Faces in rocks
MY late Mother, Claire, a wise Dubliner, used to say to me, ‘The Devil finds work for idle hands,’ so I’ve always tried to keep busy, but readers can pass judgement on whether my latest feature passes muster, or indeed, if Old Nick had a hand in it...no pun intended.
You see, we were at Dovestone Reservoir RSPB Reserve walking the new Pup, Luna, just walking and not much else, but I was interested in trying to obtain a definitive photograph of the so-called ‘Indian’s Head’ rock formation, which with the current trend for re-naming should possibly be called, ‘The Native American’s Head.’
Either way, I’m not convinced by it at all, not least because the outcrop is called Wimberry Stones on OS Maps.
Don’t get me wrong, I can see what whoever named it was getting at, head dress and all, but I have seen many more unusual and natural rock formations on my travels.
As it is always prudent to do thorough research, I tapped in Indians Head, and the first entries came up a bit grim, with a report of a missing man whose body was found at Dovestone in December 2015.
It was established quickly that the man had died from a lethal dose of strychnine - believed to have self-administered but it wouldn’t be for another two years that he was identified as David Lytton.
Why he came there to die is still not known.
Second up on Google was the report of a devastating plane crash back in 1949.
A total of 24 people died, with just eight survivors, when a plane flying from Belfast on its way to Ringway (Manchester Airport) crashed into a hill shrouded with mist.
It was thought by some that the missing man could have been the last living survivor of the crash, but this was not the case.
The third entry came up as Indian Head Massage, so I left it there.
Once again, readers can feel free to take that as a challenge, and I can show you mine if you show me yours.
When I posted a greatly edited version of this on Facebook, Alan Briggs of Glossop, sent me a brilliant picture of the Wain Stones on Bleaklow.
The Kissing Stones, (Wain Stones) get their name because they look like two people kissing from certain angles.
Alan said of the Dovestone rock feature, “No I’ve never been convinced of that either.”
The moor is an unforgiving place to run into difficulties, but we had no such trouble last week and on her first ever walk our young Springer Spaniel loved it; a whole new wide world for her, other dogs, ducks, pheasants, walkers, and regular carries in my jacket.
Luna found a rock formation of her own and spent a fun five minutes barking at it.
The rock failed to reply, but she kept looking back, just in case.
My personal favourite ‘rock face’ is the German Soldier on the side of the road between Inverness and Carrbridge, and then there is this wonder from near our Scottish hideaway, The Grey Man of Merrick, an extraordinary rock feature that can be found on the South Eastern side of the Merrick mountain, located in the Galloway Forest Park.
There are many more around the world, some plain daft, but in the ‘Deer’ Cave system in Gunung Mulu National
Park, east Malaysia, there is a very interesting profile in the cave wall of southern entrance formed by slow erosion of limestone.
Geology professor R.V. Dietrich saw the need to publish a name for the phenomena whereby a ‘... natural topographic feature, rock outcrop, rock specimen, mineral specimen, or loose stone resembles something else, they are mimetoliths, after the Greek ‘mimetes’ or imitator.’
The formation of such curiosities can be ancient, sudden, or just temporary.
Many go undocumented and can appear at any time.
Some are hidden in forest and just disappear before being seen from the air or as a result of deforestation, like some Mayan formations.
I look forward to seeing readers favourites.