Out & About …

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

  • Cattersty Sands

    Cattersty Sands

    The container ship that’s currently stuck fast in the Suez Canal reminded me of a photo from the East Cleveland Image Archive I have seen recently.‌ This was the SS Sylviana which went aground on Cattersby Sands, Skinningrove on 18 December 1902 after losing her propeller. Now I know that at 360 feet (110 metres)…

  • The Beast of Ingleby Moor

    The Beast of Ingleby Moor

    Well, I think it looks like a beast, a cat or lion maybe. I woke up needing some inspiration for today’s outing. In 1484, Richard III was on the throne. The last of the Plantagenets, he who ended up under a carpark in Leicester. Whenever I think of Richard III, I think of a quip…

  • Circulus inextricabilis

    Circulus inextricabilis

    Remember back in October when I commented on the estate padlocking their newly constructed steps down to the Old Meggison waterfall in Kildale? Well, the steps have now gone, and a hundred metres or so of post and wire fencing has been erected along the riverside of the track in an attempt to restrict access…

  • Sexism in the office in the 20th century

    Sexism in the office in the 20th century

    After the Susan Everard murder and subsequent vigil on Clapham Common, I realised I had never really given that much thought to women’s experience both of sexism, but in particular, their vulnerability to men’s violence. I was brought up in the 50s/60s and fortunately had little experience of outright misogyny. I do remember the teenage…

  • Orange peel

    Orange peel

    “It is a sober commentary on the British way of life that the National Trust has to spend £250 a year picking up litter on its properties in the Lake District. People presumably visit these places to drink in the especial beauty of the scene, but apparently they leave them more or less covered in…

  • The Badger Stones

    The Badger Stones

    A vernal fresh feel to the moors today with celestine skies. An overnight frost but the day is warming nicely. The Badger Stones are a collection of huge sandstone boulders in the upper catchment of Hodge Beck in Bransdale. A highly visible landmark surrounded by a sea of heather moorland. They must always have had…

  • Potters Ridge

    Potters Ridge

    I have not taken a photo from this spot before. Honest. I moved a hundred metres south from Black Nab to be sure. I have often wondered how Potters Ridge got its name. That low 25 metre high prominence behind Highcliff Nab. I think I’ve found out. In 1806, Robert Chaloner, the Lord of the…

  • Acklam Hall

    Acklam Hall

    Although this must be one of the oldest, if not the oldest, building in Middlesbrough, I didn’t get a sense of history while I was there. Too manicured and twee for me. A green plaque indicated a date of 1678 but major restoration in the mid-19th-century, and again in 1912 must have substantially altered its…

  • The Boulder

    The Boulder

    “I like that boulder. That is a nice boulder.” So said Donkey to Shrek. The climbing fraternity have dubbed this huge boulder below Ward Nab on Coate Moor as simply “The Boulder”. I feel sure it must at some time have had another name but it looks like that has been lost to history. A…

  • Resurfaced laid path to Roseberry

    Resurfaced laid path to Roseberry

    A brand spanking new path. The National Park has been hard at work upgrading the path between Aireyholme Cottage and Roseberry. Over the winter it had become impassable with a gluppy mud. The farmer had, a few years ago, with good intentions, enclosed the path to the statutory 1½ metre width for a field edge.…

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