Norman Hadley
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normanhadley.bsky.social
Norman Hadley
@normanhadley.bsky.social
340 followers 250 following 600 posts
Fell runner, wild camper, writer.
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normanhadley.bsky.social
A flash of wildness in the suburbs.
A sparrowhawk perched on a clipped beech hedge, next to the recycling bins.
November 9, 2025 at 10:03 AM
normanhadley.bsky.social
On Golden Tarn. At Holehird, with just the occasional dabchick-squawk breaking the silence.
November 8, 2025 at 10:58 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
If you haven't yet subscribed to Origin Story, you really should question your life-choices. Erudite and incisive but with a listenable lightness, this is what learning should sound like.
November 8, 2025 at 7:40 AM
normanhadley.bsky.social
My latest route, in the Far Orient of Cumbria, for @ukhillwalking.bsky.social

www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/in...
ROUTECARD: Kidsty Pike and the Randale Round
The head of Mardale is one of eastern Lakeland’s grandest cirques, and the loop based on Long Stile and Harter Fell is rightly a classic. Just to its north is this quieter circuit of the...
www.ukhillwalking.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:48 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Yesterday's outing was not so much a bike ride as a punishment beating: floundering through soupy peat being periodically skittled by huge gusts as the Suburban Dad in the Sky blasted me with his jet wash.
November 1, 2025 at 8:00 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
My latest route card, stomping the wild moors above the upper Eden.
www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/in...
ROUTECARD: Mallerstang Edge
The upper Eden valley cuts a fine cleft between high escarpments. To the west, Wild Boar Fell lifts the eye to a tapering point but on the eastern side a long, riven fellside rises up stretching for.....
www.ukhillwalking.com
October 29, 2025 at 12:33 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
October, I love you. Saving the best to last.
Backlit oak tree, Coniston shore. Beech sapling glowing bronze. Curving path round The Tarns, with Wetherlam and the Old Man of Coniston beyond. The Langdale Pikes mimicking their foreground.
October 25, 2025 at 4:42 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Running round Whitbarrow checking a few directions for @tgomagazine.bsky.social - not too onerous work.
The southern limestone crags. Sunshaft reaching down into autumnal woods. Waxcap fungus.
October 24, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Reposted by Norman Hadley
drmjwarren.bsky.social
Bird place-name of the day 99 for @normanhadley.bsky.social: GLEADLESS (Yorks). OE glida + leah. ‘Kite wood/clearing’. For more names see: birdsandplace.co.uk. #birdsandplace #naturewriting
Red kite in flight OS map showing Gleadless and Gleadless Valley in Sheffield.
October 19, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Reposted by Norman Hadley
indivisible.org
😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings
October 18, 2025 at 5:22 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
My latest for @ukhillwalking.bsky.social, tiptoeing around the periphery of the Scafell massif on the arbitrary edge of public land. Just because.
www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/des...
Walking the Line - a mid-height lap of the Scafells
There's more to hills than summits. Norman Hadley discovers the wilder side of Lakeland while making like a sheep on an eccentric two-day circuit around the rugged mid-height slopes of the...
www.ukhillwalking.com
October 13, 2025 at 4:17 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Pretty spicy out on the hills, folks. I ran Blencathra and I swear it took more effort on the descent than the ascent. Then a quick nip into the Blencathra Field Centre to drip on their floor and say a quick Hi to members of the Outdoor Writers' and Photographers' Guild.
October 3, 2025 at 7:20 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
I didn't have "pet a fox" on my to-do list today. But I'm going to add it so I can cross it off.
September 29, 2025 at 5:11 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Out tomorrow, including an article of mine on how *not* to navigate the Cairngorm plateau. Arguably includes tips on how not to navigate your romantic life.
Great Outdoors magazine cover My article first page, "Not all who wander are lost, but some really are." Image credit: David Lintern.
September 25, 2025 at 6:20 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
After the rain, a freshly-washed Borrowdale greets the morning.
Sheep admiring Rosthwaite Fell and Glaramara Thorneythwaite Fell Early rays, Stonethwaite. A glimpse over Styhead towards Wasdale.
September 21, 2025 at 6:31 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Glorious canter up St Sunday Crag.
Ullswater surrounded by lush greens The Helvellyn group of hills Fairfield's sombre northern flank Wheatear
September 5, 2025 at 5:21 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
This summer, I've been increasingly venturing east of the M6 to map some routes in the Dales. This is an old favourite.
www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/in...
ROUTECARD: Kisdon Hill and the Muker Meadows
Kisdon Hill occupies a strategic defensive position at the head of Swaledale. Geographically, it's something of an oddity, since it appears to cleave the valley to either side. In reality, the...
www.ukhillwalking.com
September 5, 2025 at 5:08 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
What a flimsy popinjay.
September 3, 2025 at 6:38 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
In a time when animals spoke in the tongues of men, a donkey being led to market failed to listen to this magnificent podcast and lost the race to a tortoise in fox's clothing, which pleased nobody. So the moral is: something, something, listen intently.
sturdyalex.bsky.social Alex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · Aug 12
This is probably the episode that I would Clockwork-Orange-force every Labour politician to listen to.

The amount of work that went into this 75 minutes almost killed me. I hope you get a lot of joy and insight from it. x
alexpodyssey.bsky.social Alex Andreou's Podyssey @alexpodyssey.bsky.social · Aug 12
New: 🐸 AESOP III - How to Lose a Donkey in 10 Ways

🐇 What is the moral of "The Tortoise & The Hare"?🐺 What is the warning in "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing"?🦊 What does "sour grapes" mean?

You're probably wrong about all three.

🍊 open.spotify.com/episode/5hxS...

🍏 podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a...
August 21, 2025 at 4:30 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Smashed LetterBoxed today: target of six words but completed in two, without repetition.
August 20, 2025 at 6:36 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Yarlside from Kensgriff
August 16, 2025 at 3:16 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
A spot of Howgill-scampering
August 16, 2025 at 3:10 PM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Thinking of getting into summit camping? Dan and I sketched out a few tips.

www.ukhillwalking.com/articles/ski...
SKILLS: Expert Tips: Summit Camping
From wider views and lingering sunsets to the promise (usually) of fewer midges, there's a lot to be said for getting yout tent out of the valley and up onto a peak. If you're new to summit...
www.ukhillwalking.com
August 11, 2025 at 11:34 AM
normanhadley.bsky.social
Darter
August 10, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Reposted by Norman Hadley
oddthisday.bsky.social
Today is the 47th anniversary of this clearly unimprovable photo, from a story so absurd that it shouldn’t be true, but is: the day a team of workers from British Waterways pulled the plug out of the Chesterfield Canal, and all the water emptied out
A man with a spectacular 1970s mullet, wearing big wellies and a v-neck jumper over a T-shirt, looks at camera as he stands on a boat which is itself standing on the muddy bottom of an empty canal. He is holding up an enormous wooden plug on a long chunky chain
August 10, 2025 at 10:01 AM