Out & About …

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

  • Cliff Rigg Quarry

    Cliff Rigg Quarry

    Feeling under the weather so haven’t ventured far. Two ascents of Cliff Rigg with its huge hole left by the whinstone industry. The tooth of rock is the remnant of a wall of whinstone left as shoring to stop the weaker shales from collapsing. In the distance, is Capt. Cook’s Monument of Easby Moor Open…

  • Where is the purple haze?

    Where is the purple haze?

    The odd sprig of ling or heather can be found on the moors, amongst the muddy brown remnants of the winter colouring. Why isn’t the heather at its finest? Surely it should be by now, this first week of August. I had a search of my back archives to illustrate the state of the heather…

  • Loch of the Lowes

    Loch of the Lowes

    More bimbling about the Borders. The Loch of the Lowes lies just up the valley from St. Mary’s Loch. In fact, when the last glacier retreated, there was one big loch, however, over the millennia, the alluvial fan from Crosscleuch Burn has bisected it into the two lochs we see today, joined by the short…

  • The ‘Battle of Flodden Field’

    The ‘Battle of Flodden Field’

    Ripening fields of barley give no indication that on 9th September 1513 between 7,000 and 11,000 Scottish soldiers were killed here, including King James IV and most of his important nobles, and between 1000 and 4000 English. To add to the slaughter, it is said that a force of at least 500 French mercenaries, who…

  • Allan Tofts

    Allan Tofts

    Exploring prehistoric rock art on Allan Tofts above Beckhole in the Murk Esk valley. I must admit I was in the presence of an expert. Several cup-marked stones were found mostly covered with lichen which softened the carvings. Generally, it’s a very tactile experience. Even the tiny pecks left by the carver can be felt.…

  • Turf Stone

    Turf Stone

    On Bildsdale Moor West near Wether Hill. I haven’t been up here, certainly since lockdown. But not much to see as a blanket of wet cloud hung over the moor. Howes and boundary stones would provide photographic interest today. The Bilsdale Turf Stones are a series of eight stones, all inscribed with a ‘T’, 50…

  • Scarth Nick

    Scarth Nick

    To me, this is one of most evocative features on the Cleveland Hills. It was the first landmark on my first visit to the North York Moors, on a crossing on the Lyke Wake Walk in June 1969. After descending the hill and crossing the cattle grid there was a sign saying “Ravenscar 39 Miles”;…

  • Fireweed

    Fireweed

    The pinks of the Rosebay Willowherb are a common sight in summer but often overlooked. It’s a coloniser plant traditionally the first to grow after a fire, hence the folk name Fireweed. But it has not always so. The Georgians considered it quite a rarity and regarded it as a garden plant. Even as late…

  • Park Nab

    Park Nab

    A sunny evening after a day of rain. This is one of a pair of blue fields flanking Green Gate Lane, better known as the Little Kildale road. The crop is Lacy phacelia or Blue tansy. The photograph has actually rendered the colour less blue than I remember. I am a bit disappointed. Must be…

  • These Hills Are Ours: A Song for Roseberry Topping

    These Hills Are Ours: A Song for Roseberry Topping

    Last year we attended a public meeting with Daniel Bye and Boff Whalley to discuss what Roseberry Topping means to the local community. Daniel is an Associate Artist at the ARC, Stockton-on-Tees and Boff is a musician and writer best known as a member of the band Chumbawamba and a fellow fell runner. We shared…

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