Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

Month: August 2017

  • Roseberry from Pinchinthorp

    Roseberry from Pinchinthorp

    Another view of Roseberry Topping, this time from Pinchinthorp on the Great Ayton to Guisborough Road. Pinchinthorp is an ancient township, the name deriving from Pincium, or Pinchun, a Norman family who held land here in the 12th century. To describe Pinchinthorp today as a hamlet is a bit of an overstatement.

  • Roseberry Art

    Roseberry Art

    A really good piece of work by Rachel Lonsdale, simple but effective. But I’m not convinced Roseberry needs it. I fear another step towards turning the National Park into a theme park. The idea is to discourage graffitists but with the artwork only on one side, there are three other blank canvasses. It is only a…

  • Hasty Bank

    Hasty Bank

    An unexpected surprise as the sun broke beneath the bank of thick cloud that had covered Cleveland all afternoon. The light lasted a few minutes before the sun sank below the horizon. I happened to be at Bank Foot at the time, near Ingleby Greenhow.

  • Hutton Moor

    Hutton Moor

    This stand of larch has always intrigued me. It first appears on the 1952 edition of the Ordnance Survey map, is circular and isolated on the heather moor. It can not be self-seeded. Who planted it? And why?

  • Raisdale

    Raisdale

    Back from two weeks in the Outer Hebrides and already planning next year’s trip but as John Denver sang “hey, it’s good to be back home again”. This is the eastern branch of Raisdale with Beak Hills farm below the narrow ridge of Cold Moor or, as it was once called, Mount Vittoria.

  • Inchmurrin

    Inchmurrin

    A still misty morning on Loch Lomond. Inchmurrin is the largest island on the loch. The name is derived from St. Mirin, an Irish monk who came to Scotland in the first century. The island was the site of a chapel dedicated to the saint.

  • Gearraidh Lotalgear

    Gearraidh Lotalgear

    A deserted settlement on the east coast of Harris

  • TrĂ igh na Beirigh

    TrĂ igh na Beirigh

    On the west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, a two kilometre stretch of golden sands with hardly a footprint on it. ‘S math sin. ‘S math sin is a Gaelic phrase that found its into English. ‘S math sin is pronounced smashing and that exactly what it means.

  • Geodha an Fhithich

    Geodha an Fhithich

    I spotted this on the map and I just had to visit it. Fhithich, as some of my regular readers will know is the domain name for this blog. It’s Gaelic for raven. Geodha means a chasm or ravine. So this is the ravine of the raven. I must admit I was a bit disappointed.…

  • DĂčn Èistean

    DĂčn Èistean

    The site of a medieval fort on a small island the size of half a football pitch surrounded by steep crags off the coast just east of the Butt of Lewis overlooking the shipping routes of The Minch. The island probably supported a permanent community and is said to be the traditional stronghold of the…