Category Archives: Potholing

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 , , , , , | 31 Comments

The High and Mighty Mines of Lújar

A hard slog to the ancient mines on Sierra de Lújar, 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 , , , , , , , , , , , | 29 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 , , , , , , , , , | 34 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 , , , | 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 , , , , , , , | 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 , , , , | 28 Comments

Manod and Mysteries, Earth and Environment

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

Thirty Years On – Cwmorthin Revisited

From one side of a Welsh mountain to another – underground and overground . . . Continue reading

Posted in Archaeology, Caving, Climbing, Environment, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Mountains, Politics, Potholing, Quarrying, Ranting, Slate quarries, Walking, William Morris | Tagged , , , , | 40 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 , , , | 10 Comments

Carn á Mhaim and the Wondrous Eco-Friendly Toilet

Carn á Mhaim is a fine mountain. And there’s a fine rest room, in the middle of nowhere, at its feet . . . Continue reading

Posted in Camping, Caving, Climbing, Environment, Hiking, Life, Mountains, Potholing, Walking | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Helvellyn with Ghosts (Part 2: The Waterfall)

IT’S December 1981. Two young men dig deep into the snow at an altitude of 2,000ft on England’s third-highest mountain. Six feet down they strike wet scree. The air is so cold that the scree freezes as they dig – … Continue reading

Posted in Caving, Climbing, Hiking, History, Mountains, Potholing, Walking | Tagged , , | 6 Comments