Wednesday 14th April 2010

There are two approaches to Skinningrove, the main one is down through the village, passing the the "ironstone Mining museum" and between the houses, but much more interesting is from the direction of Staithes, as you rise up the steep hill past the "Boulby Potash mine, veer right on the Cowbar Road, and stop halfway up the hill, this is the view towards Staithes.There are two approaches to Skinningrove, the main one is down through the village, passing the the "ironstone Mining museum" and between the houses, but much more interesting it from the direction of Staithes, as you rise up the steep hill past the "Boulby Potash mine, veer right on the Cowbar Road, and stop halfway up the hill, this is the view towards Staithes.

Continue over the hilltops and drop down into Skinningrove through the 1 in 4 bends, pass over the bridge over the orange stream, then immediately right between the houses. You will come out onto a free car park with this view
The tourist notice board gives some idea of how sleepy the place is as the only thing on it is last years August Fun day at the village hall.
To your right is the villages memorial to the many fishermen lost at sea, an old Coble with two roughly (but attractively) wrought wooden statues in lifelike poses.
Immediately behind you are some of the popular pigeon lofts I have mentioned in previous posts, as you can see no expense (or recyclable material) has been spared in their construction.
on then to the pier, a decaying concrete and steel monster from a long past industrial age, collapsing in ruin into the waves.

Standing precariously on a collapsing concrete wall fifty feet above the beach I took this view of the splendid and remote three miles long beach. If you look carefully you can make out a man and dog in the far distance.

If this place was in Cornwall the beach would have ensured that it was developed into a resort!

Turning to the left and looking Up I took this image of the clifftops, can you see what I meant about the slag having changed the nature of the cliffs completely?

Tuesday 13th April 2010 :Return to Hull for car repairs

I had to return to Hull to have new wheel bearings fitted to the offside front wheel of the car as they were making some interesting noises! I got up just after five and was on the road shortly after six, the sky was very colourful out over the sea, but there was also a low level mist which meant bad news for photographs of the lighting.

Traffic at that time was much lighter than I had expected and resulted in me arriving before Royce Roberts had opened for business.

The bearing change was pretty quick and I was back at the campsite for bang on noon, to find it wreathed in a thick sea fog, which rather put the damper on our intended afternoon at Runswick Bay!

Eventually the fog thinned and I went for a walk in the wood attached to the campsite (used as a dog-walk) it had some of the most tatty trees I have seen in many years

Many of them were covered in lichens and fungi like this specimen
We did manage to get out briefly after tea, and after popping into the Lidl supermarket in Whitby, dropped down the hill to Sandsend, which is a pretty village that follows a stream down to the sea
The actual properties on the seafront are literally across the road from the waves, which must get pretty hairy during the winter storms (I bet they don't get much sleep in those bedrooms!)

Monday12th April A visit to Scarborough

A misty night and cool though no frost, there was quite a thick sea mist obscuring the view, so after a slow start we drove to Scarborough and parked behind the "Newcastle Packet" Pub and had a quick look round the pound shop to buy an egg timer then strolled along the harbour side.

It was low tide and the marina was quiet, rather different to how it gets on a weekend.

I took a shot along the side of the outer harbour from the wooden walkway

then stopped to watch the fishermen as they mended the weighted rubber discs used to protect the bottom open edge of the trawl nets as they travel along the sea bottom.

The discs are cut from worn out agricultural tractor tyres, which is an excellent example of creative recycling!

As you can see here there are metal weights between the disc to counter their buoyancy.

It's nice to see that fishing still goes on here and is of major importance to the town, the harbour has been in use as it proudly says on a wall plaque since viking times.
I spotted this bird on the edge of the harbour wall, it seemed to have a strange hopping motion, which I only understood after looking closely at the image: the poor thing only has one foot!

A little further on we came to the lifeboat station, which I always find fascinating, so here are a couple of views!

The lifeboats are always in immaculate condition, you can see from the reflections on the hull that it is extremely highly polished!

Scarbough wouldn't be complete without the seagulls, this one has a clear view from it's chimney pot below the castle.
"Newcastle Packet" now that seems like an odd name for a pub doesn't it? but it harks back to the days before there were proper metal roads. In winter the tracks became impassable for weeks and even months at a time, and most traffic in goods etc., came by sea, with boats ranging right down the coast from Lands End to John O Groats

Sunday 11th April, inland to Castleton for lunch

This morning is cool and slightly overcast, there are squirrels running around in front of the caravan.

We drove down the one in three hill into littlebeck and stopped in the Village Hall car park to photograph the village below in the valley

then up the other side through the hairpin bends to rejoin the steep hill out Sleights and the Whitby to Pickering road, diverting right at the hilltop towards Egton. Turning left down the hill we passed a steam train at the station emitting clouds of smoke, but couldn't stop for the traffic (which was a shame)

The next point of interest was just through Egton Bridge where trees line the banks of the winding River Esk and I got this shot.

Then on to the car park by Beggars Bridge for a welcome coffee and biscuits.

The Bridge is associated with a romantic love story from the time of The Spanish Armada

Tom Ferris was the son of a poor sheep farmer and courting a certain Agnes Richardson who's father refused to let him marry her as he was poor. Tom go him to agree to the wedding if he could make his fortune, so he went to sea and returned a rich man.

Apparently when courting he used to wade across the dangerous river against her father's wishes.

He joined the navy and when his orders came to sail against the Armada he went to tell Agnes but the river was in flood and he couldn't cross to see her. He later bought a ship and sailed the caribbean (He was actually a Pirate!)

After marrying Agness he moved to Hull and became Sheriff then lord Mayor, and a year after Agnes died in 1618 he had the Beggars Bridge

built most likely as a memorial to her.(or his dangerous times when fording it!)

Here is a photo of it, only foot traffic goes over it today, and even in it's heyday anything other than either a pack horse or very narrow cart would have had difficulty crossing!

On then to the Castlelon Tea rooms, highly recommended if you are in the area!
And here as proof is Patty enjoying a Latte and an All day Breakfast.
Guisborough was the final outward bound destination to shop in the Morrisons there, and back to camp for an idle afternoon. I looked around for some spring flowers, but up here on the hilltop things are moving much more slowly than down in the valleys and on the coast, there was some lichen on the trees,
And some rather attractive primroses under the beech trees
There were even some daisies with attractive varigated leaves tooOnce again the weather had been kind, we were in a mood to laze around rather than have our usual run out this evening

Saturday 10th April, off to Saltburn

Saturday 10th April and we are on the Low Moor Caravan Club site near Whitby, which is quite busy (at least for the weekend)

The dawn came up bright and sunny and there is just a trace of mist in the valley, but at least no frost (and that makes a change!)

We have picked a pretty good pitch which is already in sunshine at 8:45 AM and I am enjoying the view before getting ready to Drive to Sandsend along the coast.

We have enjoyed a little luxury this morning using the microwave to make porridge for breakfast, followed by toast in the electric pop up toaster.

(this van has all the comforts of home!

Last night I installed some LED lights for the times when we are on sites which lack electrical supply and they seem very effective. This is the view down onto Whitby Abbey as we descend the Hill From Low Moor

stopped on the roadside on the hill down from Whitby into Sandsend for a coffee and biscuits, sat out on one of the park benches for the first time this year.Here is a view looking towards Sandsend itself.

I find it hard to believe that the railway once ran through Sandsend (which had a little station) and along the face of the cliff you can see to the right.

Pat and I travelled on this train in what now seems to be a different lifetime!

I took a photo looking towards Whitby where already there were people on the beach walking the family pooch, and there were even a couple of characters having a paddle.

From here we continued along the coast road and turned off to Kettleness, where the one time railway station is now a rather large family home. Here is a view down into the bay, once there was a fishing village here, ( the twin to Runswick Bay on the opposite side of the bay,) but one winter night the whole village started to move, and the villagers crowded onto their fishing boats and watched in the moonlight as their homes slid down one by one into the sea.

Can you imagine how that must have felt?

The next shot is of Runswick Bay. This most beautiful village was rebuilt in the middle ages after it had suffered the same fate of collapsing into the sea.

We were a bit early for dinner so drove past Staithes and the Boulby Potash mine and over the top to the steep hill down into Skinningrove.

No tourist paradise this! rather down at heel as it used to house a sizeable inshore fishing fleet and also many of the miners who worked at the iron mine further up the valley that Skinningrove is built in.

Above the town there is the Corex steel works, and beyond the pier (used for shipping iron in its day) is one of the best unspoiled beaches on the east coast: three miles long it had strange domed cliff tops due to huge quantities of molten slag being tipped over the edge in the days of the iron works.

The stream that runs into the sea through the village still runs a bright orange with leakage from the iron mine. I will do a further blog on the place later as there is much history here

and a shot to give some idea of the scale of the cliffs to the south of the village.
, but today just a shot of the pier and one of the boat retrievel tractors will have to do,
and heres a view of this being done,

So eventually we got to Saltburn, here is the village centre, they have done well to get some early flowers on the roundabout, and today it was Farmers Market day at the rear of the Railway station.
Here is a view of the market and Church

I had intended to get some shots of the last remaining decorative pier on the East coast, and the cliff trams and general scene, but we couldn't get parked so that will have to be another day's visit and blog

Saltburn is an interesting place that has the last pier on the north east coast, though it is far shorter than it was originally, due to the damage caused by stormy seas, and even more by being run into by ships in distress!

Yesterday we were packed and ready early and on the road for 9:30, the traffic was light and we arrived on site and set up just after twelve.

Since many people on the site had spent the week there (after Easter) they were moving off in large numbers and we were able to pick a fine pitch with a view through the trees edging the site into the valley beyond. Here we are parked next to the Crazy Goolf area, in the middle of setting up and about to sit down to a welcome coffee!

Please note that if you click on the images you can see them full size!
This is the view from the caravan doorway, there is just a low dry stone wall between us and the meadow beyond
Looking over the wall slightly north we have this great view. The Pickering to Whitby Road leads from left to right just below the skyline
With facing more or less Westerley we have hopes of seeing some fine sunsets. This is only our second outing with the new to us van, and the first time we have had it connected to the mains, so there were some interesting moments as we found out how to use the various gadgets and appliances!

Easter and just a bit too much rain!

Isn't it typical? the week before Easter and the sun shone every day, but come the weekend and it was a different story!

We did have some bright periods, but when it did rain it really came down in torrents, and the fields were soon very boggy indeed, in fact there were extensive floods not far from our site.

We did have a couple of good runs over the moors, and perhaps the best day was Sunday when we went to Nunnington Hall,
they had special events on for the kids, and Easter Egg trail and a Beatrix Potter exhibition of original watercolours, plus some of the staff dressed up as the animal characters, and of course readings from the various stories Here is Mrs Tiggywinkle. For the first time Photography was permitted inside the National Trust properties (even flash!) so naturally I had to have a go!

And as it was the first outing of our newer van, we had a great weekend (despite the weather!)

Easter andd

9th March 2010 Just Installed Bilbo in Ubuntu and trying it out

Looking for a blog client that handles images well

This one seems to fit the bill as there is a decent way of handling the images to show a small image that can conect to a larger version

Setting up Ubuntu

just getting to grips with it

There seems to be a lot of new and intersting software available