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Friday 13 April 2018

A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'L' Leven

This North Yorkshire river rises in the North Yorkshire Moors  and runs into the River Tees at Yarm.

I'm ashamed to say that although I have walked beside it where it passes through - 

Great Ayton 
(The childhood home of Captain Cook)


and over the packhorse bridge at -



Stokesley

and  I know it enters the Tees -


River Leven entering the Tees at Yarm

I have no photos of my own of this river which is around 30 miles long.

I usually see it from a car window where it goes under the road at Leven Bank or under a viaduct which carries the A19 dual carriageway over it. 

This sketch map shows the stretch from Yarm to beyond the A19.


(Ex Teesmouth Bird Club website, with permission)

Now I must walk as much of that route as possible. I just wonder why part of it is called Weary Bank.

Photo attributions:

  • Great Ayton - River Leven between High and Low Green: 18 October 2007 ex geograph.org.uk by Trish Steel - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence
  • Stokesley - 17/18 century packhorse bridge over the River Leven: 19 October 2010 ex geograph.org.uk by Carole Walker - CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Mouth of River Leven as it joins the Tees at Yarm: 9 August 2006 by Andrew Duffell CC BY-SA 3.0 licence.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hadn't heard of this river, but there is one of the same name in Cumbria.

Wendy said...

Probably Weary from all those twists and turns.

Jo said...

Or weary when you walk it and get that far. I know of the Tees but not the Leven.

Kristin said...

Maybe you will be able to tell us why it's called weary after you walk it.

Unknown said...

And Captain Cook met his end on the Island where I now live.

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Bob - 'Weary Bank' .. with a Q for question by it ... but probably a tree!! Still what a delightful river to have near you ... and yes a new route for you to explore ...

Then Great Ayton - where Captain Cook started life ... amazing man ... and I'm glad they've got some memorials to him - cheers Hilary

Emily in Ecuador said...

Looks like a lovely river, Bob.

Julie said...

I don't know the origin of the name of the river Leven, but I've been learning Dutch for a while now, and "Leven" is Dutch for "Life" which makes me smile, and is rather appropriate for a river. I've always imagined that Weary Bank is named so due to how it makes one feel to walk it, but that's pure guesswork as I've never walked along that stretch either. One for my TO DO list!