Raisdale and Clough from Chop Gate

6.5 miles            Cold and windy with snow showers

Not quite a Tom Scott Burns walk

Our plan had been to follow a Tom Scott Burns' walk to Cringle Moor and Clough from Lords Stone but a thin layer of snow and ice covered the bank up to Lords Stone from Carlton and we just made it to the top.  As we arrived at a deserted Lords Stone more snow started to fall and fearing the car getting stuck on top we carried on along Raisdale Road to the safety of Chop Gate where we parked in the community centre car park, which we were surprised to find has become a 'pay and display' car park.  We decided that we would walk from here, doing part of Tom Scott Burns' walk as planned, but veering off to return to Chop Gate.  

Today's 'off the cuff' walk

We deposited our money in the machine as instructed, but failing to receive a ticket we set off via a stile at the rear of the car park and joined a footpath which follows Raisdale Beck for a time across meadows to Cock Flat Farm.  Tom Scott Burns explains that Cock Flat comes from Kyrkflat, meaning Church Field.  The paths were muddy but walkable, the main problems being encountered at gates where stock had churned paths into muddy pools. 

Leaving the car park to start our walk

Alongside Raisdale Beck

Crossing Raisdale Road, our path continues opposite

Climbing to Cock Flat Farm

Our path dropped briefly from Cock Flat Farm to the road before climbing once more to High West Cote Farm and then dropping again to tidy Stone Intake Farm where we were 'seen off' by the farm collie who was much friendlier than he pretended to be.   

Wintry skies

King of the Castle

Cock Flat Farm

Climbing towards High West Cote Farm

We rejoined the road for a short time before leaving at the farm track to High Crosslets Farm, which calls first at Raisdale Mill.   A convenient table and chairs proved too great a temptation and we settled down for our coffee and scones.

West Cote Farm from High West Cote Farm

King of the Castle 2

High West Cote Farm

Stile near Stone Intake Farm

Towards Raisdale Mill

No, we do not have any spare scones!

Finishing our coffee we joined the route of our intended walk for a while.  Once again our path took us through fields alongside Raisdale Beck until we briefly entered a forestry plantation before emerging into meadows.  The last time we walked through these meadows they had been yellow with buttercups but today we struggled through boggy turf, climbing towards the ruined sheep farm of Clough.

Forestry plantation

Boggy fields before Clough

Deserted Clough

Our path had now disappeared  and we looked out for yellow way-marks which took us across a couple of meadows overgrown with rushes and very boggy, until we reached a farm track at Staindale Farm.  It's over a year since we last passed this way but we still kept an eye out for Lugless, Staindale Farm's pet sheep.  Lots of sheep but they all had lugs.  

Rushes

Mine workings on Wath Hill opposite Staindale Farm

Heading towards Staindale Farm

Sheep weathervane at Staindale Farm

Lugless  (library photo!)

At Staindale Farm we left TSB's route and followed the farm track back to Raisdale Road where we turned right and walked steadily along the road until we reached the Raisdale to Cock Flat footpath, where we turned right off the road and retraced our outward path back to the car.

Staindale Farm track back to Raisdale Road

We rejoin Raisdale Road

To the side of Raisdale Road

Stone Intake Farm from Raisdale Road

We leave the road to rejoin the footpath to Chop Gate

The Community Centre lies dead ahead.

An 'off the cuff' walk which turned out to be quite a pleasant stroll.

Hazel Head to Arnsgill and Cow Ridge

7 miles                                      Cold and sunny

We approached Hazel Head Car Park via a 6 mile drive along the unclassified road from Osmotherley, as suggested by Thomas Scott Burns in The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills. The road was icy and very narrow, making progress very slow and on reflection we think a better route would have been along the B1257 to Helmsley, then to Hazel Head via Hawnby.  This would have been only slightly shorter but a much better road.

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

Leaving the car park we walked back along the road into the pretty valley of Blow Gill.  At the roadside immediately opposite is an old lime kiln, the first of several we saw today.  Continuing uphill from Blow Gill we turned sharp left into the gateway of Street Gate Farm. Our path ran to the side of the farm building and quickly became very boggy. 

Blow Gill

Lime Kiln at Blow Gill

Blow Gill

We leave the road at Street Gate House Farm

Street Gate House Farm

Passing by two fields of sheep we saw a dead sheep in each field and then reached Hagg House, where there was a pen containing a dozen spaniels who set off a terrific noise, howling and barking at us as we passed.  Hanging from a line were lots of small traps, obviously there is a hunting enthusiast at this farm.  The path continued straight on, relentlessly boggy and we came upon a third dead sheep at the side of the path.  What had caused these fatalities?  Although today was beautiful weather without a cloud in the sky, it was cold and the ground was icy and still below zero at this height; perhaps the cold had finished off sickly animals. We passed by Birkwood Farm where we were thankful to rejoin the road for a moment.  I have marked this last stretch on the map above and unless there has been a long dry spell I would advise sticking to the road from Hazel Head all the way to Birkwood Farm.  The footpath we followed was situated well below the road and water was constantly draining down from woods and fields making a swamp of the track. 

Frozen grass makes a good alternative to mud

Hagg House

Fallen Sheep, muddy path

Climbing out of the mud at Birkwood Farm

After climbing to the road at Birkwood Farm we admired a pile of beet, probably winter feed, then turned right past another lime kiln for a hundred yards, before turning left onto a farm track to Hill End Farm.  Here we admired a crude 'post box' manufactured from an old container and nailed to the farm gate.   As we passed by Hill End Farm we saw yet another lime kiln.  TSB describes how many farms in this area had their own lime kilns, the lime being used for lime washing walls but also for spreading on the land, a custom dating back to Roman times.  The acidic moorland soil is neutralised by the lime allowing more varied crops to be grown.  The burnt limestone is reduced to calcium oxide or quicklime which was spread at the rate of 2 tons an acre.  

Sugar beet

No post today!

Hill End Farm ahead

Crossing Arns Gill

Gated footbridge over Arns Gill

Hill End Farm's lime kiln

Our path passed by the side of the farm and we climbed towards Arnsgill Ridge after going through the moor gate.  As we reached the Ridge we saw a couple of flat rocks ahead that would just do for a coffee stop, and we relaxed with our coffee and scones with not a breath of wind to ruffle us.

Moor gate

Coffee in the sun

We set off again, now on a shooters' track and headed straight along Arnsgill Ridge for a couple of miles until we reached Head House.  Clive and I passed by here a couple of years ago on a rainy day, Head House was then a ruin and provided us with shelter of sorts while we had lunch, but today we saw that someone has been renovating the building.  The roof had been re-tiled and windows and doors added.  It was secured only with a hasp, however, so is still available should shelter be needed.  We looked inside and saw that a lot of work was still required if it was to be habitable again.

Approaching Head House

We admire the improvements

New roof inside

Approach to Head House, 4 wheel drive a must!

This marked the farthest point of our walk and we crossed Arns Gill again and walked back up to Cow Ridge, heading back parallel to Arnsgill Ridge.  After little more than a mile we came to a cairn which marked the area known as Iron Howe, where there are the remains of enclosures and cairns dating back to the the Bronze Age.  These just appear to be lumps and bumps and piles of stones but it is obvious that they are not a natural landscape.  TSB says that these remains were left by the 'Beaker People' and there are a lot of burial mounds on the moors in which the earliest pot drinking vessels, or 'beakers' have been found. 

Stating the bleedin' obvious

Cow Ridge

A trap (mink?) set across a stream on Cow Ridge

Cairn at Iron Howe

Bronze Age remains

We started to walk from Iron Howe downhill towards Blow Gill.  We had superb views towards Hawnby Hill and Easterside Hill in the distance, with mist lingering in the valley beneath.  We followed our path past the strangely named Scotland Farm, spotting the old Wesleyan Chapel on the left where we stopped for lunch a couple of months ago when we walked 'Hawnby Hill and Hazel Head from Hawnby' (see 2nd October). One of the interesting things about TSB's walks is that they cross the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills, each hike bordering on the next so that one can make sense of the landscape.  

Easterside Hill and Hawby Hill, mist below

Joining the farm track at Scotland Farm

Scotland Farm

Unusual name for these parts

Wesleyan Chapel

We walked up to join the road and turned left to recross Blow Gill and walk up to our car.

Back down to Blow Gill, ground fog in the distance

Blow Gill

Hawnby Hill