A trip to the Lakes this week instead of our usual Thursday walk.
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Exploring Scugdale from Carlton Bank

7 miles                                       Fair, little wind

We parked in the car park of the Lords Stone Cafe and walked back along the Carlton road until we reached a new Cleveland Way sign, and turned off the road to follow it towards Huthwaite Green.

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

New sign on Carlton Bank road

Almost immediately we turned left from the Cleveland Way and followed the wide access road for the old Gliding Club, which is now demolished, walking steadily uphill into the mist.  Reaching the moor top we turned left off the access road where a footpath sign indicated our track across the heather.  The first feature we came to on this path was the rocky outcrop of Stone Ruck.  Tom Scott Burns explains that Ruck is derived from the Old Norse bruga meaning 'to pile or heap up', as in a cairn.  The mist and silence made Stone Ruck feel a very lonely spot.

Leaving Carlton Bank Road and starting to climb

Stone Ruck

We followed the path across the moor until we came to Brian's Pond where the silence of the morning was suddenly shattered by the alarm call of geese grazing near to the pond, who were startled by our approach.  In summer Clive and I have watched Emperor dragonflies at Brian's Pond but there was no sign of life today, apart from the noisy geese!

Arriving at Brian's Pond

We get a noisy welcome

As we walked away from the pond a farmer's 4x4 passed us by with a sheepdog balancing confidently on the back.  The occupants were looking for stray sheep and we would see them again later in the walk as they brought the sheep down from the moor.

"Seen any sheep?"

Our track climbed steadily over Clough Gill Top where a signpost indicated a choice of routes. We took the right fork which ascended steadily to the moor rim where we suddenly came upon a view of Scugdale, through the mist.  TSB refers to Scugdale as the sheltered dale from the Danish skygger - to overshadow.  

A nice view to our left showed the rock face of Barker's Crag and we descended across a couple of fields to reach the dale road where we turned left to walk towards the top of the valley and High House.  In this old farmhouse lived a certain Harry Cooper who was reputed to be the tallest man in the world, standing at 8'6".  He left Scugdale to join Barnum's Circus in America and died in 1898 at the age of 41.

Looking down into Scugdale

High House

Looking down Scugdale from High House

Gated stile opposite High House

Opposite High House is a gated stile giving access to steeply sloping fields.  There was no path but we followed waymark signs across these fields down to Scugdale Beck, where we found the bridge that still serves no useful purpose, as on our previous visit, having been displaced by winter storms some years ago.  I suppose so few people use this path that it has not proved worthwhile to repair.  We crossed the beck and climbed up to join a faint path that took us down the valley, walking under some old allum workings. When we reached some grassy banks just before Holiday House we stopped and enjoyed our coffee and scones in the sun, looking across at Scugdale Hall.

Downhill towards Scugdale Beck

The bridge is in the wrong place!

Faint track towards Holiday House

Scugdale Hall from our coffee stop

 

Barker's Crags

The last time we passed this way in February 2014, Holiday House appeared derelict but today, as we enjoyed our coffee, we saw cars arrive at the old farm and when we began walking again we noticed new doors and all the signs of renovation.  It was good to see the farm looking tidy again.

New doors and windows at Holiday House

Leaving Holiday House we followed its long access track to the dale road, where we turned left and walked to reach the farm buildings of Fog Close.  Here we turned right into the farm's track at a footpath sign, and then turned right again before reaching the farm buildings, before turning left and walking up the side of the farm towards Live Moor.

Rams at Fog Close Farm

Snotterdale with Scugdale beyond, from footpath near Fog Close Farm

We climbed steeply uphill onto Live Moor following yellow way-marks, then followed the ridge while looking down into the charmingly named and little known valley of Snotterdale, to which there is no road or path access.

Moor track above Fog Close Farm

Snotterdale

Opposite a conifer plantation our path turned left across Carlton Moor where we were soon walking on the old gliding station runway which runs alongside the Coast to Coast walk.  We left the runway and joined the C to C path for the last few hundred yards to the trig point, high on Carlton Moor, at 1338 feet.  

 

Crossing Live Moor

The Coast to Coast path

Whorlton Hill from the Coast to Coast path

Weather station on Carlton Moor

A fearless grouse watched impassively as we went by

Trig Point at 1338 feet

From here we looked at the steep stone path which leads down to Lords Stones and stood for a while, watching as farmers rounded up sheep below us.  

The descent is steep and stony and reaching the bottom we saw the farmer bringing his sheep back to a temporary fold which already contained a lot of animals.  We were very amused to see him dangling a sack of corn out of his Landrover window as he reversed towards the sheepfold.  The sheep trotted happily after this bait with no need of a dog.  Reaching the pen he got out of his vehicle and shouted loudly to his daughter who was following the sheep, "We've got company!"   Thinking he meant us we started to move away but it soon became apparent that he was referring to a police car which drove up and stopped next to them.  Two officers got out and we heard questions about the movement of the animals as we walked off, back down to the Lords Stone cafe.

Temporary sheep pen

Novel way of herding sheep, dangling bag of corn out of the window as he reverses to the pen

No dog required!

The sheep are led to the pen

Time to go! Police arrive and talk to the farmer

We sat in the sun outside Lords Stones Cafe and discussed today's walk over a couple of pints of Theakston's bitter, a pleasant end to a pleasant walk.

Lords Stone Cafe

Cheers!

The Hanging Stone and High Cliff from Gribdale Gate

8 miles                          Fair and breezy

In The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills, Tom Scott Burns relates a curious belief from a 19th century book called 'Customs of the North Riding' which states, 'Anyone who dares to stand near Gribdale Gate on New Year's Eve at midnight will see an old man pass through and then vanish'.    But it's now mid-March and there are already other cars parked at Gribdale Gate and we watched other walkers setting off as we changed into our boots.  Leaving the car we followed the footpath steeply uphill onto Great Ayton Moor.

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

Climbing from Gribdale to Great Ayton Moor

After reaching the moor the footpath followed a dry stone wall with occasional misty views over to Roseberry Topping on this rather humid morning.  We came to a gate at Newton Moor but turned right just before it. Tom Scott Burns mentions that this is the site of a chambered cairn, part of a complex Neolithic burial site dating from the Bronze Age, roughly 2300 - 800BC, a time when these moors were covered with mixed forest and woodland clearance was beginning to take place. By the Iron Age the site was treeless and cultivation was in progress.  Following the Iron Age, heather had spread across the moor replacing farmland, so the moors have in fact looked much as they do now since that time. 

Roseberry from Great Ayton Moor

Following the dry stone wall

Roseberry from the site of the chambered cairn

We followed the distinct path through the remains of a conifer wood which TSB describes as 'a corridor of trees rinsed with the scent of pine.'  No more, I'm afraid those trees have gone, like so many more, to the wood burning biomass furnace of the power station.

No longer a 'corridor of trees'

  

The path eventually led us to the surprise view at the Hanging Stone, a massive block of sandstone which TSB believes may have once been part of an old quarry.

We climb onto the stone for a fine view

The track falls steeply from the Hanging Stone and is treacherously slippery, so we took our time descending through the trees to briefly join a connecting track through Hutton Lowcross Woods, then turning left to again descend to reach Hutton village road.  Turning right along the road we entered Hutton village, which was built as a model village during ironstone mining of the 1850s.  At the end of the village our track climbed towards Bold Venture Gill.

Descending from Hanging Stone

A forestry worker with a sense of humour?

1973 Rover V8 in Hutton village

Leaving Hutton Village to climb towards Bold Venture Gill

  

We stayed on this track ignoring all turn-offs and once again were surprised at the amount of tree felling that had taken place since our last walk here little more than a year ago.   No longer were there 'endless rows of conifers' and when High Cliff Nab came into view, no longer was it 'set amongst trees'.  A convenient bench near to the nab proved too windy for our coffee stop so we continued onto Guisborough Moor where we hunkered down behind a dry stone wall that still allowed us a good view while we had our coffee and scones.

Forestry work at Bold Venture Gill

Where are the 'endless rows of conifers'?

High Cliff Nab

High Cliff Farm from our coffee stop

Our walk now led on to the open moor and we strode across Codhill Heights, 'Cod' being derived from the Viking word 'Keld', which means 'spring'.  As we walked over the moor the sun attempted to break through the clouds and the wind dropped slightly, and we had a nice view to the very lonely buildings of Sleddale Farm. Sleddale is apparently derived from the old English 'slaed', a wide flat valley.

Codhill Heights

Sheep at Sleddale Farm

Sleddale Farm

We joined a tarmac road that serves as the access road for Sleddale Farm .  After a while we reached Percy Cross Rigg where our track turned right onto a tarmac road which we followed, enjoying fine views in all directions, until we came to a small fenced area of uneven ground covered in dense heather.  TSB notes that this is the site of Iron Age Hut Circles, dated to around 800 BC, which were excavated in the 1960s.  Unfortunately heather has reclaimed this site and the only thing left to see is the metal sign describing the find.

Codhill Heights

The huts have been reclaimed by heather

The gate at Percy Cross Rigg

'Target' at Percy Cross Rigg

We walked along Percy Cross Rigg, once a prehistoric track connecting settlements at Eston Moor, Great Ayton Moor and the Crown End Settlement in Westerdale, until we reached a gate and information board at Percy Cross Rigg.   Here there is a meeting of paths which is actually the junction of four parishes, Guisborough, Kildale, Great Ayton and Hutton Lowcross, although there is no sign to that effect.  However, we did notice a sign declaring the area a Site of Special Scientific Interest and saw that someone had obscured the word 'Motorcycles' from the prohibitions on the sign.  This junction is where we turned left from Percy Cross Rigg to cut across the moor on a green path with Lonsdale Bowl to our left.   Looking at the map of the walk (above), you will see that this took us alongside Lonsdale Plantation.   The trees shown on the map have also been felled, but in this case with the advantage that there is now a fine view to be had into Lonsdale Bowl.  

Lonsdale Bowl

Descending to Gribdale, Captain Cook's monument on the skyline

Quarry workings above Gribdale Car Park

We followed our path across Great Ayton Moor for the final leg of our walk, dropping down from the moor to our car at Gribdale Gate.