Recent posts
Chamber of Clouds
I will clamber through the Clouds and exist. John Keats, letter to Tom Keats 1818 In which category might Ben Nevis be winning any Nobel Prize? Peace, perhaps – there is that Peace Cairn at the top, an untidy intrusion it is too. But then, the Ben is celebrated in the history of climbing, from the Victorians up the long rock ridges of its great North Face to the likes of Tom Patey poking their iceaxes into the rime ice – despite its small size, Nevis is one of Europe’s hotspots for winter climbing. Or Literature – for it has the only SMC 1 area guidebook devoted to a single hill, not to mentio
May 13, 2026
Lake District : happy 75th!
High on Hall’s Fell, Blencathra And note, I do not refer to the “English” Lake District. The RAF is the original air force; Royal Mail is the first ever postal service and doesn’t need the UK's name on it. And the country of Cumberland is the original and
May 6, 2026
Photographic Developments
Taking pictures in the hills: impossible, of course, in the days of heavy glass-plate cameras. Except it wasn’t…
Apr 29, 2026