Category Archives: Shipping Forecast

Not Everything is Black and White on Barningham Moor

I DRIVE the rattly van to the top of Barningham Moor and it gets stuck in slithery grass while I???m trying to park. I stall the engine and can???t start it again because the starter motor jams. Mist rolls in … Continue reading

Posted in Allotments, Archaeology, Bronze Age, Camping, Cup and ring carvings, Environment, Footpaths, Geology, Great North Road, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Iron Age, Mountains, Shipping Forecast, Stone Circles, Teesdale, The Romans, Walking, Weather, York | Tagged , , , , | 47 Comments

Humber. Southeasterly Four. Moderate or Good. Rain later.

SPURN Head is one of those places everyone has heard of but few can pinpoint on a map. When you’ve got your bearings it’s easy to find ??? but that could also be said of Kafia Kingi and Amelia Earhart. … Continue reading

Posted in Archaeology, Camping, Environment, Explosives, Footpaths, Geology, Hiking, History, Industrial archaeology, Politics, Railways, Rivers, Ruins, Second World War, Shipping Forecast, South Gare, Teesside, Walking, Weather | Tagged , , | 47 Comments

Lindisfarne ??? A Pilgrim’s Progress

THERE are not many walks in Britain best undertaken barefoot ??? but crossing the two-and-a-half miles of mudflats to the island of Lindisfarne is one of them. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and today I have the chance. … Continue reading

Posted in Archaeology, Environment, Footpaths, Hiking, History, Legends, Life, Religion, Ruins, Shipping Forecast, Vikings, Walking, Weather, York | Tagged , , , | 49 Comments

On the Tide Line ??? But Not Quite Washed Up

THERE???S a special place on the Furness peninsula where people live in huts for much of the year. Some of the huts are made from old boats, others from scraps of wood, door frames and bits of recycled houses; a … Continue reading

Posted in Childhood, Environment, Hiking, History, Life, Mountains, Newsquest, Northern Echo, Politics, Ranting, Redundancy, Shipping Forecast, Unemployment, Walking | Tagged , , , , , | 53 Comments

Starry, Starry Night

IT???S turned midnight and stars are burning. There???s a smell of autumn in the grass and draughts stir the flysheet. The summer isn???t quite dead but it???s fading. In the deep shades of night, lying still as a stone in … Continue reading

Posted in Beowulf, Camping, Death, Environment, Hiking, Life, Norfolk Broads, Seamus Heaney, Shipping Forecast, Walking, Writing | Tagged | 22 Comments

Slieve Muck, Moal Chobha???s Fort, Veering, Visibility Good

McEff is again let loose in the Mourne mountains . . . Continue reading

Posted in Climbing, Cookery, Environment, Food, Hiking, Mountains, Mourne Wall, Shipping Forecast, Walking, Writing | Tagged , , , | 23 Comments