The Ham Nomads

19 Aug 2014. <GB-ENG> Levisham Moor, & Hole of Horcum, & Sleights, N Yorks —

Today we continued on our way towards York. On the way, we realised that one of the sites we want to visit is only open to the public from Friday to Sunday, so we touched into York to check on the parking in the area — won't be difficult — and then went north, through the Moors towards Whitby. On the way we found Levisham Moor and the Hole of Horcum.

Levisham Moor is itself the largest ancient monument in the North York Moors, with traces of human occupation ranging back over 4,000 years, to the early bronze age. The moor environment itself is actually man-made, a form of ecological disaster caused by over-exploitation. The land, originally tree-covered, was cleared by men for slash-and-burn agriculture, and when the land was exhausted for this purpose, they put sheep onto it, which did not allow regrowth of the woodland. Because the trees had disappeared, the nutrients in the soil gradually leached away until the soil is now fit for growing nothing but heather and coarse grasses.

The Hole of Horcum is a huge natural amphitheatre, 400 feet deep and over half a mile across. It's locally called "The Devil's Punchbowl". In legend, an old witch had sold her soul to the Devil in exchange for magical powers. When he came to collect, she reneged, and fled across the moor with him in hot pursuit. Failing to catch up, he flew into a rage, ripped up a huge handful of earth to throw at her. Missing her, it landed a mile away to form Blakely Topping, and the hole is — you guessed it — the Hole of Horcum.

We continued northwards, coming down a 20% slope on the A169, called Blue Bank, coming down into Sleights — quite hair-raising! At the end of the A169, instead of turning right into Whitby, we turned left to find a little picnic area Warren had noticed on the map, where we can spend the night.

As we pulled in, another gentleman pulled in as well. He started to take four large baskets out of the back of his van. These were full of homing pigeons which, after they had had time to settle down after the car trip, he released. Today's jaunt is just a 15-mile practice run. Next weekend they have a 150-mile competitive event, and a few days later a 240-mile event. The gentleman was very proud of his birds, and took time to explain the fine points to an absolute tyro!

Distance driven — today, 134 miles ( 216 km ); to date, 6,119 miles ( 9,848 km )