Nether and Over Silton to Oakdale Reservoir via Thimbleby  Plantation

7 miles                                       Dry, Cold and Grey

We started our walk from the car park at the junction of Hambleton Street and the Hawnby Road, which was already full with cars belonging to a group of beaters who were assembling on the other side of the road, their red flags tucked under their arms.   The sound of guns accompanied us throughout the whole walk.

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

Leaving the car we walked along Hambleton Street, which crosses Thimbleby Moor along the right shoulder of Black Hambleton, and passed through a gate giving access to the conifer plantation.  Our path, known as Moor Lane, took us steadily downhill for about 2.5 miles through conifers and with little of interest until we saw the ruins of a lime kiln and later, near Rose Cottage, an ancient drinking trough.

Passing through Moor Gate, Black Hambleton in the distance

Moor Lane

Old Lime Kiln

Some ponies walk with us hoping for apples

Rose Cottage

Old drinking trough, water still trickling from its spout

Moor Lane eventually ended at a T junction where we turned right and walked into the pretty village of Nether Silton.  We soon spotted the stone monolith which we discussed in an earlier blog post.  (See Walk 15th August 2013)  We looked at the chapel of All Saints, a medieval church which Tom Scott Burns tells us was rebuilt in 1812 at a cost of £450 raised by subscription and whose alter rails are made from the wood of HMS Dreadnought of Lord Nelson's navy.

Entering Nether Silton

Old Manor Stone monolith

All Saints at Nether Silton

Our path left the road opposite the church, as if into a private garden, through a white gate at the side of the old Post Office.  There is no way sign on the gate.  The path is a pleasant track through several fields but each gate was approached through thick mud because of recent rain.  We soon reached the unusual ancient church of St Mary, standing in a secluded field with no approaching paths and whose Jubilee bench made an ideal resting place while we enjoyed our coffee and scones.  I have described the church in earlier blogs but this time we were pleased to find an epitaph which TSB refers to and which I photographed.

'Hidden' path to Over Silton

Field paths to Over Silton

St Mary's, Over Silton

"All of you who come my grave to see - Prepare yourselves to follow me - Repent in time, no more delay - For youth and Age will soon decay - Life is uncertain, death is sure - Sin is the wound but Christ the cure"

Evidence of a picnic at the Jubilee Bench

Feeling much refreshed we walked across the fields away from the isolated church and towards the village of Over Silton.    Here we turned right and walked beyond the houses to a left turn where our path left the road and climbed steeply into Crabtree Bank Plantation. The next 2.5 miles were through conifers, sometimes on wide forestry tracks and sometimes on narrow footpaths but always very muddy and difficult to negotiate.  We climbed steeply for the first mile then our path levelled out for a mile before dropping sharply through Big Wood towards Oakdale.

View from our coffee stop

Looking back at isolated St Mary's Church

Striding out towards Over Silton

Difficult paths all the way through the plantations

As we walked through the appropriately named Big Wood we saw a couple of strange hides below us; were they for the shooters whose guns had been banging away all through our walk, or birdwatchers?  Whoever used them had gone to considerable trouble and expense as they stood at least 30 feet high.  Soon we could see down through gaps in the trees to Osmotherley, far below us .  

A Hide?

Another hide

Climbing through Crabtree Plantation

Trying to negotiate a tricky bit

The descent through the woods to Oakdale Reservoir was very slippery and we hung on to saplings as we slid downwards until we reached a bridge across the stream that runs between the upper and lower reservoirs.

Looking down from Big Wood towards Osmotherley

Clive decides I should get in front of the lens for a change

We saw a lot of new signs warning walkers to keep to the right of way

Awkward descent towards Oakdale Reservoirs

Bridge between reservoirs

As we approached the upper reservoir we joined the stone path of the Cleveland Way, which would lead us back to where our car was parked.  We stopped to admire the old reservoir and a gamekeeper on a quad bike zoomed up followed by several 4 x 4s carrying a shooting party and dogs.  The shooting party got out of their vans, all very smartly dressed in tweeds and flat caps with their guns still in leather cases.  We quickly left them at the reservoir and started the steep climb back to Hawnby Road and our car.  We stopped at the top of the hill to look back at the reservoir just as the first shots were fired.

Looking back at Big Wood

The gamekeeper arrives

... followed by the shooting party

Looking back to Upper Reservoir

      

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