Two day whistle-stop Cumbrian tour which included Castlerigg & Blakeley Topping amongst others, but also taking my partner on her first visit to Long Meg. We had sun, sleet, snow, hail & thunder in the space of an hour.
But this visit I had a thought. Isn’t Long Meg rather phallic? If the circle is female, having a phallic outlier (as many others including Nine Ladies & the ‘King’ stone on Stanton Moor) would seem quite natural to me.
Sad felled & cut tree at the bottom of the circle. May be storm damage, but very recent. The tree fall must have damaged the bottom stones though.
One note about toilets too. Back through Little Salkend to Langwathby (5 mins drive) is railway station (on Settle Carlisle line) Toilets (inc disabled there) although you will feel obliged to eat at the ‘Brief Encounter’ tea rooms. Worth it though.