It has been suggested by the odd Doubting Thomas that Boulder of the Month is just an elaborate wind up. What an outrage! The very thought offends me, and as it turns out, Big G too:

Dear NWB readers,
occasionally this feature is duty bound to present something decent for fear of plummeting into disrepute.
So here is a wall composed of such beautiful rock you may find it sufficient to just wonder up and touch it and then clear off back down again.
The rock resembles a sort of rough grey sand paper of awesome texture. The friction is so great that rock shoes have to be torn from the smears to make upward progress. Looseness went out with the ice age.

Access can be gained by parking at the Marchlyn road head GR 597631 and heading up the road to the tip of Marchlyn Bach Reservoir and following the west shore to its southernmost extremity. Here a number of features may distract you, not least a big slab descending into the waters, but do not be waylaid. Trudge up the wide gully to the south west passing some substantial cliffs to your left. Above is our blank canvass with its delicious grass landings; GR 607623

It is a bit north-facing but the sun comes round onto it for about 5mins on midsummer’s day. The huge complex of cliffs and rocks above and to the south is relatively poor.

Blessed are the lonely-for they never queue.
And no one ever sees them mess up.

Love, Big G

Further reading

Midsummer shadow-plays
It is said that in ancient times the ‘perfect walls’ were used to provide a backdrop to dramatic shadow-play events by the Druids. In the absence of a descent ‘henge’ of any sort, they gathered on the appropriate day and engaged in frantic dance-like activity during the suns fleeting illumination of the wall. If druids turned up on the wrong day the show was a flop and the weakest member had to be sacrificed in the lake below.

The Great Slab of Marchlyn Bach south
This substantial slab descends into the lake at an angle of 10 degrees or so and is smooth enough to ride a mountain bike down at great speed-why is this feature not famous?

The Marchlyn Bach hydro-electric scheme
The lake is tiny, unspoiled and has very small catchment, therefore it is prime material for development as a hydro electric initiative. In line with the current vogue it is probably destined to power an LED bulb in the nearest house.

NB. apologies for late arrival of this/last month's feature - the editor has been away again!

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