Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane

Author:Robert Macfarlane [Macfarlane, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9780241967867
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2015-03-04T23:00:00+00:00

V

Eawl-leet – north Lancashire noun, variant pronunciation of owl-light, meaning ‘twilight, dusk’.

Late in the afternoon, as dark was falling, Richard and I left the cottage and walked back up towards the quarries and the tunnel. The rain was drenching now, the heaviest rain I had been in for months, and within minutes we were wet through. I could feel rain streaming down the inside of my trousers and into my shoes. Richard had only found one pair of wellingtons, and they had holes in the soles. He was wearing the holey wellies. I was in trainers.

‘At least we don’t need to worry about getting our feet wet,’ I said.

We walked on up the quarry track, which was also a stream. I wondered if the tunnel would be so flooded as to be unenterable.

‘All Hallow’s Eve is the time when the veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest,’ said Richard.

‘Does that make this a good time or a bad time to explore abandoned mine-workings?’ I asked.

We reached the clitter valley. Ting, ting, the sounds of the stone as high as coin on glass. There at its end was the mouth of the tunnel of swords and axes, black and intimidating. There were the guard stones and the holly. I had a torch with a weak beam. I flashed it down the tunnel. Water was coursing through the roof, showing silver in the beam, like silk. The walls streamed with water – but the level on the tunnel floor had risen only by a few inches.

I slipped between the guard stones and stepped down onto the blades. Richard followed me. Quickly the outer world was left behind, as if a door had been closed, and we were in a space of darkness and new noises: an echo chamber reverberating with the sounds of moving water. I felt the prickle in the neck that signals risk. I sloshed onwards into the darkness, the blades rucking beneath my feet.

The tunnel led deeper into the hill. After a minute or two its route kinked to the right, and the acoustics altered. The further in we got, the less water came through the roof of the tunnel, until it slowed to a trickle, then to drops. Richard lit a tea candle, cupping it in his hand, though the wax ran onto his palm and set there. I switched off my torch, preferring the flame light, which flickered warmly on the walls.

‘There’s a breeze coming towards us,’ Richard said.

We stopped, and he held the candle still. Its flame leaned back towards him, and now I could feel the breeze too, fresh and white on my face.

Suddenly, out of the darkness, I could see that the tunnel roof had collapsed. Slabs and hunks of tuff crammed the passage. There was no way through. So we sat on the rubble of the ruckle, lifted our feet from the blades and the water, and waited there silently, listening, far into the hill.

‘Look at the candle,’ said Richard. The

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.