Initials on the rocks

Shortly before he died in 1986 he took me on one of his favourite walks to Higger Tor to look down the valley below.

30 years later I took my wife on the same walk. After reaching the top of the rise we saw a rock on which someone had deeply carved his initials and a date, but we did not take much notice of it at the time and continued to the edge of the rocks further on.

However, of the many rocks on the top only one appeared to have been marked. The initials here were A T, my father’s initials!

After taking a photograph we returned home having been attacked by a number of hornets.

Last week I took my brother Malcolm on the same walk in an attempt to relocate the rock, which we eventually found although even two months later it was more covered in lichen and in the shade.

Remembering the previously marked rock and the connection between the two brothers, the Clarion Ramblers and the Kinder trespass of 1932, we walked backed looking for the dated rock.

Imagine our surprise on finding it, RT 1932, my uncle’s initials.

Were both these carvings a coincidence or were they the work of my relatives?

Can anyone throw light on this or name other culprits?

Graham Torry

Alms Hill Drive, Sheffield S11