We went to stay at the highest pub in Britain, set in bleak moorland just over the county boundary into Yorkshire. As you can see from the photograph, it was a mining inn. What was odd was that they were mining coal. I am struggling to think of a coal mine that high up. We walked along the Pennine Way for a couple of miles and found this black outcrop of rocks. I guess it must be coal. Closer inspection revealed poor shale not really good enough for burning, but look at the think layers of sandstone between the shales. This would suggest episodes of flooding washing sand across the swamps that would have provided the mud and vegetation for the black shales. Not really physics, I know, but I love geology too.
