Category: North York Moors

  • CCTV operating

    CCTV operating

    The Inglorious 12th minus one, to borrow from the title of Mark Avery’s book. Tomorrow will mark the beginning of the annual slaughter on the moors. On Farndale Moor signs have gone up advising of CCTV monitoring. No matter I don’t own a horse and have no intention of biking along the track, I find these…

  • Blue sky, golden fields

    Blue sky, golden fields

    Harvesting at Aireyholme Farm. Wheat I think. The skyline is the escarpment to Great Ayton with Gribdale Gate to the right.

  • Boundary Stone, Great Ayton Moor

    Boundary Stone, Great Ayton Moor

    Sorry but I just couldn’t resist another photo of the purple swathe of a heather moor. The ling is now in full bloom and for just a few weeks the colour is glorious. Highcliff Nab is in the distance and in the foreground is a sandstone boundary marker dating from the 19th century. ‘R C’…

  • Sunday afternoon on Roseberry

    Sunday afternoon on Roseberry

    Roseberry summit, Sunday afternoon, a honeypot for the crowds, in spite of the threat of rain. Attracted by the prospect of tea and cakes provided by the National Trust.

  • Tick magnets

    Tick magnets

    There seems to be less sheep on the moors nowadays. Not sure if this is a deliberate policy.  Certainly, in other upland areas, there are concerns about over grazing. At one-time moorland farmers were actively encouraged to graze their sheep on the moors by gamekeepers. The sheep would act as magnets for ticks which also…

  • Sleddale

    Sleddale

    For a brief few weeks the moors are a sea of purple heather which is now at its best. Seen from Highcliff Gate, Sleddale Farm appears an island of lush green pasture. The name means a wide flat valley and was probably a meadow of summer pasture before being given to the priory to be…

  • Live Moor

    Live Moor

    Setting off from Mount Grace Priory this morning I overtook plenty of walkers doing the Cleveland Way, all fresh from their overnight accomodation in Osmotherley. In fact the only person going the other way was this solitary walker on Live Moor about to climb  the few contours to its summit. To the right, hard to…

  • The day after the night before – Guy Fawkes Night

    The day after the night before – Guy Fawkes Night

    This is a repost from my old site fhithich.wordpress.com which did not transfer when I originally set this site up. I’m slowly working my way through the missing ones. A plot thwarted, our Sovereign Parliament is safe, poor old Guy, hung, drawn and quartered, a celebration, bonfires, oohs and aahs as the rockets, Roman candles…

  • Rosedale East

    Rosedale East

    The fledgling has returned. ‘Reading week’ he says. Half term by any other name. A suggestion: “do you fancy going to the Lion Inn tomorrow? I’ll go on my bike and meet you there”. So I find myself in Rosedale for the second time in four days. But a different Rosedale with the Inn in…

  • Greenhow Botton

    Greenhow Botton

    Orginally posted on 2 Nov, 2016 my old site Most of the steep banks guarding the western edge of the North York Moors take their name from the community or parish at their foot so we have Ingleby Bank and Greenhow Bank. Jackson’s Bank, overlooking the flat valley of Greenhow Botton is an exception although…