Walking in North Yorkshire

 

Caydale and Noddle End from Murton

7.5 miles                           Fine and breezy

Clive is away and Carole agreed to join me for this enjoyable Tom Scott Burns route which we haven't walked for a couple of years.

We turned off the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley road at Laskill.  Parking, shown by the 'P' next to the Grange in TSB's map below, is no longer available to the public, so we parked on the grass verge near to the buildings of Murton Grange at the top of Murton Bank.

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

Tom Scott Burns explains that a 'grange' was a farmhouse attached to a religious order and Murton Grange once belonged to the monks of nearby Byland Abbey. 

From Murton Bank we turned into the Grange's farm track and walked past the Grange, continuing straight ahead until arriving at a fork.  This is the main lane going on to Caydale Mill but here we took the right fork down into the hidden valley of Caydale.  Tom Scott Burns tells us that the last wild cat in England was shot at this spot in 1840, by a Charles Harrison. 

From our car at the top of Murton Bank

Murton Grange

Straight past the Grange..

.. until the fork. Bear right.

After crossing a couple of fields our path dropped down into the trees of the charming valley of Caydale.  We stayed on the farm track, ignoring a couple of footpath signs, until we saw a sign with a gate on our left, and here we turned through the gate.

Stay on the main track..

.. until you see the gate on your left

Caydale

We reached the bottom of the valley and crossed several streams of crystal clear water, known as 'rills'.  These are shown on the map above as Old Byland's Water Race and Limperdale Gill.  In the 1740s a Joseph Ford of Kirbymoorside perfected a system of tapping into springs and channeling water in open 'rills' some 12 inches wide.  Water was diverted by this method through Caydale from King Spring to the village of Old Byland and the straight rills remain. 

Bridge over a 'rill' in Caydale

We crossed the valley floor and started up the other side.  Until a couple of years ago this climb passed through trees but now the trees have been felled and the area converted to rough grazing.

A consequence of this clearing has been the removal of the old 'Captain's Seat' which is shown on the map above, and which we used to pass by, although even then it was in a dilapidated state. We would like to know who the Captain was and why he would sit at such a remote spot.

Leaving the climb and Caydale we crossed several fields to reach High Leir Lane where we turned right and walked on tarmac to pass Weathercote Farm with its novel 'cat and rat' weather vane.

Climbing out of Caydale

Looking across Caydale the buildings of Murton Grange can just be seen

Field paths..

.. to reach High Leir Lane

Weathercote Farm

Cat and rat weather vane

Tractor...

.. and harvester, the gate is open which spoils the effect

After a mile we reached the junction with Cleveland Road which we crossed to follow field paths again, until reaching the high ridge of Boltby Scar. 

Straight across Cleveland Road into a narrow path

.. which opens out

.. to reach the gate above Boltby Scar

We now join the Cleveland Way

Boltby below

We turned right onto the Cleveland Way and followed the path along the ridge to pass the ruined High Barn. We passed old quarry workings and then crossed Sneck Yate Bank Road and continued along a forest path to reach High Paradise Farm. 

On the Cleveland Way and approaching..

.. High Barn

Continue past the barn

.. and into Boltby Forest

High Paradise Farm has a nice little cafe which is open during the summer months so we decided to stop for a coffee.

A scone at High Paradise

Bijou cafe at High Paradise Farm

Refreshed, we left the cafe and rejoined our path, following it to reach the old drove road, Hambleton Road.  We crossed straight over the road to enter Daletown Common where we followed a path all the way to a ruined barn at Noddle End.

Cross straight over Hambleton Road and go through the gate

.. onto Daletown Common

Daletown Common

Barley seems to be doing well, even exposed and at a height

Approaching Noddle End

Reaching the barn at Noddle End we had a fine view down into Gowerdale, before making the steep descent to reach lonely Gowerdale House.

Starting to descend into Gowerdale

Approaching Gowerdale House

Carole gets warm, Gowerdale is sheltered from the wind

'Look around and get out'

In his 'Round and About the North Yorkshire Moors, Vol. 2' Tom Scott Burns tells us that Gowerdale House is all that remains of a medieval village, called Dal in the Domesday Book, and Daile a century later. By 1433 there were 23 tenants recorded as living in Daletown but by 1569 in Humberston's Survey the entry was 'vocatum Dale Town'. Was the village wiped out by the Black Death?

We passed the front of the house which has the bleak message, "Look around and get out!" painted on the front door, and then followed a rising path to reach Dale Town Farm.

Dale Town Farm

The footpath passes between the farm buildings

We turned right into a cow field just after passing the farm buildings and followed the faint path steeply uphill to the top of Peak Scar Top where we turned left to reach Murton Bank Road and the car.

This walk ends with a steep climb to the skyline

Looking back to Dale Town Farm

Tree-hugger.  We make it to the top

Come on slowcoach! The end of the walk

Reaching the car we looked down to the village of Hawnby and its pub, The Owl, where we were soon to be found enjoying a pint and discussing today's walk.

The real end of the walk

To Dale Town

 

The Drove Road and Windygill Ridge from Boltby

7 miles                                Cool and showery

We drove through Boltby and parked at a hard shoulder on the right hand side of the road, shown by 'P' on the map below.  After booting up we walked uphill along the same road, away from the village, until turning left at a footpath sign into a farm track to Lunshaw House Farm.

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

Bluebells on Lunshaw Bank

Turn left up Lunshaw Bank

Before reaching the farm we crossed a stile on the right to follow a field path signposted Low Paradise.  Like last year, this field had a herd of Belted Galloways cattle who appear to have used the footpath to move around the field.  This path which already has a difficult camber is now rutted with hoof marks and we found it easier to walk to the side of the path.

Enter the field, the signpost says Low Paradise

This friendly sign advises us to take the Low Paradise track

We pass by the Belted Galloways

The path eventually drops down into woods before crossing Lunshaw Beck via stone slabs.  We then started a mile long ascent which TSB correctly describes as a 'muscular climb'.  This climb first passes Low Paradise farm, then Oak Beck cottage before continuing to climb all the way to High Paradise Farm.

The trees of Boltby Forest to the left, beware rickety stile

Descending to Lunshaw Beck, Low Paradise Farm in distance

Clive stops as a lamb calls and runs across the field at Low Paradise

Pet lamb

"Feed me"

Disappointed that Clive doesn't have a bottle of milk

Low Paradise Farm

Continuing the 'muscular climb'

Looking back the way we came, towards Boltby

Young hounds at Oak Beck Cottage

We approached High Paradise Farm and seeing that its tea room was open for business we spent a pleasant interlude here with coffee and blueberry scones.

Above Low Paradise Farm we join the Cleveland Way

Continuing uphill

Cowslips in the verge

High Paradise Farm

Hmm, it's past 11am so...

Time for coffee

The farm dog helps with the tidying up

After finishing our coffee we left the farm cafe and walked towards Sneck Gate and the moor.  Passing through the gate we were now on the Hambleton Drove Road, which we followed left for 1.5 miles, soon reaching forest.  As we walked the rain, which had been a fine spray, started to fall more heavily.

We walked on through the trees for some time and then, just before reaching the ruins of Steeple Cross (first mentioned in 1246 but no longer a cross, now just a 2 feet high piece of stone) we turned left to enter the plantation's trees.

Walking towards Sneck Gate

Daletown Common on the other side of the wall

"I think my head's stuck"

Daletown Common stretches out alongside the Drove Road

Entering Boltby Forest once more

Steeple Cross

Left at Steeple Cross and go through the gate

We walked through the forestry plantation to emerge at Gallow Hill where there is a view towards Cowesby village far below.  We could see fresh rain clouds approaching as we followed the broad path along Windygill Ridge.

Fresh tree felling at Windygill Ridge

Rain approaches Cowesby below us

Ahead of us was the Vale of Mowbray and to the right, Black Hambleton and we could see the hummock of Seta Pike, our next destination about a mile ahead.

Just after passing Seta Pike the path turns left to descend on a steep forestry path.  The track was wet and boggy and the steep descents were slippery making progress slow.   The path eventually levels out and we picked our way through Gurtof Wood, looking down on Gurtof Beck running below us. Here the track became very boggy and it was necessary to divert up and down to pass the worst bits.

Descending through Gurtof Wood

Small tracks

Boggy tracks

Clive diverts past the worst bits

An old milk churn in Gurtof Wood

Unusual growth in Gurtof Wood

We came to an area where felling had just taken place on our last visit and soon after this entered fields once more.

Passing last year's felling

Right at the sign brings us to..

Fields once more

We then walked through fields using way-marks on the field boundaries as guides until joining a wide track.  We followed this to a green lane, which, after passing by a smallholding with sheep and a horse, led us to Boltby.

Follow the green lane to Boltby

The riding school used to be the Johnstone Arms

Boltby

Boltby Scar above the village

We stopped to look in the Holy Trinity Church which was unlocked and open to visitors.

Holy Trinity Church Boltby

Towards the altar

Altar window

A penitent at the rear of the church

The churchyard seems to contain only fairly recent graves and a further look at our guidebook 'The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills' explained why: apparently it was the custom until Victorian times to carry the dead from Boltby and Kirby Knowle for burial at Felixkirk, "swathed in linen and uncoffined."  It would be interesting to know the reason for this practice but unfortunately the book does not give one. Strange, when they had perfectly good churches in Boltby and Kirby Knowle.  This local practice gave rise to the strange tale of the lost corpse at nearby Turton Beckstead.  Tom Scott Burns relates a strange event that apparently happened here. In the 1860s some mourners were carrying a body from Kirby Knowle to Felixkirk for burial.  The bearers set down the coffin to rest briefly at this spot, but on raising it up again it felt much lighter and they discovered that the corpse had disappeared. The empty coffin was buried and the site at Beckstead Wood became known as Lost Corpse End.

We continued our walk through Boltby and climbed to the car park to finish our walk just in time, as the persistent drizzle turned much heavier. 

The last climb of the day

A hiker's reward