Along the Old Drover's Road from Osmotherley

6 miles                             Wet, cold and windy

In the Domesday Book Osmotherley was known as Asmundrelac, which means 'Asmund's clearing' but it is now such a busy village that Clive and I found roadside parking difficult, even on a cold wet morning.  We parked opposite Thompson's Shop which has been a general dealers for 200 years and is now being renovated.

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

Newspaper cutting in Thompson's window

After donning our boots we walked back to the market cross and turned left along Quarry Lane until we came to an unusual square walled garden just before Rueberry Lane, that did not appear to belong to any property.  Tom Scott Burns tells us that this is a 'pinfold' and in olden times beasts that were found straying were impounded here until their owners paid a fine.

The Pinfold

Pinfold

Entrance to Rueberry Lane, we follow the Cleveland Way

Walking up Rueberry Lane

We turned into Rueberry Lane and quickly gained height until we looked back down on Osmotherley.  A little further, when the lane becomes a track, we came upon Lady Chapel founded by Queen Catherine of Aragon in 1515.  It still appears to be a religious retreat and we followed the twelve stations of the cross as we approached it.

Looking back at Osmotherley from Ruesberry Lane

Lady Chapel

Lady Chapel

We continued through the chapel grounds and back down to our track, at which point we could have branched off to see Mount Grace Priory, but for shortage of time (and the entrance fee!).  Instead we continued along the path, following the Cleveland Way up to the transmitter masts on Beacon Hill.  As we walked we were pleased that the rain eased and the sky brightened, although the wind remained bitterly cold.

Looking down towards the A19 from Swinestyle Hill

Approaching the transmitter masts at Beacon Hill

Sign at Beacon Hill

Our track continued straight past the transmitter masts at Beacon Hill and directly onwards through silver birch trees until we reached the gate to Scarth Wood Moor.

Muddy track through silver birch trees

The gate to Scarth Wood Moors

We walked across Scarth Wood Moor looking towards a fine view of the Cleveland Hills; Whorl Hill in the foreground and Roseberry Topping in the far distance, until our path veered right away from the Cleveland Way and through the cleft of Scarth Nick. TSB informs us Scarth Nick is a glacial overflow channel and it now contains the road from Swainby to Sheepwash which we joined for the short walk to Sheepwash.  After crossing the bridge we found a sheltered spot looking back at the stream and bridge and sat to enjoy our coffee and scones.

Crossing Scarth Wood Moor

Swainby, Whorl Hill and Roseberry from Scarth Wood Moor

We turn into Scarth Nick

From our coffee spot

Badly water-eroded paths near Sheepwash

A brief climb from our coffee spot took us to High Lane, the Old Drovers Road across Pamperdale Moor, which we followed for a couple of miles until we reached Chequers Farm.  This interesting building was an old inn and held a licence for 300 years until 1945. When it was a hostelry it was famous for keeping an old peat fire alight for 150 years!  The sign of the Inn was a chequers board signifying that it would change money for the drovers and on the sign was the cryptic message  "Be not in haste, Step in and taste, Ale tomorrow for nothing.'   Of course tomorrow never comes.  The old sign has been mounted behind glass on the farm wall.

Old Drovers Road

Sign at the old Chequers Inn, now a farm

The Old Chequers Inn

TSB informs us that the drovers used to bring vast herds of cattle from the Highlands of Scotland across the Hambleton Hills on the way to the markets of East Anglia, the Midlands and London.  Their average pace was just 2 miles per hour.  

Just beyond Chequers Farm our path turned sharp right leaving the drove road and heading gently downhill to the two small reservoirs at Oakdale where we crossed the beck by an old packhorse bridge and came upon a pheasant sitting on the roadside fence and who appeared to have no fear of humans.  He posed cheerfully while I took a photograph from about three feet away, leaving his perch only when he heard the approach of three ladies and their dogs.  We could imagine him sitting on the end of the hunter's barrel!

Looking back at Chequers Farm from Oakdale path

Towards Oakdale

The friendly pheasant

'No Fear!'

At this point we rejoined the Cleveland Way as we headed back towards Osmotherley.  Our path descended past White House Farm, where there was a muddy path diversion and where I fell full length, but fortunately into grass rather than mud.  Uninjured except for my pride, (we were still being followed by the three ladies and their dogs) we continued across a small bridge over a stream and then steeply uphill to where our path crossed a field and into Osmotherley.

Back on the Cleveland Way

Walking down towards White House Farm

Bridge after White House Farm

Looking upstream

The path, still the Cleveland Way, follows small alleyways into Osmotherley before eventually emerging onto the high street, near to the market cross and our car.

Osmotherley

Approaching the High Street

We admire an old mini. Did we really fit inside..?!

Walking back to our car