Captain Cook Country from Great Ayton

8 miles                  Cold and Clear

We parked in the High Street at Great Ayton, opposite Petch the Butcher, who had a magnificent and tempting display of pork pies in his window.

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

Great Ayton

We walked down the High Street and crossed the River Leven at the iron bridge opposite Suggits Cafe.  Our track now followed the river along field paths towards Little Ayton, crossing the road via stiles at Cross Lane before returning to the river bank.  Before Cross Lane we were surprised to see a field of deer, obviously being farmed, behind a high wire fence.

Deer Farm outside Great Ayton

Walking towards Woodhouse Farm

Walking alongside River Leven

Woodhouse Farm

Low Easby with monument in distance

We arrived at Woodhouse Farm and continued along the river to Low Easby where we swung left across a bridge to join a lane which we followed over the Whitby to Middlesbrough Railway line to Borough Green Farm.

Hunting weather vane at Low Easby

Clive checks new railway lines outside Low Easby

This farm has a gateway on the left which leads into a green lane that goes straight uphill to Easby Moor.  On reaching the gateway a solitary walker, a small elderly chap, met us from the opposite direction.  We exchanged greetings and agreed with him that it was a blessing to wake up on a morning and find yourself still alive.  "I'm 84 and still walk, but take my time," he told us proudly.

84 years old and still hiking

Looking back from green lane 

Nearly at the top

We congratulated him on his good fortune and then began a long climb up to Easby Moor, turning to wave as he shouted "Merry Christmas" after us.  At the top we turned right after passing through the moor gate.  Our path now leveled out and we traversed the hillside before entering Mill Bank Wood.  Walking through the wood the remains of an old bleach mill can still be seen to the right of the descent from Easby Moor.    Tom Scott Burns tells us in The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills that this mill was destroyed on 21st July 1840, when heavy rains above Kildale caused an enormous volume of water to burst two large fishponds at Kildale Hall creating a flood 40' high, which carried away everything in its path, including the mill, as it rushed towards Great Ayton.

Moor Gate

Mill Bank Wood

Kildale Church

We emerged from the woods at Bankside Farm buildings and started to walk uphill, but decided to stop at an old barn where level stones made a good resting place for our break.   We sat enjoying our coffee and scones while looking down towards Kildale Church and watching the farm's Jack Russell terrier as it slowly, very slowly, approached us, sitting down to stare at us intently every few yards.  When it eventually drew closer it was easily won over by Clive's Rich Tea biscuits.

Bankside Farm

The watcher

View from our coffee stop

We continued to walk uphill from the farm until we came to a fork, where we swung left through a forestry plantation that had been roughly stripped of its trees leaving a desolate area that looked like the Somme.  Suddenly Captain Cook's Monument appeared on the skyline before us and we walked up to read the inscription before continuing straight on along the top of Easby Moor.    The inscription tells us that the monument's foundation stone was laid in 1827, in memory of Marton and Great Ayton's famous mariner.

Easby Moor, not The Somme

Captain Cook's Monument

Plaque on monument

Our track led us off the moor and eventually down a steep descent through Ayton Bank Woods, which we remembered as being very treacherous when wet from the last time we came this way .  Dry today and an easy descent to the road that led us up Airey Holme Lane to Airey Holme Farm, where Captain Cook's father was employed as a bailiff in 1736.

Leaving the monument

Looking back

Descending from Easby Moor

The farm is attractive with a nice duck pond and Roseberry Topping can be seen in the distance behind it.   Passing by the farm, the lane leads to Airey Holme Cottage where we turned sharp left down a field track past the old quarry where whinstone was mined, apparently the only example of volcanic rock to be found on the North Yorkshire Moors. 

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Duck pond at Airey Holme Farm

Airey Holme Farm

Cliff Rigg Whinstone Quarry

Remains of old winch near Cliff Rigg Quarry

Our path then followed fields which skirt the imposing building of Cleveland Lodge and eventually returned us to Great Ayton and our car.

Muddy path alongside Cleveland Lodge

We glimpse Cleveland Lodge through the trees

A Bilsdale Circular from Clay Bank

5 miles                 Very cold and sunny

We parked at Clay Bank car park which Tom Scott Burns tells us was once a Bronze Age burial site.  It was excavated in the 1960s and found to have eight burials from around 1500BC.

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

Looking back towards the Bilsdale Road

We walked North back down the Bilsdale road and turned off after a couple of hundred yards into a forestry track which meanders downhill and eventually turns sharp left, almost immediately reaching Spring House.  The track here is invisible and one appears to be entering a private drive which ends at Spring House. We walked warily up to the house, passing signs saying, 'Dogs running loose', Thieves Beware and several other welcoming messages.  The owners of Spring House obviously want to discourage people but my GPS told me that our track was definitely there so we soldiered on by the house and a little later came to a friendly yellow way-mark proving that we did have right of way.

Tracks today were little used

Spring House, difficult to negotiate

Open land after Spring House

We now walked along the base of the Cleveland Escarpment on little used paths that were often impeded by bramble and holly, until we met Bank Lane running up from our right after which our path became a more substantial farm track.

Our path along the base of the Cleveland Escarpment

A better track at last

Attractive house on our path

We passed an old house called Huntons Folly and then came to a farm with the unusual name of Solomon's Porch where we turned left off the farm track and crossed a stile.

Huntons Folly

Solomon's Porch to the right

Leaving the track st Solomon's Porch to begin our climb

 
We now faced a long, steady uphill path to Cold Moor, where, hot from the effort of climbing, we sat on a wall in the sun and enjoyed our coffee and scones.

Climbing to Cold Moor

Lunch in the sun

Climbing to Cold Moor

We set off again and followed the track over the top of Cold Moor towards the Wainstones.  A steep descent off the top of the moor was followed by a right turn just before the climb to the Wainstones.  We walked around the plantation edge to Garfitt Gap.  Apparently this was known as Garthwat in 1335, meaning 'a clearing with a garth (enclosed yard) on it'.

Looking back from Cold Moor

Carole walks towards The Wainstones

First glimpse of Garfitt

There is still a nice 'garth' there today and on reaching it we turned sharp right, leaving the forest track and crossing a stile to go past the front of the the house.  Our track took us gently down from Garfitt to the Bilsdale Road.

Garfitt

Walking down to the Bilsdale Road

We turned left here and walked alongside the busy road keeping Pirate on a short lead before crossing the road to join a track at a metal footpath sign.  This footpath was also the entrance to Holme Farm and TSB has a photograph from 1896 in his book The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills; the farm still looks exactly the same today.

Holme Farm

Footpath was once the old road to Hasty Bank

The little used footpath from the farm was once part of the old road to Hasty Bank and our track followed it all the way back to the car park. 

An interesting short walk that was somewhat spoiled by awkward path-finding near several buildings which one suspects has been made deliberately difficult.