Out & About …

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

Category: North Yorkshire

  • Taking advantage of a nice mild day …

    Taking advantage of a nice mild day …

    … before the weather comes in again. So out on the bike, the first time this year. I stopped off at the Leven Bridge at Hutton Rudby. One village, two ancient townships separated by a river in a deep cleft. On the west side, Hutton; the ‘ton’ ending indicating that this was an Anglo-Saxon settlement so the…

  • Byanna’s Sunday

    Byanna’s Sunday

    The sun was being a bit elusive this morning, remaining hidden behind a bank of cloud until I was almost home. A gap through the trees provided this view of the still sleepy village. Tomorrow is the Winter Solstice or Yule, the old pagan celebration. Which means that today, the Sunday before Yule is Byanna’s…

  • Red sky in the morning …

    Red sky in the morning …

    A proverb which everyone knows. For sure, bad weather is on the way. Even Shakespeare had it sussed. A verse in his poem ‘Venus and Adonis‘: Once more the ruby-colour’d portal open’d, Which to his speech did honey passage yield; Like a red morn, that ever yet betoken’d Wreck to the seaman, tempest to the…

  • Easby Chapel

    Easby Chapel

    With a blanket of fog covering the northern North York Moors, today wasn’t a good day for photogenic splendour. So my thoughts turned to the lowlands. I listened last week to a lecture by a University of York professor into medieval church records who revealed that at least eleven plague cemeteries were licensed in 1349…

  • River Leven, Stokesley

    River Leven, Stokesley

    On my bike today, on the country lanes around the Rountons. I need to go onto the flatlands occasionally to help me appreciate the hills. Stokesley town centre was prone to periodic flooding until the flood diversion scheme was built in the late 70s. 1930 was a particularly bad year I understand. When the river…

  • Rounton Grange

    Rounton Grange

    On me bike for a low-level ride over the quiet roads west of the A19. The bottom bracket is wobbly so I wanted to avoid any big climbs. Bikes are great when they work, but not as simple as running. I took a detour to see if I could find any remains of Rounton Grange,…

  • The Red Poppy

    The Red Poppy

    Look, how the Poppies flaunt their red-red flags O’er all yon cornfield,—beauty out of place! So when the angel Peace would bless our race, The demon War, in horrid triumph, drags His gore-stain’d chariot; drums and trumpets sound To nerve the soldier’s arm to burn and slay, And showy banners are unfurl’d alway,— All fitter…

  • Old railway bridge at Swainby Ellers

    Old railway bridge at Swainby Ellers

    The fern that has found a home on the stonework of this old railway bridge first caught my eye. Now I could confidently write it’s a Lady Fern but that would be just a sheer guess. Ferns are notoriously difficult to identify, and it would take some climbing ability for a closer look. An ability…

  • The wreck of the Admiral Von Tromp

    The wreck of the Admiral Von Tromp

    When I took this photo in February 2008 I was not convinced that this was indeed the wreck of the Scarborough trawler, the Admiral Von Tromp. The Yorkshire coast is notorious for shipwrecks, there have been so many that identification can prove difficult. However, there are now plenty of photos on the internet saying that…

  • Lead Chapel

    Lead Chapel

    A departure from tradition. Instead of posting a photo from today’s wander around Coate Moor, I’ve chosen another one from yesterday. Seems a shame not to take full advantage of fresh photo opportunities. The Chapel of St. Mary is a delightful little church standing alone in a field and dating from the 12th-century. It was…