I’ve been away for a few weeks giving a long tour of parts of north east and north west England and having returned I have found my wordpress to stubbornly refuse to fully function on my iPad or even let me log in on my computer.
As such, I’m forced to do a simple post today as it is the only thing I hope to get posted albeit at my third attempt).
Moors have a foreboding reputation as being lonely and often dangerous places but I like them and the isolation the bring. Of course even without Hounds of Baskervilles, serial killers and everything else that is associated with moors in a bad way, you always have to be aware of the weather. Whilst nice and sunny days do happen, so too does torrential rain, claustrophobic fogs, freezing winds and plenty of snow.
Numerous bogs and abandoned mines add to the fun but this time I was with a lovely Australian tour and so we merely set ourselves the goal of getting from the east to the west with as few a fatalities as possible!
When we left the valley in the distance it was 14 degrees c / 58f and sunny but here it was down to 8 degrees c / 46f and unknown to us, we were only 45 minutes away from a cloudburst.
There aren’t that many places in England when you can just stop on a major road and not see any cars and hear only the wind in the mossy grass and heather.
My tourist and I are fans of the British detective show Vera which is often set in nearby locations to make the most of the brooding natural landscapes and that was one of the reasons we were visiting.
Parts of Teesdale are the only part of the (mainland?) country that has a climate classification of sub-artic which says all you need to know.
My driving instructor used to always tell me to imagine driving around corners as if the road was blocked by something unexpected such a sheep. I used to say where I used to go, I always expected sheep like these who appeared around a sharp bend in the road…. here being moved to slightly lower slopes for the winter.
When this happens there is nothing to do but switch off your engine and let them pass in their own time. Fortunately sheep aren’t very aggressive or even particularly bright creatures and they never seem to damage the car and squeeze last you as if you’d been there all along.
Click here to see my 2015 post with the moors in sunshine and a rare dose of hot weather.
Stephen Liddell 