The mysterious men of Hardendale...

Thank you all for the kindness shown to yesterday's Pinnacle Ridge :)

Today we went to look for the concentric stone circle at Oddendale. In seeing it on the map I thought we'd park by Hardendale Quarry as it's flooded but still actively quarried and I've never seen how that's done. Don't bother - nothing to see. The highlight was driving alongside Castlehowe Scar Plantation and seeing red squirrels thriving there too.

As we wandered onto what initially looks like typical East Cumbrian moorland (think Shap Fell) there was as ever plenty to see in the detail, pink Shap granite boulders balanced improbably atop the limestone pavement, grikes full of ferns and erratics scattered, well, erratically. But as we gained height a little cliff came into view - Hardendale Neb - never more than 25ft high, but probably 300ft long - a powerful example of how a feature can dominate from one angle and be simply invisible from another.
We of course wandered over - it could well have some bouldering potential....or not - a naturally occurring, tottering even, drystone wall was my first impression. At its Northern end we found these standing man cairns. But try as I have I can find nothing about them on the interwebby - except someone's blog from 2015, when there were only 3 (insert dramatic dah dah dahhhh music). I'm now thinking I'm going to have to pay them a visit at the end of 2017....

Oh and of course we'll have to go back for the stone circle.