Boltby to Gormire Lake and Whitestone Cliff

 

7 miles                                    Cool and dry

With my heel apparently making a steady improvement we decided to try a longer walk from Tom Scott Burns' The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills, and one which we hadn't tackled before.  We drove to Boltby after leaving the A19 at the Knayton turn-off and parked at the designated parking place shown on the map.

Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills

We walked back into the village and turned sharply left into a lane signed Town Pasture Farm.  The lane was actually the farm track for Greendale Farm which we eventually reached and skirted around.  The track now became a green lane and led us to a farm called Tang Hall where we turned left across fields to walk across the nicely named Huggon Howl. 

Lane past Town Pasture Farm, Boltby

The lane turns into a farm track

The lane becomes an old coach road

 

Rounding a conical hill we dropped down to Tang Hall and continued to follow the old coach road towards Southwoods Hall, which we could see set among trees to our left.

Between Greendale Fram and Tang Hall

Tang Hall

Our path alongside Tang Hall

Southwoods Hall in the distance

We passed the gates of Southwoods Hall and walked along a nice path that led into trees and after a steady uphill climb, to the shore of Gormire Lake.  We were ready for a coffee by this point but saw that the next section of our walk led uphill from the lake-side to the top of Whitestone Cliff.  This climb was very steep, long and perhaps not best attempted after coffee and scones, so we decided to postpone our stop and go straight into the climb.  Our long ascent took us through a nature reserve, Garbutt Wood, and eventually we arrived at the top at Sutton Brow, where we came upon a perfectly situated bench.

The gates of Southwoods Hall

Path to Gormire Lake

Gormire Lake

The lake from our coffee stop

Two horses stood behind us throughout our break making hungry noises and before we left Clive fed them the remains of our fruit and shortcake biscuits.  As we left we thought we heard one of them mutter "cough sweet!" It certainly sounded like it - perhaps the word is getting around.  Our path now led along the top of the escarpment following the Cleveland Way with fabulous views in all directions.  Below us was the high lake of Gormire, which TSB tells us was once a glacial overflow that became blocked by a landslide. To the left was Whitestone Cliff and to the right Boltby Scar.  Our climb had been well worth it and our walk for the next couple of miles was both exhilarating and easy, on a flat good path.

Clive shares the fruit and shortcake biscuits

View towards the Gliding Station

Whitestone Cliff

Looking back towards Gormire from our path

As we followed the escarpment we saw Boltby down to our left but as we approached the ruins of an old barn the village disappeared behind trees for the rest of the walk.  On reaching the abandoned building we turned left and started our descent looking left at the bare cliff face of Boltby Scar.   We crossed the fields following  way signs in a zig-zag descent until we reached a gated bridge.  Crossing it we climbed steeply up another field, the track arriving conveniently at the road next to our car.  

The cliff path

We see Boltby below us

The remains of an ancient hill fort and the old barn where we leave the Cleveland Way

Looking back towards Boltby Scar as we descend

We decided this was an excellent walk that we would consider in all weathers as so much of it is on established paths.

Our path down, the trees in the middle of the photo hide my car

Uphill to the car