Climbing Cielo – as Swallows Come Back to Capistrano
A hot and dusty walk in the mountains of Andalucia . . . Continue reading
Posted in Caving, Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Ink Spots, Mountains, Music, Potholing, Walking
Tagged outdoors, Sierra Nevada, Sierra Tejeda y Almijara, Spain
10 Comments