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I’ve been running and exploring the local moors and woods since moving to Great Ayton in 1973
I thought I knew every nook and cranny but today I came across this brick structure on Ayton Bank. Quite chuffed, I feel I’ve made a major discovery. It looks like a water tank or cistern. There is a date scratched on the brickwork of 1952 but I think that is just graffiti. More likely…
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Staithes
Captain Cook, you can’t get away from him around here, it occurred to me as I cycled to Staithes, Yorkshire’s most picturesque fishing village, along what would have been the route taken by the 16-year-old Cook to his new apprenticeship in William Sanderson’s haberdashery shop on the seafront. Kildale, Commondale and Job Cross, the old…
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James Cook Memorial Garden
On 25 May, 1769, James Cook wrote in his journal “Most part of these 24 hours Clowdy with frequent Showers of rain”. Pretty much like the weather this morning in his home village of Great Ayton then, if a tad warmer. Cook’s ship the Endeavour was moored offshore Tahiti in preparation for his task of…
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Code Beck Reservoir
From Scarth Wood Moor. The little carpark at the top end of Cod Beck Reservoir quickly gets full. Tomorrow, a Bank Holiday Sunday will be even busier. The cars parked on the right verge risk being ticketed – there are parking restrictions along the lane which are vigorously enforced. Scarth Wood Moor is a National…
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50 years ago today the Cleveland Way was officially opened …
50 years ago today the Cleveland Way was officially opened to become the second National Trail in England and Wales after the Pennine Way. Starting from Helmsley the route covers a distance of 109 miles along the edge of the Cleveland Hills to Saltburn before heading south along the coast to Filey. So happy birthday,…
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Spout House
A 19th-century farmstead in Bransdale, typical of that found in the North York Moors. It must have replaced an earlier building for according to a 1782 survey it was tenanted out to a William Petch. “Spout” is an odd name, typically meaning a pipe through which water flows off a roof. As a farm or…
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Greenhow Botton
That deep embayment at their western extremity, Greenhow Botton, around which the moors attain their greatest elevation of nearly 1500 feet, is perhaps the most remarkable feature of the hills. The Botton lies almost a mile to the south of the line of the main range of uplands and has remarkably steep and precipitous sides…
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Cleveland Hills
The last of the evening sun, the golden hour. Long shadows, rich colours. From Little Roseberry. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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The Curlew
I’ve been wanting to snap a photo of a curlew for ages. They are the shyest of birds. I have seen them often on the moors but usually taking flight if I get any closer than 50m or so. This morning though I was cycling along a lane when I spotted one perched on a…
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Well Cottage, Park Square
An early ride out and a surprise to see Great Ayton empty of cars. Well, almost but an opportunity not to be missed. This is Park Square and was, before the time of a piped supply, the site of one of the village water pumps, known as the Old Grey Well. Villagers would come here…
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