Category: North York Moors
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The Bones of Winter
Such a wonderful phrase for which I can not claim credit nor provide a quotation, it’s just one of those phrases which I’ve read and has stuck in my mind. And it certainly felt as though winter had been defleshed today on Eweing Knoll, Dromonby Bank. I’m on the jet miners track which contours Cringle…
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The Grey Squirrel
A cute little furry thing but scorned by wildlife managers and conservationists. Native to North America the grey squirrel was introduced into Britain by Victorian landowners to enhance their gardens and estates and is now common and widespread. It is considered an invasive non-native species, causes damage to our woodland and wildlife and has pushed…
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Britain’s 23rd Favourite Walk
A disappointing snowfall. Threatening but just a flindrikin. Roseberry Topping wasn’t so much wearing a cap but a grey veil. Didn’t see a soul except for this lone cyclist pushing his bike down the hill. Why? And a gravel bike at that. Roseberry, recently placed 23rd in a ITV list of Britain’s favourite walks. Part…
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Trennet Bank Plantation
Climbing from William Beck Farm. Across Bilsdale the overnight snowfall picks the remains of the Trennet Bank Plantation, an unsightly conifer woodland that was felled by the National Park Authority in 2015/6 under their Trennet Bank Project. The plantation of Sitka spruce and Lodgepole pine dates from the 1970s. It was planted close to the…
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A view east from Hawnby Hill
Bilsdale Moor West. A beam of sunshine is shining on Wethercote Farm which must be one of the highest farms in the area. The land is recorded as belonging to Rievaulx Abbey around 1145 and contains quarries from which stone was used in the construction of the abbey. In the 18th century, coal was mined…
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Cleveland Hills from Roseberry
A view south from Roseberry towards Whorlton Hill with Beacon Hill and Near Moor behind. Early afternoon.
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Smout House Dovecote
A dull start to the day at the National Trust’s offices in Bransdale but a shaft of sunlight fell on the white dovecote. First used by the Romans, dovecotes were used traditionally to provide a source of meat and eggs but this one I think is modern and purely ornamental. The wind was raw, thirty…
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Catkins
A welcome winter sight, considered by most peoples as a herald of Spring, with each having their own affectionate name. Many of these names are of a feline nature. Catkins itself originates from the Old Dutch word for kittens: katteken, now katjes in modern Dutch; in Italy they say gattini for little cats, and in…
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The Devil’s Punchbowl
In the Devil’s Punchbowl, the Hole of Horcum; the enormous bowl created not by the temper of the giant Wade but by slow and unremitting power of water during and immediately after the last ice age, 18,000 years ago. These erosion gullies are a reminder of this erosion. Where the snowmelt and rainwater seeping through…
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The Sheep Walk
A view familiar to Cleveland Way Walkers and Coast to Coasters. Both long-distance trails pass through this gap between outcrops of rocks collectively known as The Wainstones. The climbers refer to the gap as the Sheep Walk, although sheep will need to resort to scrambling to climb it. A Danish chieftain was supposed to have…