Category: North York Moors
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Sundew
On the poor, acidic soils of the moors, such as at Bridestones, some plants need an edge to survive. This small Tolkienesque plant, “the dew of the sun”, supplements its diet by catching small insects. Sticky hairs project from a rosette of red round leaves trapping insects, slowly turning them into a nutritious soup to…
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Middlesbrough Sunset
It’s been a while since I posted a sunset. A refreshingly cool dog walk provided the opportunity. Very hazy, probably the sea fret that’s been hugging the northeast coast, I thought the sun would fizzle out but with just a pinprick of sun left, I think it turned out alright. Open Space Web-Map builder Code
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Capt. Cook’s Monument
A hostile environment of supercooled ice crystals, 20º below freezing. And 20,000′ below those cirrus clouds, it’s the hottest day of the year. Capt. Cook’s Monument, the obelisk on Easby Moor, that’s visible for miles around, towers above a group of schoolchildren enjoying being outside. It’s great to see some schools still value outdoor education.…
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Bell heather, Danby Rigg
The first of the heathers are out. Bell heather, such a deep rich colour, my favourite. Ling, which will cover the moors by August is much lighter, more of a lilac. The third type of heather found on the moors is Cross-leaved heath with pale pink flowers. The ditch on the right is part of…
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Huthwaite Green
Also known as Heathwaite, names which are as Yorkshire as a name can be, the ‘thwaite’ element coming from the Old Scandinavian word for a clearing: thveit. Heathwaite means a high clearing and Huthwaite a hill clearing. This view over the buttercup meadows of Scugdale is a familiar sight for walkers on the Cleveland Way,…
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Roseberry
Last summer the National Trust commissioned a local artist to paint one face of the trig point on Roseberry in an attempt to discourage graffiti. And, by and large, it worked. For a year the artwork has been respected and the trig point has been left relatively clean. I was ambivalent. Now a self-proclaimed “street…
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Surprise View, Gillamoor
Exit the tabular hills village of Gillamoor towards Hutton-le-Hole and the road suddenly turns left and starts a steep descent. Pause at the bend, the top of Pennab Bank, and take in a superb view of lower Farndale. Judging from old postcards of this view for sale on eBay, when John Keble, an Anglican clergyman,…
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Pointer Stone
Pamperdale Moor seems to be randomly scattered with sandstone boulders of various shapes and sizes. In the middle of an area denoted as a Bronze Age field system on the OS map is a triangular stone propped up on another boulder. Apparently, it has a tapered cup mark on it, rock art. It has been…
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End of Paddy Waddell’s Railway
I’ve written about Paddy Waddell’s Railway before, the railway that never was. A grand plan devised in the 1870s to link the ironstone mines at Glaisdale with the North East Railway at Skelton. Embankments were built and cuttings excavated and just one bridge was constructed here at Rake House near Lealholm just before the line…
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Middlesbrough
Yes, honestly. But not the Infant Hercules by the River Tees, for Middlesbrough is the name of the spur opposite at the foot of Black Hambleton. The one with the small copse on top, Moor House Plantation, and surrounded by fields, ‘improved’ moorland to fatten up the cattle while their drovers rested at the Chequers…