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It's not quite that bad, (though it is bloody annoying)
The inclusions are (probably) natural cup marks, the white stuff being chalk used by the boulderers.

It's a long running bone of contention. The boulders are scheduled monuments, but are also contain well recognised routes for the boulderers, and were used for climbing well before the carvings were recognised. Some of the routes are on bits of the boulders without carvings, others are right over them. It's the latter routes that have been publicised amongst the climbing fraternity (most of whom seem quite happy to avoid the carvings) with an aim to raising awareness of and consequently protecting the carvings.

It's not illegal to climb on a scheduled monument, but it is illegal to damage one. I reckon climbing won't be banned unless the carvings are damaged at some point, but by then it'll be too late :(

It is the same problem with other scheduled monuments, although they do have a certain degree of protection, but as Hob says, what is the point of giving a monument more protection only once it has been damaged?

A classic example is Ballochmyle, a place that has one of the largest collections of rock art anywhere in the uk, the carvings are on a large sandstone cliff face. The carvings since being exposed in the mid 80's have been slowly damaged year after year, and all the authorities can do is keep a watch on the situation..(this means an inspector looking at the walls every january).
At what point do they suddenly realise the carvings are too badly damaged and someone says, mmm, maybe we should have acted a few years ago..

I know rock climbing is a sport, and the people doing it are not intent on damaging the rock, but surely for the sake of the carvings it would make sense to stop the climbing?..there are quite a few other boulders that could be used for climbing.

steps of my soap box...


wolfy