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

The Hanging Stone and High Cliff from Gribdale Gate

8 miles                                   Misty start then bright and fine

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'.    Fortunately it is well into January as Clive and I drive through the gate and park.

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

Looking back down to our car as we climb Great Ayton Moor

Wet paths on Great Ayton Moor

From the car park we climbed steeply on to Great Ayton Moor and followed the path alongside a dry stone wall for a little over a mile until we reached a gate at Newton Moor.   There was a nice view here over towards Roseberry Topping but we turned right and followed a forestry track until it descended to the surprise view at Hanging Stone.

Roseberry Topping from Great Ayton Moor

Surprise View at Hanging Stone

Old graffiti on Hanging Stone  'MPH 1905'

Standing on Hanging Stone

After we had examined the huge sandstone block of Hanging Stone our route descended sharply through Hutton Lowcross Woods and was so muddy that we were relieved to stay upright after which we reached a forestry track.  Turning right here we followed the track for a few yards and then once again plunged left down through the woods on another slippery path.

Looking back towards Hanging Stone

In the distance our next destination, Highcliff Nab 

Gated road at Hutton Village

Eventually we reached the road and walked towards Hutton Village.   TSB tells us that Hutton Village was built during the ironstone mining boom of the 1850s and that the 1861 census showed 50 miners out of a population of 271.   Now the houses are quite exclusive and we passed quickly between them and on through a gate to a forestry track which soon climbed steeply through conifers to Bold Venture Gill.  Here the road forks, the right fork leads to High Cliff Farm and the left, our path, continued upward to the base of Highcliff Nab.  There was a well placed bench here and we sat in the sun to enjoy our coffee and scones with fine views in all directions.

Looking into the woods near Bold Venture Gill

Our first glimpse of Highcliff Nab

A walker descends from the Nab as we enjoy our coffee

Our view the other way from our coffee stop, towards Guisborough

Much refreshed we followed the track from Highcliffe Nab west towards Codhill Heights.  'Cod' is derived from the Viking word 'Keld', which means 'spring'.  This area is well walked and also used by cyclists and horse riders, added to which farm beasts are using the same tracks.  This combination of heavy use together with recent rain made the next half mile very difficult and we picked our way carefully through thick mud until we reached a junction with the paved path of the Cleveland Way.  

Highcliffe Farm

Gruesome totems, to frighten other rabbits?

Our path becomes a quagmire

We reach the Cleveland Way

Crossing straight over the Cleveland Way our track headed roughly south with Codhill Heights to our right and Sleddale to our left.  Sleddale is from the Old English word slaed, meaning wide valley, and nestled at the end of this wide valley was Sleddale Farm, where our path turned right towards Percy Cross Rigg.

Codhill Heights

Looking back along Codhill Heights

Sleddale Farm

Reaching Percy Cross Rigg 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 tells us that this is the site of Iron Age Hut Circles, dated to around 800 BC and 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.

Unfortunately these hut circles are no longer preserved

The location of the Iron Age Hut Circles

Walking along 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 the end of Lonsdale Plantation.  This meeting of paths 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.

Meeting of tracks at Lonsdale Plantation

Highcliff Nab in the far distance

A grouse watches us pass by

We crossed Great Ayton Moor with our path becoming ever more boggy and rutted, until we crossed the lip of the moor and looked back down at our car parked at Gribdale Gate.

Lonsdale Bowl

Descending to the Car Park