How to pick your way to The Nostrils
Ten National Trust walking guides let embarrassed walkers find their way to Booby’s Bay or Scrubby Bottoms without asking Ever fancied putting your foot down on Kiss Me Arse Steps or taking a ramble to Slapper’s Rock but have been too embarrassed to ask the way? Walkers searching for the best route down to Scrubby Bottoms or picking their way through The Nostrils can consult a new range of online guides to the slightly rudely named places of Britain. Ten walking guides to some of our silliest-named beauty spots are now available to download free from the National Trust, showing the way to Booby’s Bay in Cornwall and Windy Gap in Surrey. According to Paul Cavill, editor of the English Place-Name Society journal, such names are very old. “Most describe the geography or land ownership, so finding out the meaning may be useful to walkers,” he said. Often the silly names are blunt and literal: Kiss Me Arse Steps, at Lansallos, Cornwall, is inspired by the steep steps that result in the person in front of you having their backside in your face, while Slapper’s Rock, North Helford, Cornwall, is probably named after the sound of the sea hitting the rock, although “slap” in Old English also means a “slippery muddy place”. Pisser Clough near Hardcastle Crags, West Yorkshire is more complex. Clough comes from the Old English for a wooded vale, while “pisser” may stem from “pissant”, meaning insignificant and also slang for an ant. “Lowly valley” hardly does justice to the glories of the local scenery which offers tumbling streams, plentiful birdlife and the northern hairy wood ant. A final warning: the biggest hazard for those fancying these treks is Googling the names. Far safer to go straight to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/walks . Walking holidays Yorkshire Cornwall United Kingdom Europe Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk
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How to pick your way to The Nostrils
Ten National Trust walking guides let embarrassed walkers find their way to Booby’s Bay or Scrubby Bottoms without asking Ever fancied putting your foot down on Kiss Me Arse Steps or taking a ramble to Slapper’s Rock but have been too embarrassed to ask the way? Walkers searching for the best route down to Scrubby Bottoms or picking their way through The Nostrils can consult a new range of online guides to the slightly rudely named places of Britain. Ten walking guides to some of our silliest-named beauty spots are now available to download free from the National Trust, showing the way to Booby’s Bay in Cornwall and Windy Gap in Surrey. According to Paul Cavill, editor of the English Place-Name Society journal, such names are very old. “Most describe the geography or land ownership, so finding out the meaning may be useful to walkers,” he said. Often the silly names are blunt and literal: Kiss Me Arse Steps, at Lansallos, Cornwall, is inspired by the steep steps that result in the person in front of you having their backside in your face, while Slapper’s Rock, North Helford, Cornwall, is probably named after the sound of the sea hitting the rock, although “slap” in Old English also means a “slippery muddy place”. Pisser Clough near Hardcastle Crags, West Yorkshire is more complex. Clough comes from the Old English for a wooded vale, while “pisser” may stem from “pissant”, meaning insignificant and also slang for an ant. “Lowly valley” hardly does justice to the glories of the local scenery which offers tumbling streams, plentiful birdlife and the northern hairy wood ant. A final warning: the biggest hazard for those fancying these treks is Googling the names. Far safer to go straight to www.nationaltrust.org.uk/walks . Walking holidays Yorkshire Cornwall United Kingdom Europe Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk
Posted by
on April 1, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.