Out & About …

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

Tag: weather

  • A Pluviophile’s Paradise — Strolling by a Swollen River Leven

    A Pluviophile’s Paradise — Strolling by a Swollen River Leven

    Earlier today, I was told, the renowned TV doctor, Dr Michael Mosley, graced the airwaves to sing praises about walking in the rain. In a routine I’ve adhered to my entire adult life, I can’t recall a day when I haven’t ventured out for my daily exercise, regardless of the weather. Evidently, rain confers a…

  • Beneath Billowing Clouds: A Farmer’s Tale of Timing and Toil

    Beneath Billowing Clouds: A Farmer’s Tale of Timing and Toil

    In the rolling pasture that stretches down to the sprawling Dalby Forest, a farmer toils under a billowy sky. In this photograph, from near Low Pasture Farm, he is seizing a precious respite from the recent rain to harvest the bounty of his fields. In this delicate dance with nature, timing is everything. A mere…

  • The foxes are making coffee

    The foxes are making coffee

    Looking back as I topped Cliff Rigg this morning, I was reminded of my first crossing of the Lyke Wake Walk on 14 June 1969. We had left the trig. point on Scarth Wood Moor at 12:30 a.m., so was crossing the ‘four sisters’ of the Cleveland Hills in time for a 4 a.m. breakfast…

  • Hrímfaxi, the goddess of the night’s horse, pulls her chariot through the dark sky

    Hrímfaxi, the goddess of the night’s horse, pulls her chariot through the dark sky

    It was pretty bleak on Urra Moor this morning. I had half expected to see ‘The Hagmare of Orrer‘, a witch that was said to roam the moor in the guise of a horse. I had met this beast earlier on Greenhow Moor. The great plow of Watership Down thundering out of the freezing mist.…

  • Little Blakey Howe

    Little Blakey Howe

    A bronze age burial mound, or “round barrow” on Blakey Ridge above Rosedale. The stone was erected as a boundary stone in the eighteenth century and is probably a reused standing stone of older antiquity. The contrails high amongst the cirrus clouds can be used as a navigation aid. “Contrails” is an American word, a…