but mainly they were giving me the 'T C Lethbridge' treatment - and it was quite painful. There are questions that no-one knows the answers to and the meaning of the carvings is in this category. Some of the rock is quite closely worked and it is tantalising to think that the same worker also carved stone metal moulds out of the same - or very similar - material. It seems as though the face of the stone has been stained with something dark.

The blocking stone is a little more than two feet across and about nine inches deep. I can lift it with difficulty. 'Kylie' is a shabby Bedford Rascal campervan - if you remember the Fat Harry White character on the Mark and Lard show - that's the set up. Getting the stone in the back would be easy enough - getting a wheelbarrow in as well is more problematical. It'll probably combine with a visit to some out of way stone circle - maybe to 'Ridley Common'.

Have a look at the Four-poster circle at Whitehouse, Alston - it seems to have both a pair of outlying stones to the east and west. It's the only thing I've ever found in Cumbria.