Out & About …

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

Category: Raisdale

  • A Sad and Shameful Case

    A Sad and Shameful Case

    A few posts ago I started to slip down a philosophical rabbit hole. Is the “right of property” one of the fundamental ‘evils’ in human society? Did we evolve to own property? I’ve kept thinking. Are there other constructs that may have been with us since we were hunting and gathering? Two come to mind…

  • Just another dreich day

    Just another dreich day

    This is descending into Raisdale from the col with Scugdale. Just beyond the tree, the track becomes a well-defined holloway called Mill Lane. It used to be a ‘green lane’ and popular with off-road motorcyclists and motorists and was suffering from horrendous erosion. But, since downgraded to a Public Bridleway, it has recovered nicely, although…

  • Contrasting farms in Raisdale

    Contrasting farms in Raisdale

    Ventured further afield than ever in the past nine weeks and came across this sheltered dale still clothed in bluebells. This lovely beck has no name although the dale is mapped as Raisdale, as is its sibling dale, which is actually drained by Raisdale Beck. Must be confusing for the postman. I passed through two…

  • Back of the Cleveland Hills

    Back of the Cleveland Hills

    “What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.” So wrote the Welsh poet W. H. Davies. I didn’t have much time to stand and stare today. Too much of a hurry. The Bilsdale Fell Race for me but managed to snatch this snap towards the end. It’s…

  • Raisdale

    Raisdale

    That little offshoot of Bilsdale. The North York Moors seem particularly dour and rugged at this time of the year. Fifty shades of brown. But the cloud breaks and the sun’s morning rays brings an enchanting tranquillity to the dale below. Aelred thought so, writing in the 12th century. He was Abbot of Rievaulx, a…

  • Back of Cringley

    Back of Cringley

    Or Cringle Moor to give it its modern name. I prefer the old although an even earlier name was Cranimoor. A little-used path from the ruined farmstead of Clough up to Brian’s pond on Bilsdale Moor West. The stone from the buildings was used in the construction of Chop Gate village hall. A fate not…

  • High Crosslets Farm, Raisdale

    High Crosslets Farm, Raisdale

    A dull overcast morning with the occasional spray of fine drizzle foretelling rain but I managed to stay dry. Halfway up Raisdale, on the climb from Chop Gate, the lowest point on the western ridge marks a geological fault in the Jurassic rocks and an ancient route over from Scugdale. Just below the pass, High…

  • 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.