Freeze and thaw

Our tectonic plates continued their erratic waltz north. All the while billions of tonnes of sediments were deposited, turned to rock, tilted up here and there and then eroded away. 60 million years ago lava started to pour out of an enormous rift that was to become the Atlantic Ocean. North America and Europe have been drifting apart ever since. 2.6 million years ago the Earth‘s temperature began to fluctuate again; we cooled and then warmed, repeatedly – the Ice Age – and we are still in it. Ice caps extended to lower latitudes, glaciers grew and then retreated and as they did trees and plants recolonised the landscape. Humans emerged and began to exert their influence on the county, clearing forests and settling in the valleys – but that’s for next time