Category: North York Moors
-
How to recognise different trees from quite a long way away: No. 2 – The Yew
So the sketch in Monty Python’s Flying Circus might have progressed had it gone on past No. 1 – The Larch. Wet and wild today so hugged the forest. I came across this yew tree with a distinct browsing line. This surprised me. I thought the needles were toxic but it turns out deer can…
-
“Look closely at nature. Every species is a masterpiece, exquisitely adapted to the particular environment in which it has survived. Who are we to destroy or even diminish biodiversity?”
I’ve run in the hills and the countryside all my life. Tearing around with the intention of getting back as soon as possible. Work and family life meant an efficient use of available time. But the upshot of retirement and covid are more relaxing outings. I am quite happy just sauntering around aimlessly looking at…
-
Just another dreich day
This is descending into Raisdale from the col with Scugdale. Just beyond the tree, the track becomes a well-defined holloway called Mill Lane. It used to be a ‘green lane’ and popular with off-road motorcyclists and motorists and was suffering from horrendous erosion. But, since downgraded to a Public Bridleway, it has recovered nicely, although…
-
Aireyholme
An earlyish start for a walk back home from Pinchinthorpe and once again, setting out in the dull and gloom and thick cloud. Almost home and out pops a sunbeam, a phenomenon which in naval slang would have been termed a ‘Jacob’s Ladder‘. And the sun shone on Aireyholme Farm, and the fields south and…
-
The holly and the …
Need I go on? You must be so familiar with the Christmas carol. Holly, traditionally a masculine plant compared with the feminine ivy, although holly is what is called dioecious, meaning that individual trees are either male or female. Flowers occur on both male and female trees but only the female trees have berries and…
-
Mount Snever Observatory
To modern ears, the word ‘observatory’ is associated with telescopes and distant stars but the Mount Snever Observatory was built with the intention of viewing nature in all its glory. The 35 feet high belvedere tower is a somewhat austere structure, built in 1838 by John Wormald of Oldstead Hall to commemorate Queen Victoria’s coronation…
-
Bankside Farm
A bit of a ‘lucky dip’ walk today. Generally dull and gloomy, with the occasional brief sunny spell. One such spell occurred when I was climbing out of Kildale towards Capt. Cook’s Monument on the Cleveland Way. Above the pasture field known as Ley Close, Bankside Farm and its neighbour Bankside Cottage reflected the apricity.…
-
Now that’s what I call a green lane …
… but not what most folks usually associate with the term, an off-road route for motorbikes and 4wd vehicles. Actually, the term ‘green lane’ has no legal significance. An unsurfaced route for vehicles would be a ‘byway open to all traffic’ or a BOAT. This is, in fact, a Public Bridleway providing access rights for…
-
Sandbeds Plantation
There’s something about a beech woodland is that is magical. Strong low sunshine creating long shadows on a winter carpet of leaves. I know this is not a natural landscape, Sandbeds Plantation above the village of Kildale below Coate Moor. The uniformity of the elegant trunks is a giveaway, probably planted sometime in the late…
-
Roseberry and the Covid tiers
FaceBook is buzzing. The local BBC has reported that “while part [of Roseberry Topping] is in Redcar and Cleveland, subject to the tier three restrictions, its peak is in Hambleton in tier two” and folk have really got themselves into a tizzy. The broadcaster had picked up a story from Teesside Live which also headlined…