Category: Carr Ridge
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“Tā back-endās olaās tā bare-end”
I stumbled upon a Facebook post the other day claiming Cumbria has five seasons. The fifth, the Back End, supposedly hits between Autumn’s fall of leaves and Winter’s icy grip. Having woken up to a dusting of snow on the Cleveland Plain this morning, I headed with high hopes up onto Urra Moor, the highest…
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Carr Ridge, Urra Moor
It is recorded that this standing stone is a “Post Medieval” waymarker. A stone has stood over 450 winters reassuring travellers across the bleak Urra Moor, the highest point of the North York Moors.Ā The only sound that broke the muffling of the cloud was the frequent ‘go-back, back, back‘ call of the Red grouse…
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Botton Head
An obscure sandstone outcrop on Carr Ridge of Urra Moor, and overlooking to narrow north-facing valley of Ingleby Botton. The word BottonĀ comesĀ from an Old Scandinavian word āBotnā for a hollow or head of a valley of just this shape, rounded and flat-bottomed. The early surveyors of the Ordnance Survey must have misinterpreted the local…
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Yow and Gimmer
A wary pose for this yow and her gimmer lamb. She looks quite healthy, a bit clarty perhaps around the rear end. A clarty arse, clogged with urine and faecal matter, can be actually quite a problem for the sheep farmer. It can provide a breeding ground for maggots, a condition known as flystrike. Treatment…
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There’s some good snow drifts on Carr Ridge …
… on the way up to Urra Moor. Solid enough to bare my weight … almost. It was fun until the crust gives way and I end up with a face plant. The ruined dry-stone wall marks the boundary between the parishes of Bilsdale Midcable and Ingleby Greenhow and a dressed stone declares the land…
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Waymarker stone, Carr Ridge
This heather alongside the Cleveland Way seems to have avoided the worst of the ravishes of Lochmaea suturalis, the heather beetle. Not a bad display. The beetle overwinters dormant deep in the undergrowth of the heather, emerging in the spring when they are able to fly up to a range of several miles. The Wikipedia…
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Carr Ridge and Hasty Bank
A menhir or standing stone on Urra Moor right next to the Cleveland Way. I suspect this stone has been erected in modern times simply because I can find no mention of it which I am sure there would be if it was indeed historically significant. As it is it gives a good foreground to…
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The vernal equinox
Today is the vernal or spring equinox, the astronomical start of spring when the length of day and night are equal. The word equinox, in fact, comes from the Latin meaning equal night. Astronomically, the equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator, an imaginary line in the sky above the Earth’s equator, which…
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Swaledale sheep, Bilsdale
At least I think theseĀ are Black Faced sheep, one of theĀ traditional breedsĀ of the Northern hills. Other contenders could be SwaledalesĀ and Rough Fells. Quite frankly after looking at scores of photos on Google they all begin to look the same. All three are found on the North York MoorsĀ and allĀ are said to be descended from a…