Erratic

The boulder I mean not Mrs. K.

A walk today on the limestone hills near Hutton Roof east of the M6 in what used to be Westmorland.

This area like the rest of South Lakeland was covered by glaciers until about 19,000 years ago. These glaciers as they flowed south had brought with them many erratic boulders made of harder rock from the north. When the ice melted these were left on the surface of our limestone. As the limestone weathered much more quickly than the erratics the latter are left standing often precariously on the surface.

I am grateful to my friend Peter Standing for information on this particularly impressive rock. Peter has just publishedanother of his brilliant geological walking guides and this says of this boulder:

Hanging Scar Rock.” This impressive 3m. High UL erratic must weigh over 20 tonnes and is worth inspecting from different sides. The emplacement appears alarmingly precarious with less than a quarter of the base resting on a plinth dipping 20degrees south east.”