#disused quarry

[leefryerphoto]

An image from a series I started working on in June, exploring the coastal landscape around a number of former stone quarries along the Dorset coast.

Isle of Purbeck, 2017.

[pauls70projects]

CYCLING CLIMB 44, Unthank Bank to  Brackenbridge Moss. 25/02/2026

A Second steep start for the day

Today's Route: Stanhope Ford (N  side), Crawleyside, Horseshoe Hill, Hisehope Head, Stanhope Ford (S side), Unthank Bank, Brackenbridge Moss, Harnisha Bridge, Bollihope Common, Candlesieve Syke , Stanhope.

Also includes climbs 43, Crawleyside to Horseshoe Hill & 45 Bollihope Common

[🅾1n] View of the climb coming down from the previous one at the top  of Crawleyside Bank. The vicious switchback clearly visible amongst the trees.

Details

OS Map Link:

[🅾2n] The start just a few meters from the previous climb

Although 1½ km by road the start of this climb is just a few meters from the previous one on the other side of Stanhope Ford. After passing over the Weardale Railway this second ascent of day is then into a section almost as vicious as the mornings as the road darts right left right left at 18% to negotiate the titular bank which without the zigzagery would demand an impossible 50%.  

The switchback can clearly seen in photo [🅾1n] above, along with further sections of the road and a working quarry.

Respite as the the road levels out slightly and the reward of a picturesque disused quarry before passing onto the open fell and a modest increase in gradient to a doable 8-10% before arriving at a typical  pennine flat summit.

[🅾3e]  Disused Quarry

[🅾4n]  Another Pennine flat top

Points of Interest

Weardale Railway 

Apologies for the lack of an actual photo, I took one - honest - but it got lost along with all the pics from the next climb. Looking on google the aerial photo has what looks like a useable railway, which is what I saw, but the streetview has it has overgrown, so that must have been taken before full restoration work on this section was completed. Anyhow you can check out the history, both historic and recent here.

Google streetview shows the railway as overgrown. 

Unthank - Squatters' Settlement

I had thought of Unthank as a peculiar settlement name ever since I was a kid, but only later in life did I realise how prevalent it was in Cumbria, Northumberland and South Scotland. The word actually derives from old english Unphanc which meant 'without leave or permission' so really squatters' communities which peasants built up and the landowner couldn't be bothered to remove, or even saw benefit in having. As a derived surname Unthank is made famous by the family folk band.

[jeronimoloco]

The mystery of Bukit Gombak

The mystery of Bukit Gombak

An area of Singapore that does seem to have an air of mystery about it is Bukit Gombak. The location of what reputedly was one of Singapore’s most haunted places, Hillview Mansion, which once stood high on its eastward facing slope, the hill and its environs has also gained a somewhat sinister reputation for other ghostly encounters, some of which seem to have been attributed as the cause of…

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