Month: December 2019
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War Memorial, Skelderskew Moor
On the eve of a General Election, it is perhaps time for a moment’s reflection on how our 21st-century society has benefitted from the bravery of the young men who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country over a hundred years ago. Robbie Leggett and Alf Cockerill, the two names on the memorial, were boyhood…
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Kirby Bank Trod
This is one of the most interesting climbs onto the moors. While many of today’s Rights of Way follow roughly the routes of ancient pathways, on the climb up Kirby Bank you can actually tread the same flagstones laid down by the Cistercian monks of Rievaulx Abbey in the late C12th/early C13th. Flagstones that are…
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South Gare
Shipping forecast for sea area Tyne GALE WARNING issued 9 December 2019 09:54 UTC WIND Northwesterly, backing southerly, 7 to severe gale 9, then decreasing 4 to 6 for a time SEA STATE Rough or very rough. WEATHER Showers then rain. VISIBILITY Good, occasionally poor. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Gribdale Gate
It is nearing that time of the year when a mysterious old man appears at Gribdale and then vanishes. But unfortunately on New Year’s Eve, when he has been seen, I am usually in the Lake District. Richard Blakeborough wrote in his book ‘Wit, Character, Folklore and Customs of the North Riding of Yorkshire‘, printed…
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Mount Vittoria
Another overcast and windy day with just the one brief glimpse of the sun. It happened when I was perambulating Cringle Moor, with Cold Moor getting the benefit. Or should I call it Mount Vittoria, the name on the 1857 map for the plantation which covered it. A much preferable name. I’m guessing that it…
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Bilsdale from Hasty Bank
One of those magic moments. A shaft of sunlight on an otherwise dull, drizzly, blustery day, picking out the old jet workings of Bilsdale. I was contouring around Hasty Bank looking down the dale, supposedly named after William the Conqueror found himself lost in a storm but more likely derived from a Dane named Bildr,…
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Starfish Decoy Command Bunker
A rather gloomy morning and a fall back on a recycled subject. I last posted about this Starfish Decoy Command Bunker almost three years ago to the day. It looked a nice day then. Adjacent to the Hutton to Kildale track along Percy Rigg, this WW2 relic was one of 237 similar decoys around the…
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Victorian Graffiti
The first of the morning sun highlights some Victorian graffiti on Roseberry. I am somewhat ambivalent about graffiti. Modern stuff is without a doubt hideously scarring but anything aged just a little bit becomes intriguing. When Mr Brodie carved this Queen Victoria was celebrating 33 years on the throne, Gladstone was Prime Minister and his…
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Little Fryup Dale
Thanks to Martyn, a slight diversion to investigate the site of Fryup Church. I must have cycled up this lane to the Yorkshire Cycle Hub dozens of times and I never knew there was once a church in this field opposite Stonebeck Gate Farm. But the evidence is there. The wall this side of the…
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Sunrise on Cliff Rigg
Two major achievements. First I dragged myself out of the house whilst still dark and secondly, I managed a hypnopompic run up Cliff Rigg, the first since my attempt at an Icarus imitation. They say the darkest hour is before dawn. That’s probably not true once your eyes have become accustomed. Dick Turpin and his…