A Tour of Raisdale from Chop Gate

  7 miles                 Warm and fairly sunny

We knew the heather would be in full bloom so we decided to do a moor walk today.  We parked in the public car park at Chop Gate Village Hall on the B1257 road, where a walking group of ladies were preparing for the off.  "Teesside Trekkers?  Where's the rest of your party?" said their leader.  We explained that we weren't the Teesside Trekkers and compared walks, the ladies were doing the first part of our walk then our routes would separate.  They continued to wait in the car park for stragglers and we started on our way immediately by climbing over a stile at the rear of the car park, then following Raisdale Beck across meadowland to Cock Flat Farm.  

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

Looking over towards Chop Gate from Raisdale Beck

The grass was long and very wet from last night's rain

A helpful board over the mud

We followed a nice assortment of field paths, little walked and wet, to Cock Flat Farm and then High West Cote Farm.  To our left we looked down on to Raisdale, which TSB says means Reith's Valley.   The last time we walked along here in winter the paths were easy to walk as there was no bracken, but today it was shoulder high and we had to be careful we didn't stand in any holes as we forced our way through it.

Clive pushes his way through the bracken

The valley of Raisdale to our left

Buzzards circle hopefully above us

We passed by High West Cote Farm and dropped down to the road and Stone Intake Farm.  TSB tells us that this section of road was mentioned in the 1160 Rievaulx Charters as the Red Road, possibly because of the red shale in the area.  Just tarmac today and we followed it for a short distance and reached a sign for Raisdale Mill where we turned left off the road.  The mill is now a private house but operated as a mill until the 1920s.  We stopped to meet a couple of horses, one of which was a Shetland pony, and Clive shared an apple with them. 

 

Looking over at High House and the walk to come

High West Cote Farm

A mysterious find in a dry stone wall

We pass some cattle as we drop down to the road

Weather-vane at Stone Intake Farm

Stone Intake Farm

Another weather-vane at Stone Intake Farm

 Just past the mill we entered a green lane and started our long ascent towards Barker's Crag.  

Tom Scott Burns describes this green lane in the following words:

Just beyond the mill the walk pursues a path that veers right from the lane, then dramatically transforms into a most beautiful green lane which threads its way upwards to Barker's Ridge.

Since Tom wrote these words in the 1980s the green lane has been ruined by motor cycles and is now a badly rutted track.  Last year we noticed that a tree had fallen across the lane completely blocking it to motor vehicles and today we saw that there were no new tyre tracks and we thought there was an improvement in the path, let's hope it isn't temporary.

Leaving the road just beyond Stone Intake Farm

Buildings at Raisdale Mill

"Any apples?"

Friendly horses

Clive shares his apple

Starting up the 'green lane'

Useful fallen tree

Eventually the green lane led us to Barker's Ridge and the moor.  We past High House and found a sheltered spot for our coffee and scones. sitting in the sun to look back at our outbound route from Chop Gate.

We wondered what these standing stones had been used for near to High House

High House

The view from our coffee stop

Sometimes we sit and think and sometimes we just sit

After coffee we started walking towards Scugdale Head and from this point on we were walking through the intoxicating smell of heather in bloom. TSB say that "it is a marvellous sight to see myriads of bees skimming across the pollen clad flowers"  but Clive and I saw very few bees today, perhaps because of the heavy overnight rain.  Who knows? As we climbed we came to a nice 'surprise view' of Scugdale, down to our right and Barker's Crag looked fine in the heather.

Barker's Crag

Looking left from our path, to High House and beyond to Roseberry

Surprise view of Scugdale

The next couple of miles of trudging along a moorland track would normally have been a chore but today the heather made the walk exhilarating.  Eventually our track dropped off left towards two small plantations and Head House, once derelict and now used as a store.  We left the path to visit the old building, still unlocked and useful as a shelter in bad weather.

A layer of wool inside this shooting butt shows that sheep are using it as a shelter

Head House

Nicely restored on the outside...

... but the inside could do with a bit of work

Grouse feed

We walked on, past the conifer plantation and down to Arns Gill, almost hidden in bracken.  We crossed the beck and walked up past the weathered old Rowan tree descibed in the '80s by TSB as "... a sorrowful looking rowan with wind shattered boughs - yet still growing - is seen by the side of Arns Gill."  The last time we passed it in summer it had a good crop of red berries but this year there were none, however it still looks amazingly healthy for a fallen tree!

Arns Gill and the rowan tree

Making our way out of the bracken we gained the moor and climbed through purple heather until we reached Cock Howe and its standing stone.

 

Climbing towards Cock Howe

Exhilarating smell of heather in bloom

Cock Howe

From this point it was a steady descent down Trennet Bank towards Chop Gate.  A lot of the hollow-ways formed over centuries by sledging turf down from the moor for fuel were full of bracken, so we kept to their tops as best we could, until we reached the car park and our car at Chop Gate Community Centre.  By a happy chance this was situated very near to The Buck Inn and we sat in its beer garden to enjoy a pint and reflect on our walk.

Starting down Trennet Bank

Chop Gate appears in the distance

Hollow-way

Steep descent to Chop Gate

We keep above hollow-ways

To short walks and long drinks!

Eston Hills Circular from Flatts Lane

5 miles             Warm and sunny

Last week's knee injury from The Inn Way to the Dales was still troubling me so we decided to do a short walk from Tom Scott Burns' The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills, that had the advantage of being a walk we hadn't done before.  We drove to Flatts Lane and parked in the public car park that is built on the site of the old Normanby Brick and Tile Co., which was established in 1883.

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

Country Park and visitor centre next to the car park

From the car park we walked along the field to a stile which took us on to Flatts Lane, emerging opposite Rose Cottage.  A perilous 100 yard walk up Flatts Lane as cars zoomed past brought us to a footpath on the left side of the road and we crossed here and immediately left civilisation behind.  Tom Scott Burns reports that Flatts Lane was metalled across the Eston Hills to the Guisborough road by the local authorities in the days of the depression.  Evidence of ironstone working is all around the area, worked by Bell Bros until 1889 when the Cargo Fleet Iron Co. took over.  There was a weekly extraction of 3000 tons of ore from the surrounding hills.

Approaching Flatts Lane from the Country Park

Leaving Flatts Lane

A short climb brought us to a T junction where we turned right and followed a pleasant path below Ten Acre Bank.  We were shocked to find that Himalayan Balsam, a large and very invasive plant with attractive pink flowers, was everywhere we looked.  It was so prolific it had even smothered the bracken.  On other walks we have seen signs encouraging locals to join Himalayan Balsam Bashing meets and that would certainly be a good thing here!  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impatiens_glandulifera

Himalayan Balsam flowers

Himalayan Balsam stands about 6'6" tall

A pleasant path below Ten Acre Bank

We are astonished at the amount of Balsam....

....which even smothers the bracken

The path veered left over a stile into a meadow which led us to Mill Farm and then Claphams Wood.  We were surprised that the path was little walked and in fact we didn't see another soul until nearly back at our car at the end of the walk.  It was difficult to believe that we were not far above the main Guisborough road.

Looking back towards Ten Acre Bank

A nice meadow walk above the A171!

Our view to the right, Roseberry Topping in the distance

Mill Farm

We enter Claphams Wood

Lake (and Himalyan Balsam) near Mill Farm

A steady climb alongside the wood on little walked paths, thick with nettles and brambles, brought us to Moordale Bog, which was actually fairly dry underfoot.  TSB tells us that here, hidden among the undergrowth, is the ruins of Upsall Pit, run by Bolckow, Vaughan and Co from 1866 and then Dorman Long and Co until 1945.  The shaft was 564 feet deep and in all 63 million tons of iron ore were extracted from these hills between 1850 and 1949.  Another climb took us onto Wilton Moor where we came to a convenient bench with a magnificent view back to Roseberry Topping, an ideal place to sit in the sun and enjoy our coffee and scones.

Our path alongside Claphams Wood

Is Clive wishing he's worn long trousers?

Transmitter masts at Eston Nab come into view for the first time

Masses of Rosebay Willow Herb

Heather starting to flower on Wilton Moor

A convenient bench

Our path headed north west across Eston Moor where TSB says early man built barrows and left flint tools dating from 6000 to 2000 BC, until we reached a cluster of transmitter masts.  We walked on towards the Eston Nab Monument where we paused and read the bronze inscription.  At this spot a beacon tower was constructed in 1808 during the Napoleonic Wars.  After 1815 it was used as a house and from 1884 was the home of a David Helm and his wife until 1933, when the body of 80 year old Mr Helm, who had outlived his wife by a year, was carried by horse drawn cart down for burial at Wilton churchyard.  In 1956 it was finally demolished and the present monument was built by ICI, using the stone from the original beacon.   We stood and enjoyed an amazing panoramic view of Teesside and beyond from the Nab with Clive being able to identify most of the industrial landmarks below us.

View from our coffee stop

Transmitter masts near Eston Nab

Approaching the monument

Mast, monument and trig point

The area around the monument was once an Iron Age hill fort dating from 550 BC.  TSB says that it probably served as a refuge for surrounding settlements and calcined bones have been found at the site which prove that cannibalism took place, possibly when ancient warriors were besieged on the nab.

Redcar and Marske in the distance

The yellow rectangle is the nuclear power station

The blue Transporter Bridge can be seen in the centre

The other Power Station is at 3 o'clock with the thin silver tower being the new EU subsidised wood burning plant

We followed the path along the escarpment where someone had erected a flag in memory of Lee Rigby, the murdered soldier, and reached Carr Pond where we saw our first people, a father and his sons with fishing nets.  The boys shouted to us to come and see what they had caught, leeches!

TSB informs us that during the last war a Junkers Ju88A aeroplane crashed here on 30th March 941 after being shot down by a Spitfire from 41 Squadron.  All four crew died and during the war another three aircraft crashed on these moors, including a Spitfire which crashed near to the Junkers site.

The houses of Eston

Memorial flag near the monument tower

Following the escarpment

We now started the descent back towards Flatts Lane and our car.  We agreed that it had been an interesting walk with great views in the clear weather, and it was good to get an unfamiliar view of familiar places so close to our homes.

Starting to descend towards Flatts Lane

Back in the Himalayan Balsam

No Blog this week as we're walking the 

'Inn Way to the Dales'

After 4 days and 50 miles I had to retire hurt with a painful knee.  That's three Inn Way walks in four years and none completed, I can take a hint.

Photos here