The Town That Never Was

Ravenscar, actually. This little village on the Yorkshire coast between Scarborough and Whitby is a charming little place. At nearly 200 metres above sea level, it has some of the best views in England (in my humble opinion; the image on the left is Robin Hood's Bay from Ravenscar,) and would have been a trendy holiday resort if the Victorian town planners had got their act together. It was marketed as a sort of early Milton Keynes with terraces, gardens, an Esplanade and shops, all based on a grid layout. It never materialized because the development company went bust in 1913 and much of the site is now in the hands of the National Trust.

Yesterday, Bev., and I decided to explore Ravenscar's other feature, a disused Alum works. Between 1640 and 1862, Alum was mined at Ravenscar and used extensively in the textile and tanning industries for fixing dyes and making leather more supple. The finished product was lowered by winch to ships waiting at a small quay below. The story of Ravenscar has been told in a couple of TV series recently (Landscape Mysteries and Coast) and, I recall, that it's possible to see cart tracks worn out of the rock on the beach. Well, it would be if you could find a way down to the beach. It took us about four hours to find the unmarked public path leading from the Ravenhall Hotel's member-only golf course (image right,) by which time the tide had come in and the weather had turned wet. Call me cynical, but I reckon that the hotel owners deliberately make things difficult in case, God forbid, we spoil some tedious middle-manager's "fun."

I can strongly recommend a visit to Ravenscar because the views are magnificent, its history is interesting and you have an opportunity to piss-off a few golfers. All-in-all, a rather satisfying day out.

Photography Portfolio

I've just moved some of my best images to Picasa. Until recently I've been using the Photoanswers web site galleries until they made some "improvements" and I discovered that only registered members can see them (duh!) Anyway, follow this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/CarlJacq/Portfolio?feat=directlink

...or the one in the "Essential Links" section on the right, if you're interested. Apologies to people who may have seen them before.

The Curious Case of Match of the Day

This is a true story that happened to Bev last week.

It's 6:30am, just getting light. You and your dog are alone on a large public sports field, surrounded by trees and dense undergrowth. You throw the ball for your dog to chase and are aware of a sound in the distance. A very thin sound that is vaguely familiar. You listen hard and then it stops. Your pooch retrieves the ball and you throw it again. After a few seconds, the sound reappears, this time in a different direction. What's going on? Are you being followed by a stalker, hiding in the bushes? Does the person have their mobile 'phone switched on? Is it a cheap ring tone? This time you recognise the sound; it's the theme to BBC's Match of the Day. By this point, you are becoming scared. Every time the tinny music is coming from a different direction, sometimes loud, sometimes soft. Time to put the ball away and hurry home.

This happens on and off for several days. Always in the morning, always when you're alone.

At 10:00pm, you decide to take your dog for a final comfort break walk before bedtime. You reach for your coat and the Match of the Day theme starts up again, this time it's coming from your coat pocket. You investigate and discover that the noise is coming from a small rubber football that your dog found on the field several days ago. It is equipped with a motion sensor that plays the tune whenever it is knocked hard or bounced on the floor.

Should've Stayed In Bed

Yesterday was Bev's day off so, despite the cold easterly winds, we went out walking and birding for the day with Kylie. We've been exploring the (highly recommended) disused railway line from Scarborough to Whitby in recent weeks, however, we decided to try another disused line, the Hudson Way, running from Beverley to Market Weighton, for a change. To be honest, it was the most boring walk we've ever been on. Just mile upon mile of trees, gravel, thick brambles and, well, that's about it. I wasn't expecting Kilimanjaro, sweeping dune fields or stampeding Wildebeest but this was the pits. The trees were so dense that you couldn't see any Wold's scenery, apart from a breif glimpse of a few golf bores. Even the birds stopped singing. I commented early on that there was very little litter about and now I know why - people lose the will to live after half an hour and commit suicide in the hedgerow.

In a desperate attempt to salvage the day, we spotted a promising place on the map called Watton Nature Reserve. After a short drive we found ourselves walking beside a land drain next to the River Hull. This was slightly better but there were notices everywhere put up by the Environment Agency politeley reminding you to F**k Off, Go Away Now and Entertain Yourself in some other Manner. The only bird hide, positioned behind a wire fence, covered in Are You Still Here? signs was accessible for a mere £2.50 per person, no dogs allowed, closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. I've never been to such an unfriendly place, so we decided to have an early tea and go to the bird colony at the RSPB Bempton Cliff reserve.

Result! Plenty of birds, hardly anyone around but so COLD and windy. We had four layers on and it was still absolutely bl**dy freezing. I couldn't hold my binoculars still enough to see anything. It didn't matter because my eyes were running so much that the world was just a blur. After 10 minutes we'd had enough and returned home. We did see a few Puffins, Gannets and Kittywakes for our efforts but we were glad to get back to a warm house and a hot shower.

BBC One Show Homage

Christine Bleakley - 1,152 Dominos

Adrian Chiles - 1,152 Dominos

Because I don't get out much and I have an opposing thumb, I thought I would share a couple of images with you. They are portraits of the BBC One Show's presenters Adrian Chiles and Christine Bleakley made from ordinary dominos. Adrian is made from 551 sets and Christine from 380 sets. These are low resolution versions to fit on the Blog pages and it helps if you view them from a distance (or squint!) What do you think?