Mystery and Folklore In The North York Moors

 

Jonathan Ruchlis is the Content Creator on the 2024 Pub Ride Cycling Tour. In this report, he looks at back at the experience of cycling through the stark beauty and mystery of the North York Moors.

The hardest days on tour are often the most memorable. For many of the riders on this year’s Pub Ride, the two days riding through the North York Moors National Park (between Newcastle and York) fit that pattern. It was some of the hilliest riding we’ve done on the trek and the weather wasn’t perfectly kind. As our rider Tim put it, “One minute you’re in sunshine, the next minute you’re in icy rain. Then bright sunshine, and then the wind hits you, and you’re on top of the moors getting buffeted by these high winds, it’s exhilarating and frustrating.”

At the same time, the scenery was arguably the most beautiful we’d seen, certainly the most wild. There was a familiar feeling that comes up around wild nature, a reminder that there is so much of life in the world that doesn’t revolve around humanity, and there’s a special kind of peace and quiet that comes with that. This juxtaposition of highs and lows, bliss and strife, exhilaration and frustration is a common aspect of wild spaces, where much is unpredictable, unknown, and out of our control. Perhaps this is part of why so many humans throughout time and place have believed in mythical creatures dwelling in the wild worlds around them. North York Moors Park is no exception.

One site in the park, Boggle Hole, is named because of a legend that boggles, or hobgoblins, once inhabited the site’s caves and used healing powers to cure sick children. There is both fear and promise in this story. What lies in the depths may be scary, but it also might have the potential to do something extraordinary. Another example of local legend in the park revolves around a landmark that we biked right by on our route to York, Wade’s Causeway, also known as the Roman Road.

In this case the story is of two giants, Wade and his wife Bell, who lived together in Mulgrave Castle. Wade built the road for Bell so she could take her cows out to milk them. Other events in the giants’ lives also explain other elements of the landscape. The more historical explanation for the road is still an open question, initially thought to be an artifact from Roman times, it’s now considered possibly from even earlier. And its use as a road is up for question as well. These stories and this air mystery align with what it felt like for me to be riding through the moors on those on-and-off rainy, windy, and cold days.

The feeling that there are stories unknown to us unfolding in the landscape, amidst the heather and stones and hills. Something a little outside the realm of normal human understanding, but still perceptible, and available for interaction. As we continue to pedal along this gorgeous route, I look forward to more days like those in the Moors, and also look forward to the flat, sunny days of cruising through gorgeous countryside. May all adventurers have a healthy balance of mystery, thrill, and comfort.

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