Today promised to be dry and sunny, so we decided to take our bikes to the top of the Pennines for a ride. It turned out to be a bit wild and wacky up there- cycling up and down over undulating ridges, steep sections challenging our ability to hold on to the brakes, and wild, desolate mining villages more reminiscent of the Falkland Islands than the British mainland.
As we sat in a pub in Garrigill, we mused on the curious tendency for a "linguistic watershed" to be governed entirely by topography...It turns out that despite these remote villages being closer to Cumbria and in particular, Carlisle, the accent is a strong Geordie one, and they would support Newcastle United rather than Carlisle United...Even after so long, and so much change, the Pennine topography still has a hold on subtle changes in accent and affinity amongst human populations.
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