Tag: hill
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Burns Night
Cleveland is a land of glacial outliers. Roseberry Topping, Freeborough Hill, Blakey Topping and, of course, Whorl Hill. Apparently, at a mere 237m high, it is the 2226th tallest hill in England, which I must admit I do find hard to believe. To the right of the hill are the ruins of Whorlton Castle which…
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Easterside Hill
Lower Bilsdale and the distinctive bulk of Easterside Hill with its limestone cap dominating the confluence of the Rivers Septh and Rye. Seen from Ayton Bank on the edge of Rievaulx Moor on a dull overcast morning. Interestingly, a Dornier Do217 of the German Luftwaffe crashed into north end of Easterside Hill (to the right)…
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Módraniht, a pagan tradition of Christmas Eve
To our pagan Anglo-Saxon ancestors, December 24th was the Night of the Mothers or Módraniht when thanks were given to the mothers of the tribe. It was attested to in Bede’s 8th-century manuscript and probably involved a sacrifice. The tradition may have roots today in the Orkneys where Helya’s Night sees the children of each…
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Today is St. Thomas’s Day
Or is it? The great god Wikipedia says is 21st December, tomorrow. But Rev. J. C. Atkinson in his 1858 tome “Forty Years in a Moorland Parish” writes that it is the 20th December. I am more inclined to believe the Reverend. An old-fashioned book sitting on my shelf has more authenticity. Whatever the day…
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Highcliff Gate
After last night’s passage of Storm Deidre, a benign sunny morning. Bit disappointing to find no snow but icy tracks made the going interesting. This is looking west along the watershed between the Tees and the Esk, across Highcliff Gate to Potter’s Ridge with Roseberry peeping over the skyline. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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“By, yon’s a sooth-east, piner, aa’reet!”
To be honest the weather today hasn’t been the most conducive for the taking of photographs. A raw, bitter wind which does not take the trouble to go around you, but pierces right through to your very bones. No matter my layers of Polartec, gloves and a hat of the finest merino wool. ‘A lazy…
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The Folly
Strong morning sunshine on a stand of beech on a green hill. The stand is called “The Folly”, the hill is How Hill, a gravel mound left by the meltwater of a retreating glacier. At 166m above sea level, it is not a big hill but it is tempting to say it gave its name…
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The first frost of the year
No temptation to hurkle-durkle this morning, a clear sky this dawn promised a good sunrise. Maybe Jack Frost had visited but there was no evidence of his telltale fern-like patterns on the windows. Or maybe nowadays he just avoids double glazed windows. But a thin layer of ice crystals did cover the grass and fallen…
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A fine day for a stroll up Roseberry
Roseberry was busy with many taking advantage of the November blue skies. The rockface looks as though there’s been a bit of a rockfall with patches clean of weathering. I haven’t heard of anything though. The main crag was exposed in the major rockfall which occurred in May 1912 when the shape of the summit…
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Peace How
I’ve climbed up to the High Spy ridge via Knitting Haws using the Public Footpath from the Borrowdale Gates Hotel several times before. I’ve passed just the other side of the holly tree on the right of the photo skirting around and hardly noticing the small ring contour on my right. That small ring contour…