storm

The Week Gone By

Posted on by northumbrianlight

I don’t post on WordPress like I used to. One of the main reasons is the distraction of daily posts on Blipfoto combined with a constant desire to be out on two wheels or playing golf. The latter two become much less time consuming over the winter months, but still I don’t post as often as I might. The sequel to Golf in the Wild also occupies much time as does being honorary treasurer of Allendale Golf Club and continuing to maintain about a half dozen WordPress based websites. And therein lies the rub.

All of the other sites are hosted on an ISP with locally supported and maintained versions of WordPress with access to the classic editor whereas, on wordpress.com, I am obliged to use the thoroughly awful block editor. The irony is that I am now paying for this service since I exceeded the free storage quota. I really should use it more and to that end, I will try repeating what appears on Blipfoto plus maybe a few extra images. Possibly, I will grow to like this editor, but I doubt it.

Sunday 28th November: Seeing red – Storm Arwen meant this was our second full day without electricity
Monday 29th November and still no electricity – the view across the fields at Beaufront Woodhead.
Tuesday 30th November – Frank Williams, a hero since my teenage years, died on 28th November. Seen here on the right with Ron Tauranac at the 1972 British GP, Brands Hatch. Power returned late afternoon.
Wednesday 1st December – Egger the wood treatment plant at Hexham which helps to keep the town prosperous and happy – recently rated the happiest place to live in the UK. I would agree, although they never asked me.
Thursday 2nd December – local cattle, pigging it down at Sloppy Joe’s on a cold December morning.
Friday 3rd December – I am more Ghia than Gaia, more Clarkson than Lovelock.
Saturday 4th December – Hamish and Dougie Wheelbirks Parlour
Another from Wheelbirks – either Hamish or Dougie – I don’t know which is which.

Runswick Bay

Posted on by northumbrianlight

All summer long the plan had been that we would wait for a suitable weather window and head for the far north in the early Autumn.  A combined lack of patience and unfavourable Met Office forecasts has found us in an entirely different place – Runswick Bay on the north Yorkshire coast, not far from the centre of all things Goth, Whitby (sorry meticulousmick, definitely north another time).  It is a special place ideally positioned for invigorating walks along the cliff-top sections of the Cleveland Way.  For three days we were rewarded with generally benign conditions walking as far as Staithes to the north and Ravenscar to the south. However, this morning we awoke to an entirely different place – the North Sea that had lain silent as a millpond was now a seething cauldron; it was like waking up to a landscape utterly changed by overnight snow.  Before and after:

Runswick BayRunswick BayRunswick Bay(click on the images to enlarge)