Category: Great Ayton
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Sunset on Cliff Rigg Quarry
Headed up to Cliff Rigg to view the sunset which sort of fizzled out. The ridge is part of the Cleveland Dyke and is a protrusion of very hard volcanic rock cutting through the surrounding older sedimentary rocks. Formed 58 million years ago from a volcano near the Isle of Mull, it outcrops in many…
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Motherly love
Motherly love Motherly love Forget about the brotherly and other-ly love Motherly love is just the thing for you You know your Mothers’ gonna love ya ’til ya don’t know what to do Frank Zappa From the Mother of Invention’s debut album. Not really my music but an apt quote for these heelin’ coos at…
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Daldinia concentrica
A dull and miserable day, so my eyes were drawn to the forest floor. I came across these turds on a log. Actually, I know them as coal fungus, excellent for use as tinder for lighting fires. The 1-2 inch hard balls need to be dried out and scrapings from the inside can then be…
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Oxbow pond near Holmes Bridge
Today is the winter solstice, the shortest day. From now we can look forward to longer days. On the River Leven, just upstream of Holmes Bridge is an oxbow lake, an old loop of the river. It had almost silted up but is now being used to re-flood when the river is high. Wattle fencing…
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Ayton Mines Memorial Bridge
During a brief break in the weather a chance to photograph a swollen River Leven below the Ayton Mines Memorial Bridge near Suggits. The footbridge was erected as a memorial to the five workers of Ayton Mines who lost their lives during the 1914-1918 war: From the 4th Battalion, Alexandra Princess of Wales’s Own (Yorkshire)…
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Twilight
A mad dash to catch the sunrise. Just a small window, ten minutes later the redness had dissipated as the sun cleared the horizon. I guess this is officially Civil Twilight as the sun is less than 6º below the horizon but I prefer the Swedish name “vargtimmen” – the “hour of the wolf”, the…
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Nutty Crack Night
A wet start to All Hallows Eve. Tree roots provide steps up a steep path to Nettle Hole. If the rain continues, a damp night of trick or treats awaits. But long before Hallowe’en became a just another commercialised opportunity, in North Yorkshire All Hallows Eve is known as Nutty Crack Night. Girls could try…
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The Waterfall
Great Ayton’s famous waterfall, although it’s really a weir. On the left-hand wall are the initials of Thomas Richardson who made a large donation to the weir’s construction in 1840. A water race ran all the way to Low Green providing power there for Richardson’s corn mill so a cynic might say the donation wasn’t…
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Larners Lake
This artificial fishing lake seemed to have appeared overnight but realistically it would have been sometime in the 80s when I was not resident in Great Ayton. It takes its name from Larners Hill, a ridge with a bridleway eventually leading up to Easby Moor and Captain Cook’s Monument. For many years I regularly used…
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60’s Rubbish Take 2
A revisit to the 60’s rubbish tip exposed at Rye Hill in Great Ayton. This old Bird’s Eye bag for Corn on the Cob was floating about on the surface. ¾lb for 3/6. That’s 17½ pence in new money. Decimalisation took place in February 1971 so it’s at least that old. But what really hits…