Category: Roseberry Topping
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Dry Stone Wall, Pinchinthorpe Moor
I just love the two tone look of a dry stone wall splattered with snow. This is on the edge of Pinchinthorpe Moor. In the background is of course Roseberry Topping. Roseberry Topping was at one time mooted for a monument to Captain James Cook. A monument had been discussed for forty years but, in…
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But what if Candlemas day is snowy, windy and foul …
It’s Candlemas, although it feels like just another Groundhog Day. Candlemas is a Christian feast day that sort of coincided with the pagan festival Imbolc, the mid-point between the winter solstice and Spring equinox. Feast days generally have some weather lore associated with them. Candlemas is no exception and there is a wealth of rhymes…
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A birthday clean up for Roseberry
Roseberry Topping, a National Trust property, was busy over the weekend when the good folk of Teesside seized the opportunity to exercise whilst enjoying the snow. But today, with the last of the snow finally melting, the remains of their adventures are revealed. The debris of broken sledges, the ubiquitous plastic bottles and drinks cans, doggie presents,…
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Mount Fuji?
My first thought when I saw Roseberry Topping looking resplendent in a shaft of winter sun was of the Japanese mountain. We were driving along the A172 back towards Stokesley after a wet and splodgy walk on Scarth Wood Moor. Around the foot, a bank of cloud smothered the village of Great Ayton. A temperature…
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A review of the year with 20/20 vision
Without a doubt, it’s been an eventful year. Here is a selection of my photos that didn’t make the cut. Plus a few reminders of some of the news at the time. January “There is no threat to the Erasmus scheme, UK students will continue to be able to enjoy the benefits of exchanges with…
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A familiar fallback
I haven’t ventured far today. Working with the National Trust in Newton Wood on various odd jobs: clearing leaves from the paths and cutting down sycamore saplings. Newton Wood in north-facing so mostly in the shade. I did manage to snatch this shot of the Topping and the Summer-house on the walk home. I did…
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Roseberry and the Covid tiers
FaceBook is buzzing. The local BBC has reported that “while part [of Roseberry Topping] is in Redcar and Cleveland, subject to the tier three restrictions, its peak is in Hambleton in tier two” and folk have really got themselves into a tizzy. The broadcaster had picked up a story from Teesside Live which also headlined…
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Odin’s dark side
What’s the time? Half-past Snow Hall Farm, it must be 09:32 precisely. Odin’s brother, Loki, the trickster, was considered to be the dark side of Odin, his sinister shadow. Perhaps Odin’s hill as a gnomon points to Loki, constantly shifting. And so, into December, the final month of this tumultuous year. Originally the tenth month…
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A Modest Proposal
Warning satire alert. I came across an 18th-century essay yesterday by the Jonathon Swift, best known as the author of Gulliver’s Travels. It hails with the grand title of: A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the…
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Roseberry in the Golden Hour
Headed up to Capt. Cook’s Monument for a run this morning but the day turned more brumous the higher I climbed. Then like a lot of days this November the skies cleared after lunch. The golden hour is that period of the day shortly before sunset when the sun is low in the sky and…