Out & About …

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

Tag: Capt. James Cook

  • A rare view of a traffic-free High Street in Great Ayton

    A rare view of a traffic-free High Street in Great Ayton

    The council’s hard at work tidying up the pot-holes, pending the arrival of the Tour of Britain cycle race a week on Wednesday (7th September). The typical Victorian-looking ediface on the left  is the village hall. It started out life as a Wesleyan Methodist chapel in 1862 and was given to the village by Sir…

  • Capt. Cook’s Monument

    Capt. Cook’s Monument

    It’s been quite a few weeks since I last posted a photo of the dear old monument on Easby Moor to Great Ayton’s favourite son. Over the years, it’s been through its trials and tribulations. The originally one was made of wood and erected in 1827 but it caught fire and was replaced by the…

  • Side-tracked by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

    Side-tracked by the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade

    I am slowly getting around every boundary stone on these northern moors. This one is inscribed “RY 1752”, identical to the stone 600m or so to the south west. Ralph Yoward must have had a bulk buy. 1752 — George II was on the throne; the 11 days between 3rd and 13th September inclusive were…

  • Cook, Cats, Saints and Thieves

    Cook, Cats, Saints and Thieves

    Capt. Cook’s Monument, dedicated of course to Captain James Cook, that problematic “discoverer” of Australia, who lived as a boy in the village of Great Ayton. When he set out on the first of his three voyages to the south Pacific, his ship was the HMS Bark Endeavour, a Whitby built collier. She was a…

  • Once more into the clag

    Once more into the clag

    Not much to see today above the 300m contour. This is the Alec Falconer memorial seat on Cringle Moor. Alec Falconer was a founder member in 1912  of the “Middlesbrough and District Countrywide Holidays Association and Holiday Fellowship Rambling Club” which went on to become known as the Middlesbrough Rambling Club. He was also an…

  • Aireyholme

    Aireyholme

    An earlyish start for a walk back home from Pinchinthorpe and once again, setting out in the dull and gloom and thick cloud. Almost home and out pops a sunbeam, a phenomenon which in naval slang would have been termed a ‘Jacob’s Ladder‘. And the sun shone on Aireyholme Farm, and the fields south and…

  • Capt. Cook’s Monument in Storm Francis

    Capt. Cook’s Monument in Storm Francis

    Woke up to Storm Francis throwing everything it had at us. But on the positive side, under a new Government algorithm, it’s now been downgraded to Force 3 on the Beaufort Scale, a gentle breeze. But what to do. I needed inspiration. That old fallback, Capt. Cook left Plymouth today (25th August) on the first…

  • Tempus exploro omnis negotium

    Tempus exploro omnis negotium

    Rather poor Latin, I’m told. The belief is it’s intended to mean “time reveals every affair”. My ‘O’ level Latin didn’t much help. And reputedly carved by a monk, although I can’t remember where I picked that up from. Google, however, says it’s “every time to explore business”. Hmmm, not sure about that. Another website…

  • Staithes

    Staithes

    Captain Cook, you can’t get away from him around here, it occurred to me as I cycled to Staithes, Yorkshire’s most picturesque fishing village, along what would have been the route taken by the 16-year-old Cook to his new apprenticeship in William Sanderson’s haberdashery shop on the seafront. Kildale, Commondale and Job Cross, the old…

  • James Cook Memorial Garden

    James Cook Memorial Garden

    On 25 May, 1769, James Cook wrote in his journal “Most part of these 24 hours Clowdy with frequent Showers of rain”. Pretty much like the weather this morning in his home village of Great Ayton then, if a tad warmer. Cook’s ship the Endeavour was moored offshore Tahiti in preparation for his task of…