I guess you must have driven past the most recently recorded stone circle in Cumbria and not given it a glance. It's a mile this side of Alston and is undisturbed. Aren't four-poster stone circles - however tiny - rich sites to look for cupmarks?

I remember lifting my elder daughter onto one of the very large rocks at Long Meg and her Daughters, when she was small, pretending to walk away, saying 'See you later'. She didn't mind too much. It is she that carries my craft skills, in a latent form, by watching me work and helping me carry stone.

I have what I call 'one of Long Meg's errant daughters' on the fells near my basecamp. It's on Green Hill - is listed on the SMR - and has two cupmarks. Put there by the same people as at Long Meg, at least, and it is their tradition I carry.