Category: Little Roseberry
-
Roseberry’s Witches and the New Myths We Embrace: A Continuum of Credulity
According to the quaint tales of yesteryear, Roseberry Topping was once a preferred haunt of witches. Picture, if you will, three Ayton men, trembling with fright, witnessing a trio of broomstick-riding hags circling the summit and executing some arcane ritual, while sorrowful wails echoed through the night. The villagers, in their infinite wisdom, deduced that…
-
A Path up Little Roseberry, Everything has a History
On the hills and moors lie many landscape features, their origins lost in the mists of time. Contemplating their history evokes me with a sense of curiosity. Take, for instance, the path ascending towards the deep notch in the Little Roseberry spur—it stands as a prime example. The erosion scored into the slope suggests either…
-
When is a motorbike not a motorbike?
Why, when it’s an ‘electronically assisted pedal cycle’ of course. Or EAPC. Or e-bike. Ah, what a glorious morning it was! Roseberry was draped in a luxurious blanket of cloud, obscuring any hint of beauty or interest. As I ascended Little Roseberry, I stumbled upon a lad indulging in a fag and soaking up the…
-
A lesson for us all: beware of the tallyman
A few scattered hawthorn trees mark the vestiges of an old hedgerow. Little Roseberry and Black Bank in the distance. The massive credit facility needed by our former Prime Minister has been making the headlines recently. A lifestyle that demands this amount of money ‘on tick‘ is incomprehensible to me. At the turn of the…
-
I ought not allow this day to pass without mentioning Rabbie Burns, born on this day in 1759 in Ayeshire
But I won’t quote the National Bard of Scotland’s poem most associated with Burns Night and recited worldwide on this day: ‘Address to a Haggis‘. Instead a poem in which Burns reflects on the treatment of nature and the fortunes ‘Of Mice and Men’, a line later immortalised in the title of John Steinbeck’s 1937…
-
Deck the halls with boughs of holly, Fa la la la la la la la!
It’s been a bumper year for all sorts of fruits and berries, and the holly is no exception. I was fascinated by this holly bush on Ryston Bank — the northern slope of Little Roseberry. Its branches are laden with bright red berries. In the distance is the flat topped Bousdale Hill with its fields…
-
Why?
All acts of vandalism are just mindless and irresponsible but some defy any sort of explanation whatsoever. Look closely to the right of the seat and you can see a patch of wall that has been repaired. I reported this to the National Trust just last week and they have promptly been up and repaired…
-
Bridle Gill Road
A view of the north side of Little Roseberry. There is no indication of a footpath on the 1856 Ordnance Survey Six-inch map, nor the parallel gulleys. Instead a ‘Bridle Road‘ is shown, initially following this route, then taking a right angle, contouring around the nose and ascending on the north side. This Bridle Road…
-
Witches’ Knickers
A dreich day, witness my photo of Roseberry not quite smothered by mist. ‘Witches’ Knickers’ is an Irish epithet for the poly bags that attach themselves to shrubs and trees, and barbed wire as here on Newton Moor, slowing shredding in the wind. I keep meaning to clean it up but put that fiddly job…
-
Roseberry from Carr Ridge
It seems a bit of a waste. Posting a distant photo of my local hill. I had planned a wander over Urra Moor. A dull start but I could see this patch of sunlight slowly making its way over the Eston Hills. I figured sooner or later it would shine on Roseberry. I wasn’t disappointed.…