Ludchurch – sandstone, landslips and a beheading game

The ‘Dark Peak’, the land to the south and east of Macclesfield rising up above the Cheshire plain, is a wild place. We are in England though, and even here in the North, things are only mildly wild. This is no wilderness, we are only 25 miles from Manchester, once the ‘workshop of the world’.… Continue reading Ludchurch – sandstone, landslips and a beheading game

Orford Ness – nuclear bombs and gravel ridges

Suffolk in England is a peaceful part of a peaceful country. But if you know where to look, between its pretty villages, sandy beaches and open countryside there are many traces of war and violence. Often full of paddling children, the sea eats towns. From an historical perspective, whether they are French, Spanish, German, Dutch or… Continue reading Orford Ness – nuclear bombs and gravel ridges

Cycling in the Pennines – 300 million years ago

The north of England is dominated by rocks of Carboniferous age, which give it a distinctive scenery and history, where local coal fuelled the world’s first industrial landscape. The geology is extremely well known, because of the importance of the coal deposits, but also because of the continuing excellence of the British Geological Survey. A recent… Continue reading Cycling in the Pennines – 300 million years ago