Category: North York Moors
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The Winter of 1947: How the R.A.F. Mountain Rescue Squadron Saved Bransdale from Isolation
As we stepped out of the car in Bransdale this morning, the air was thick with dampness. The high moors that loomed in the distance were shrouded in a blanket of clouds, giving the dale a gloomy feel. Looking up Bransdale’s East Side, Spout House stands isolated on the right. Spout House gained national attention in…
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Ryston Nab
Ryston Nab, or Hanging Stone, overlooking Guisborough. A bit dreich on the tops, with rain and gale force winds. Guisborough is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Redcar and Cleveland. Even though it has been over half a century since it lost its Yorkshire association, for many folk, Guisborough will always…
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Winter’s last stand?
The brief return to Winter didn’t last long, but the last stubborn snow patches are hanging on for dear life on the fields of Aireyholme. But Roseberry Topping’s sandstone cap is clear, anxious to let go of winter fashion. Ah, Roseberry Topping, the hill that thinks it’s a volcano. With its unique shape, it’s the…
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Following the feetings
A ‘feetin’ is a North Yorkshire word for a footprint, “a mark or impression left by the foot“. In East Anglian a variation, ‘feetings’, is used specifically for the tracks of creatures in the snow. I do like this use of the word. Newton Moor had feetings in abundance this morning. Mostly Grouse, occasionally ending…
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Ruthergate
My plan was to take a photo of an old route from Guisborough climbing Kemplah Bank on to Hill Plain. The pasture fields of Hill Plain can be seen in the top left corner, while Ruthergate is recognisable by the diagonal line of dark green gorse that stands out against the brown of the withered…
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All my life I have loved being out and about …
… in the fresh air, in the hills and mountains. Never a day goes by without my daily fix. But the sight of blackened, smelly swiddens saddens me; just as much as the large plumes of smoke that waft across the moors. This melancholy is worsened by an increasing anxiety of the climate emergency and…
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An echo of the past silenced as hawthorn trees are felled — a loss for nature and history
Three years ago I lamented on the felling of a patch of semi-open woodland on the southern flank of Roseberry Topping. It was a parcel of scattered trees, mostly Hawthorn, the felling of which was a significant loss, not only in terms of its wild beauty but also its ecological importance. Hawthorn trees provide food,…
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The Wainstones
Playing on the Cleveland Hills today. This is a familiar landmark to all who know these hills. My dabble in artificial intelligence a few weeks ago, was not very convincing, but I thought I would give it another go. Maybe Shakespear with his iambic pentameter was too intelligent, so I thought KISS, ‘keep it simple…
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An earlyish wander around Scarth Wood Moor
Overcast with a patch of heavy drizzle. This is the famous Sheepwash. Where the Hambleton Drove Road fords Crabtree Beck. A popular honeypot in the post-war car boom, but that was before the Cod Beck Reservoir was built. The grassy footpath opposite is not shown on the O.S. map as a Right of Way, but…
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Glaisdale Swangs
“ … a wet, morassy division of the Danby and Glaisdale high moors” according to the Rev. Canon Atkinson. He was describing shooting Golden Plover at the time, a practice that today is totally immoral and illegal. The word ‘swang‘ occurs fairly frequently, originating from the old Norse word ‘svangr‘ meaning a hollow usually boggy.…