Out & About …

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

  • The mystery of Roseberry’s pits

    The mystery of Roseberry’s pits

    My posting of Cockle Scar three days ago reminded of the mysterious pits that align the top of the scar. I posted about them in 2017 featuring a photo of the southern end of the scar in Newton Wood. They continue almost linearly along the edge finishing in a cluster at a promontory, at the…

  • Garfit Gap and upper Bilsdale

    Garfit Gap and upper Bilsdale

    In spite of the blue sky and sunshine over upper Bilsdale, Urra Moor was decidedly gloomy and showery this afternoon. Ahead is Garfit Gap, the col between the Wainstones and Cold Moor. The farm below the gap to the left is Whingroves where Jack Garbutt, the Bilsdale Bombardier, grew up as a child. He was…

  • Help me out here!

    Help me out here!

    I was making my way along the sandy track over Urra Moor when I noticed the catoptric morning sun on a myriad of small bogs and pools far, far in the distance. I took a photo expecting to be able to identify the location but … At first I thought it might be Jewel Mere…

  • Cockle Scar

    Cockle Scar

    When we look at a landscape photo it is very easy to be overwhelmed by the big picture and to miss the little features. In centuries past, these features meant something, far more than now, and they had names. It is these features that reveal interesting aspects of the landscape. The distinctive change in steepness…

  • Low Baring: The end of the line

    Low Baring: The end of the line

    The former terminus of the east branch of the Rosedale Ironstone Railway. The branch line was built to serve the mines on the east side of the dale. It was opened in August 1865 by the North Eastern Railway although it is likely construction may have begun by the mine owners. The 4¾ mile route…

  • New hedge along the old tramway to Roseberry Mine

    New hedge along the old tramway to Roseberry Mine

    I have felt uneasy for some time about the prevalence of plastic tree guards. Their never-ending march seems to pervade into every nook and cranny of our countryside — from our National Parks to motorway verges. They are supposed to protect saplings from browsing animals and to cocoon them in  a mini-greenhouse. But are they…

  • Has the Duke of York ever been to Yorkshire?

    Has the Duke of York ever been to Yorkshire?

    It’s been a while since I’ve posted a photo of Capt. Cook’s Monument on Easby Moor. Ugly looking isn’t it. Its only beauty coming from its familiarity as part of the landscape. James Cook is of course Cleveland’s most famous son, even though when he left Middlesbrough was just a hamlet, home to 25 people…

  • In search of an Iron Age “encampment” on Highcliffe Nab

    In search of an Iron Age “encampment” on Highcliffe Nab

    I was intrigued by this view of Highcliffe Nab that has been opened by the felling in Guisborough Wood and particularly with what appears to be a distinct earthwork descending diagonally from the nab to the col of Highcliffe Gate. First thing when I got in was to have a look at the Lidar mapping,…

  • Sir Alfred Pease

    Sir Alfred Pease

    “I always considered that the best, highest and most difficult pheasants in England were the ones sent over the guns from Hanging Stone and the hill tops of Hutton and Pinchinthorpe, for they were not only very high and fast, but divers and twisters. I see guns on November 21st and 22nd shot 562 of…

  • Scarlet Elfcup

    Scarlet Elfcup

    What do the woodland elves use to drink their morning dew? Why, elfcups of course. On the damp floor of the wooded Slacks Quarry, the vivid red of the Scarlet Elfcups are in sharp contrast to the greens of the mosses. Sarcoscypha austriaca is its scientific name, meaning from Austria, although this fungus is found…

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