Whin Rigg

Whin Rigg is a fell is the English Lake District, situated in the western segment of the national park, 22 kilometres south east of the town of Whitehaven. It reaches only a modest altitude of 535 m (1,755 ft) but is part of one of the Lake District’s most dramatic landscapes in that the rugged and impressive Wastwater Screes (also known as "The Screes") fall from the fells summit to Wast Water over 450 m (1,500 ft) below. The fell's name means “gorse covered ridge” and originates from the Old Norse words “Hvin” meaning gorse and “Hryggr” meaning Ridge.

Topography and Geology

Whin Rigg is linked to the adjoining fell of Illgill Head, just 1.5 kilometres away at the northern end of The Screes by a path that gives precipitous views down to Wast Water.

The Screes are a Site of Special Scientific Interest and are regarded as a classic geological locality and one of the best and most famous examples of screes in Britain. The escarpment and screes are made up of hard wearing Borrowdale Volcanics rock, however there are areas of less resistant rock which have been eroded and this has led to deep gullies in the cliff face. The cliffs around the summit of Whin Rigg take the form of vertical rock buttresses which are split by the huge Great Gully and C Gully which give precipitous views of Wast Water. The gullies are spectacular but are a no go area for walkers, Great Gully has seventeen near vertical pitches and the remains of an aeroplane within it.

Ulex

Ulex (gorse, furze or whin) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. The genus comprises about 20 species of thorny evergreen shrubs in the subfamily Faboideae of the pea family Fabaceae. The species are native to parts of western Europe and northwest Africa, with the majority of species in Iberia.

Gorse is closely related to the brooms, and like them, has green stems and very small leaves and is adapted to dry growing conditions. However it differs in its extreme thorniness, the shoots being modified into branched thorns 1–4 centimetres (0.39–1.57 in) long, which almost wholly replace the leaves as the plant's functioning photosynthetic organs. The leaves of young plants are trifoliate, but in mature plants they are reduced to scales or small spines. All the species have yellow flowers, generally showy, some with a very long flowering season.

Species

The most widely familiar species is common gorse (Ulex europaeus), the only species native to much of western Europe, where it grows in sunny sites, usually on dry, sandy soils. It is also the largest species, reaching 2–3 metres (7–10 ft) in height; this compares with typically 20–40 centimetres (7.9–15.7 in) for western gorse (Ulex gallii). This latter species is characteristic of highly exposed Atlantic coastal heathland and montane habitats. In the eastern part of Great Britain, dwarf furze (Ulex minor) replaces western gorse. Ulex minor grows only about 30 centimetres (12 in) tall, a habit characteristic of sandy lowland heathland.

WHIN

WHIN (1010 AM), licensed to Gallatin, Tennessee, is a radio station broadcasting a country music format. The station is owned by Whin, Inc..

History

Gallatin received its first radio station August 2, 1948, when WHIN went on the air. The 1 KW (daytime) station was owned by Sumner County Broadcasting Company.

Owned at one time by record mogul Randy Wood, the station still serves Sumner County with country music, local sports, and coverage of NASCAR racing. WHIN was joined by an FM station in December 1960 when 104.5 WFMG came on the air. The FM station has broadcast under many call letters, but probably its most famous days were in the late 1970s and 1980s when it was known as KX (pronounced Kicks) 104, a popular music station that battled with Nashville stations for top audience numbers. During that time, the station was owned by Ron Bledsoe, who for years had commanded CBS Records in Nashville, and who was a former employee of the station in his younger years. In 1984, the station was sold to Jack Williams and Seth (Skip) Sparkman who still operate the station.