UKC

When I went to Avebury it took a a great deal of self control (and the presence of a few hundred picnickers) to stop me having a play on some of the bigger stones.

Has anyone ever managed a sneaky problem or two an any of our megaliths, menhirs or obelisks, Stonehenge is obviously out of bounds but how about this somewhat suggestive monument http://www.stone-circles.org.uk/stone/rudston.htm ?

Am I very naughty for even entertaining such thoughts?

In reply to pasbury:


Yes!

In reply to pasbury:

Those rocks were put there for climbing.
Have to honest, I did a bit of impromptu bouldering on the biggest ones.
Topping out of course...
How could you not?

In reply to pasbury:
Bouldering must have been big business in the Neolithic for them to build such a massive centre. A bit puzzled as to why the boundary ditch is designed to keep the punters "in" though. Perhaps they charged on exit ?

In reply to pasbury:
Without giving too much away, if you work your way through the tallest megaliths in the UK you'll find a couple of gritstone ones with some very high-quality arete highballs.

In reply to Adam Long:

Got it! I'll keep it under my hat for a future visit.

In reply to pasbury:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/France-Carnac-Ali...

But just no!

In reply to Bulls Crack:

I think even from a sitter most of those would be a 'less than one' move wonder.

In reply to pasbury:

I have sat on one at Castlerigg and eaten my Fish and Chips.

In reply to Adam Long:

I've got an old guidebook with a couple of those mentioned...

In reply to pasbury:

Callanish would seem a little quieter, but there might be cameras.

In reply to pasbury:

We visited Avebury just a few weeks ago, and some of the big stones were a bit tempting. I also noticed that the footholds on some looked distinctly polished. I refrained, though, lacking chutzpah.

In reply to summo:

Also have you seen all the arêtes at Brodgar & Stenness.

In reply to Adam Long:


the bare ones desecrated by selfish climbers removing the lichen?

In reply to pasbury:

We used to have Thursday night club meets at Stonehenge, it wasn´ t always surrounded by razor-wire and sold as an attraction to Japanese tourists on their way to Stratford on Avon.

In reply to pasbury:


I presume they were placed in order of difficulty, fail on one and it's back to the beginning.

In reply to pasbury:
From the "New" Stone Age the Porthenge stone circle: Tout Quarry There is even a video somewhere by After The Send.
Here's the link: https://afterthesend.com/2017/09/29/portland-heights-boulders/

In reply to pasbury:

Out of interest does anyone know what the rock type is and where they came from ? Locally everything looks like chalk.

In reply to GrahamD:


Eddie has some insight on that: youtube.com/watch?v=DiFq_nk8pE0&

I climbed several of them as a child in the 70s.

In reply to pasbury:

I've certainly done a few sneaky moves at Avebury.

In reply to GrahamD:

If you mean Avebury - they are Sarsen stone, which occurs on the chalk downs. A natural product of the local geology, there’s a valley nearby with loads of sarsens lying about, really fascinating and unexpected.

In reply to malk:

Are you serious?

Does the same comment apply to Stanage, Burbage, Froggatt and Curbar etc etc.

In reply to jimtitt:

I’d love to see photos of that.

In reply to pasbury:

With my 'I'm an archaeologist' hat on, you should all respect our cultural heritage and not climb on our standing stones.

Having said that, I may have used special access to have a quick boulder at Stonehenge, so...you know...

In reply to bouldery bits:

Is it any good - you know just asking...?

In reply to pasbury:

Thanks. So where are the sarcens ? I’m sitting here just south of Swindon right now. Would be interesting to visit sometime. Avebury. Obviously

Also be interesting to know whether you find them in chalk elsewhere in southern England

In reply to GrahamD:

You’re in luck then - Fyfield Down is the place and it’s a few miles south of Swindon.

In reply to pasbury:
I believe a tailor tried this during the middle ages. His remains were excavated from under one of the stones during an archaeological investigation hundreds of years later ...

ps I did once try this many many years ago at Mayburgh Henge, whose stones I believe were linked with Avebury by William Stukeley

In reply to malk:

It's few years since I've been, but there were no visible signs of them being climbed that I could see. They do get regularly covered in sh*t from the farmer muck-spreading though.

In reply to pasbury:


I've never got very far with researching this further due to language issues, but the geology of the sarsens appears to be very similar to the sandstone in Fontainebleau. Just a shame the bedding wasn't as thick so the ancients got fed up with sit-starts and had to stand them up.

In reply to Adam Long:

I guess you don't actually have to go that far down the list!

In reply to Adam Long:

Paper on Fontainebleau formation confirming similar process to the Sarcen stones https://hal-mines-paristech.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01236712/document

Interesting to read that Sarcen was apparently a shortened form of Saracen, which was used to describe anything non-christian!

In reply to pasbury:

When I was a child and bored during a church service I distracted myself scanning the interior of the church for climbable lines. Up the right arete of the altar, dyno across to the statue of the evangelist...

I always thought this was weird, but then I saw an interview with Reinhold Messner stating that he and his brother did exactly the same as teenagers!

CB

In reply to Adam Long:

Interesting - also frustrating; a different set of geological circumstances and we could have had our very own Bleu.

In reply to pasbury:

The columns in the chapel at school had some fine handcracks between subsidiary pillars, but they all led to nowhere other than some very fragile looking carved wood, so I never managed more than an experimental few feet

In reply to pasbury:

lichen should take priority on megalithic rock - been there longer than us..


no

In reply to malk:

Lichen has many places to grow. I agree that it's habitat should be protected where necessary. But rocks raised by humans thousands of years ago should not be regarded as a reserve for lichens. It's not a natural habitat.

In reply to pasbury:
No claims for the Rudston monolith then?

In reply to Jon Greengrass:

Ha! They all need propping up vertically, the Neolithic climbers knew a thing or two.