Wednesday 8th November 2000
Autumn Floods
( Weather: cool and cloudy with heavy showers )
Believe it or not, even with heavy showers and leaden skies, today is the fairest it's been this week
I took advantage of
the 'break' in the weather to have a look at a couple of local
towns and villages
and the aftermath left by the deluge of rain and floods that
we've suffered recently
Castleton is a lovely, peaceful, North York Moors village, built mainly on the ridge of a high hillside
Today, the attractive, sandstone houses look just as normal . . .
. . . but at the
bottom of the road leading in to the village from the north,
in the valley of the River Esk, we see a very different picture
This is the main road bridge into the village, the houses can be seen safe, on the distant hillside above . . .
From the bridge we look downstream - the trees in the 'middle' of the river are normally on the bankside
These saturated
grass verges are popular picnic spots in summer
and you normally have to scramble down the steep bankside to
reach the river's edge
Autumn colours are being washed away
Just a few weeks ago, in sunshine, they were playing cricket on the pitch in the centre of the photo
On leaving
Castleton the weather prospects don't look much better as we look
west
across Commondale and Commondale Moor
Near Guisborough, the mist and low clouds roll in from the forested hills . . .
. . . and a little further on, swirl around the summit of Roseberry Topping
In the village of
Great Ayton, the River Leven has subsided slightly after bursting
its banks earlier on in the week
. . . 
It's usually a gently flowing river but today it was different
From the village
green of Newton-under-Roseberry, which today more resembles a
duck pond,
the summit of Roseberry Topping is now completely obliterated in
the mist and low cloud
Before going home, I decided to drive to the coast
From the road along
the ' Stray ' to Redcar the view south towards Marske and beyond,
Errington Woods,
across a ' lake ' that is normally a cornfield - and still the
weather threatens
From Redcar
promenade the North Sea doesn't exactly look inviting
yet 100 yards further along a group of youths were surfing!
A very brief glimpse of blue sky - I'd almost forgotten what it looked like
Finally, looking south-east towards Saltburn with Hunt Cliff just visible beyond a rough sea
It was time to go home and get the sand bags ready, the rain had started again
........
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