Out & About …

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

Author: Fhithich

  • Nanny Howe and the Devil’s Court

    Nanny Howe and the Devil’s Court

    A view across Kildale from Park Nab to the densely forested Coate Moor. The highest point towards the left is actually Easby Moor with its monument to Capt. Cook but this story is about a Bronze Age barrow hidden amongst the trees on Coate Moor called Nanny Howe. It’s a story about a witch and…

  • “Give us our eleven days”

    “Give us our eleven days”

    So the story goes when the Gregorian Calendar was introduced and the 3rd September became the 14th, but it may all have been some satire generated by the artist William Hogarth. The phrase is included in his painting ‘An Election Entertainment‘ (bottom right on a black banner under the foot of a gentlemen who appears…

  • A vote to ban ‘trail-hunting’ on National Trust land

    A vote to ban ‘trail-hunting’ on National Trust land

    Regular readers of this blog will know I volunteer for the National Trust on properties on the North York Moors. I do this principally to give something back to an organisation whose values I fully support. I am not fantastically enthused about old houses and gardens, it is conservation and the natural environment that interest…

  • Addacombe Hole

    Addacombe Hole

    A last look back at the cove and the ruined sheepfold where I had spent the night. Addacombe Hole is really the most spectacular hanging valley. Between Crag Hill and Wandope, it is  steep semi-circle of broken sides of crags and scree with a flatish bottom, and a moraine hiding an exceedingly sharp descent to…

  • In the Lakes

    In the Lakes

    Manning a checkpoint on the Mountain Trial tomorrow so walking in this afternoon. Can’t tell you where I am, it’s a secret.

  • Devoke Water

    Devoke Water

    In the classic Monty Python sketch, John Cleese walks into The Cheese Shop and utters the immortal line: And I thought to myself, ‘a little fermented curd will do the trick’, so, I curtailed my Walpoling activities, sallied forth, and infiltrated your place of purveyance to negotiate the vending of some cheesy comestibles! The phrase…

  • Mediobogdum

    Mediobogdum

    The ‘Cohors IV Delmatarum‘ (4th Cohort of Dalmatae) were tough mountain men from the Adriatic coast of the eastern Mediterranean. It is thought the Roman auxiliary regiment was involved in the invasion of Britain in 43 AD and again suppressing the insurgency led by Boudicca. Eventually peace descended on the southern half of Britannia but…

  • Scafell from Eskdale Moor

    Scafell from Eskdale Moor

    One family name that keeps cropping up time and time again is the Percys, earls of Northumberland. Think Alnwick Castle. One branch of the family owned much of Kildale in the North York Moors and were involved in the re-establishment of Whitby Abbey, and I now find their fingerprints in Eskdale, on the westernmost side…

  • It’s going to be a scorcher

    It’s going to be a scorcher

    Eskdale has always been a charming valley, less frequented than the eastern dales. Times are a changing though, particularly since the demand for ‘staycations’. The National Trust have taken over one of the campsites and their marketing is being well employed. A ‘pop-up’ campsite appeared lower down the valley which caused some concern. The dale…

  • Gummer’s How

    Gummer’s How

    A few days in Eskdale in the Western Lake District. Very limited wifi so postings will be spasmodic. I bagged a new Wainwright yesterday, Gummer’s How, east of Windermere. At least I don’t recall climbing it before. It’s one of Wainwright’s “Outlying Fells” and certainly one of the easiest, a mere ½ mile from the…