Pen Y Ghent, west face, 3 December White mist hovered over Pen Y Ghent, and dispersed. The low December sun highlighted the architecture of its western face: a dark cap of gritstone over terraces of limestone. Perspectives on the whaleback ridge throughout the day.
From the heather, the red grouse call 'go back, go back.' A grouse flies low, dips down, then stands proud in the sunlight, resplendent.
From the heather, the red grouse call 'go back, go back.' A grouse flies low, dips down, then stands proud in the sunlight, resplendent.
The day is warm and still but there's a flow of ice on a track. We sit by a stone wall for lunch, finding fossils of shells,crustaceans in the limestone. Stone walls divide rushes and grass from a rich expanse of heather, stone walls now of gritstone. Always good to have a geologist in the party and Dennis is happy to share his expertise. I try to imagine Pen Y Ghent in April when purple saxifrage is in bloom, and make a date to come and see. Below Helvellyn, you may sit amongst the flowers and early bees and butterflies- if the weather plays fair.
Before the afternoon light fades we reach the Hoffman Kilns, at Langcliffe. Here the Craven Lime Company burnt limestone on an industrial scale. Field kilns are familiar, but the Hoffman Kilns deserve a return visit with more time to explore their context of quarries and the proximity of the Settle to Carlisle railway.
Hot chocolate and cakes at The Naked Man, in Settle where Christmas lights brighten the rapidly falling darkness.
Now for the supermoon.
Before the afternoon light fades we reach the Hoffman Kilns, at Langcliffe. Here the Craven Lime Company burnt limestone on an industrial scale. Field kilns are familiar, but the Hoffman Kilns deserve a return visit with more time to explore their context of quarries and the proximity of the Settle to Carlisle railway.
Hot chocolate and cakes at The Naked Man, in Settle where Christmas lights brighten the rapidly falling darkness.
Now for the supermoon.
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