Sunday 9 November 2008

Seal Stones


THESE BEAUTIFUL, weather-worn stones are to be found on Seal Edge, on the rim of Kinder Scout. There's something wonderful about the way that the wind and rain, swirling small pieces of dust and grit around, can make such unique testaments to the capricious nature of, well, Nature.

Unlikely as it seems, this was a warm day in November 2007, when my friend Neil and I had become fearless enough to venture onto the famous Kinder Scout, the high and expansive plateau that, for us at least, is the heart of the Peak District.

From a layby near the Snake Inn, we ventured across the river and up alongside Fair Brook to Fairbrook Naze, an imposing peak that juts out from Kinder like an upturned battleship, presenting its seemingly forbidding ascent to travellers on the Snake Road.

From the top of Fairbrook, the edge walk takes us past several crops of weathered stones, each cluster an attraction to best the last, until reaching the Seal Stones themselves, unmistakeably seal-like, yet formed by the random whiles of time.

We did this walk on a weekday, and met no-one else on the journey. To look around such a vast expanse of space, and feel as if we were the only ones there, made us feel so privileged to live where we do.

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