What better way to spend a winter solstice than waking up the cells with a cold dip! St Anthony's Well is an easily accessible and popular dipping spot. Filled by water from a spring providing three-foot-deep clear water. As a bonus, its waters are said to cure skin diseases. A great last location for the year!
Mølen is Norway's largest beach of pebbles, and part of Vestfoldraet (the terrain left behind after the end of the most recent Ice Age 10.000 years ago). The site is a premier Iron Age and Viking burial site featuring over 230 cairns, including large ship-shaped stone settings, highlighting coastal Viking history. Excavations revealed that one prominent boat grave contained cremated remains dating to 30–240 AD, representing…
My first stop in Anglesey, a beautiful example of Neolithic burial grounds. On the longest day of the year, sunlight flows into the passageway of Bryn Celli Ddu Burial Chamber. I was there a week before the solstice and already there was plenty of light to see the mysterious pillar stone inside. The presence of the pillar within the burial chamber, the reproduction of the 'Pattern…
On the way out of the Isle of Portland, we stopped at Tout Quarry Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve. A brief visit due to time restraints, but a place that looks worthy of a return visit should I end up on this isle again. We explored the circle of stones, and over the hill to the small buda ritual carving. A rainbow framed our departure, and…
Lying just behind The Druid Inn in the village of Birchover is a fascinating cave complex known as Rowtor Rocks. It consists of numerous interlinked tunnels and caverns, some natural and some man-made. A series of steps, thrones and altars have also been carved out of the stone around the place. There are plenty of opportunities for climbing, hiding, and adventures... but do watch the children as this is a…
We chose to walk from where we were already parked, rather than move to the nearer parking, which meant we had an extra walk through misty woods - that otherwise wouldn't have been the case. To me, this only added to the magical feeling of the day, watching the fog clear and the sun come out as we approached the Tor was breathtakingly beautiful! Because of…
Also known as the Grey Ladies, this circle has only 4, of the original 9, stones remaining. The tallest remaining standing stones of any prehistoric site in Derbyshire, they stand isolated in a farmer's field on Harthill Moor. (You can read more about them here) Also on route are Robin Hood's Stride (yes, more rocks with a name. 😂) and Hermit's Cave. To visit, we parked…
Arbor Low is an impressive example of a Late Neolithic to Early Bronze Age henge. Standing almost 400 metres above sea level, its earthwork enclosure is defined by a bank and internal ditch which is about 90 metres in diameter. It has two entrance gaps (or causeways as they are sometimes called) facing north-west and south-south-east. It is made up of 50 large limestone slabs that encircle a central cove of 7…
Magpie Mine is a well-preserved disused lead mine, one of several such ventures working different lead veins in the same area. The earliest recorded workings there date from 1740. Right from the start, the miners had difficulty in keeping the workings free from water, but by 1824, a Newcomen-type pumping engine had been erected on the Main Shaft. This led to the production of 800 tons of…
Bleaklow is a place of remote beauty, a largely peat-covered moorland which rises almost 2,000 feet above sea level. As you can see, it was a wet foggy day when we went - the moors are largely peat-covered, which when drenched can create areas where the whole ground moves when you walk on it. A pretty cool experience! Yet for all its beauty, Bleaklow's moors betray times…
Where once stood a magnificent country house, now lie some scattered remains - the building lasting less than 100 years, and the ruin is now cordoned off for repair after a spate of vandalism. You can read more about its history here. To visit, there is a dedicated car park by the reservoir (53°16'13.2"N 1°58'59.0"W) with a path leading directly to the ruins. Also nearby are…
Duloe Stone Circle consists of eight stones placed in an oval-shaped ring with alternating heights; large, small, large... It has the smallest circumference of all the stone circles in Cornwall (under 12m), but the largest stones (up to 2.6m). No other stone circle within Cornwall has a ring of stones so rich in quartz, with veins of translucent white running down the eight lichen-covered stones. This…