Month: May 2016
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Slacks Beck
Another dreich day. Still it’s the last day of Spring today. Tomorrow it’ll be Summer so it’s bound to be sunny. Mist and low cloud mean my attention is drawn to closer details. This small stream has many names. Just below its source on Great Ayton Moor it is referred to as Howden Gill. Here…
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Calcining Kilns, Rosedale East Mines
A bit of a dilemma. Parked at the Lion Inn and went for a circuit of Rosedale with visibility less than the width of the road and the temperature below 10ºc. And so it remained until tea time when the mist finally cleared and the sun came out. But by that time I was comfortably back home. Rosedale was…
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The Royal Oak, Great Ayton
An early morning view of the Royal Oak in the village. As it’s a Sunday there is an unusual lack of cars. I’ll admit this photo today is a little contrived to connect with today’s useless piece of trivia. Today is Royal Oak or Oak Apple Day when you are supposed to wear a sprig of oak leaves in…
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Scorton
Headed west for a change. A cycling foray into the flat farmlands of the Vale of Mowbray. Sir Nikolaus Pevsner (1902-1983), the renown architectural writer, described Scorton as having “a rather large, somewhat shapeless green”. But it is an unusual green in the fact that it is raised higher than the rest of the village. There are only two such…
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May Blossom
In Nottingham in the early 60s I remember me mam saying “naer cast a clout till May is out” to me when I tried to go out in the Spring without my duffle coat or string vest. I thought, and I think me mam thought too, that “may” referred to the month of May but it really…
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Bransdale Mill
There has reportedly been a water mill on this spot alongside Hodge Beck since the late 13th century. The present building was built by William Strickland in 1811 increasing the capacity with the addition of a 16 foot overshot water wheel. A window lintel gives a date of rebuilding of 1842. It had been substantially…
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Male Fern
A wet miserable day with low cloud hiding any views of the hills so my attention had to be closer to my feet. In Newton Woods the bluebells have gone off the boil. Their vivid blues have paled and the bracken fronds overtaken them. But less prevalent than bracken are clumps of ferns. Now I’m…
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Roseberry Romp
Runners negotiating the rocks on Roseberry summit in the annual Roseberry Romp, a 5 mile race involving 320m of climb. The race is organised by the National Trust and generally follows paths around the perimeter of the property including a climb up to the summit. Roseberry Topping is owned by the National Trust. The 320m…
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Belmont Ironstone Mine
Why is it that runners always think of biking as an easy option? An active rest day. My own bike ride today enabled me to get into Guisborough Woods which looked green and lush with vicious nettles on the floor and the sycamores not yet dense enough to keep out the light. I was surprised to…
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Ingleborough
Another one of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. Ingleborough. Seen from Dub Cote on the southern foothills of Pen-y-Ghent, Ingleborough is just a blimp on the horizon overshadowed by the great scar of Horton quarry which seems to have taken over half the mountain in its search for limestone.