Arden Great Moor Circular

10.5 miles              Sunny 

A lovely spring day with sunshine and very little wind tempted us to do a longer walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills.

Tom Scott Burns suggests starting the walk from Arden Hall but we prefer to park at Square Corner (the 'P' top left in the map below) on the Osmotherley to Hawnby road and make Arden Hall our rest spot.

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

Black Hambleton from the car park

Leaving the car we walked southwards along the forest path up the shoulder of Black Hambleton.

Just before reaching a gate we saw a standing stone on the left, bearing the inscription 'Cray Hall Stone'.  Tom Scott Burns says that he has been unable to find any further information about this old boundary stone or the hall it refers to, and our modern day Google search has proved equally uninformative.  

Osmotherley from Square Corner

The mystery of Cray Hall

On Black Hambleton

After a long climb we walked along the drovers' road known as Hambleton Street for about 2.5 miles, with fine views to our right across to Kepwick, until reaching the ruins of the old drovers' inn that was known as Limekiln House.

Kepwick Moor and Nab Farm to the right 

Clive looks at our route from Limekiln House Inn site

Another mystery, who was Bert?

A stone marking the site of the inn was erected a couple of years ago and we left the Hambleton Drove Road at this point to turn left across the moor following a track that led us quickly to Thorodale Valley.

The hidden valley of Thorodale

Steep descent into the valley

We followed the track through Thorodale Wood then North Moor Wood with brief glimpses of Thorodale Lake below.  As the track approached Arden Hall we found ourselves walking through snowdrops which TSB suggests were probably planted by the nuns that occupied this site in the Benedictine nunnery of St Andrew, founded in 1148.  All that's left of the nunnery is an old chimney, now embodied into Arden Hall.

TSB says that the name Arden was probably derived from arn, an eagle, and doen, a deep valley - the valley of the eagle.

As we neared the hall we saw little yellow flowers among the snowdrops.  These are winter aconites which are somewhat poisonous and also known as wolfsbane.  TSB says these were also planted by the nuns to use in preparations of medicine.

Just before the hall we came to a bench, erected in memory of three hikers who were killed in a road accident on their way home after a walk.  Someone had placed flowers on the bench and we noticed the date of the tragedy was 6th March1991, today being the 5th March.  The bench was in the sun and made a nice spot to sit and enjoy our coffee and scones.

Walking through Thorodale

North Moor Wood

Our coffee stop

Masses of snowdrops

Wolfsbane

This chap lurked behind us as we had our coffee

Refreshed we continued along the track to pay a visit to Arden Hall before retracing our steps back uphill to rejoin our earlier path, this time turning right to walk towards Mount Pleasant Farm.

Arden Hall

Front of Arden Hall

As we walked past Mount Pleasant Farm we had fine views over to Coomb Hill on our right and the rooftops of Arden Hall below.

North Moor Woods to our left

Coomb Hill to our right

Arden Hall below

Walking up from the farm we passed the pretty cottage known as Harker Gates then on into the woods of North Moor. Ahead to our right was the unmistakable profile of Hawnby Hill.  

Mount Pleasant Farm

Stock at Mount Pleasant watch us pass by

The unmistakeable shape of Hawnby Hill

Harker Gates Cottage

After crossing Eskerdale Beck by a small bridge our path took us past two ruined farms, Brewster Hill and Cow Wath.  Although no longer occupied, the outbuildings of Brewster Hill are still in use with both cattle and sheep being penned over winter.

Crossing Eskerdale Beck

Brewster Hill Farm

Looks like a casualty of last week's storm 

Might have been a shock if you were just opening the gate at the time....

Several becks flow down to join the River Rye below

Cow Wath

We continued following the faint path, now with the River Rye running parallel below us until after a couple of miles we passed the ruins of Far House.

River Rye below

Frogspawn 

Frost on the exposed frogspawn

Handsome ram

Some moor tramping

Progress was slow on muddy paths as we passed by Low Locker Farm and over a large bridge at Dale Head.  Just upstream from this bridge is the source of the River Rye.

We were surprised to see this bridge has been renewed 

Clive tries out the non-slip pads

The source of the River Rye

The ruins of Far House

We now walked across the heather of Low Locker Moor to join the Osmotherley to Hawnby road where we turned left to walk back down to the car.

Leaving Far House

Ruins of a lime kiln at Far House

Sheep at Salt Lick

Yummy

As we approached the road three fire engines drove past towards a black cloud on the hoizon.  We wondered if some controlled burning had got out of hand?

Where's the fire?

The last half mile on tarmac

A short drive took us to the Golden Lion in Osmotherley where we discussed today's fine walk over a pint. 

To Thorodale!

The Hanging Stone and High Cliff from Gribdale Gate

8 miles                          Cold and wet

We've had heavy rain from Storm Dennis this week and field paths are sure to be sodden and boggy so we decided to do this moors walk where the ground should be better underfoot.

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

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'.    But it's now late February and there are already other cars parked at Gribdale Gate and we changed into our boots as the rain lashed down.  Leaving the car we followed the footpath steeply uphill onto Great Ayton Moor.

Straight out of the car and straight uphill

A bit of dolomite makes the path easier

After reaching the moor the footpath follows a dry stone wall with views over to Roseberry Topping through the rain.  We came to a gate at Newton Moor but turned right just before it. Tom Scott Burns mentions that this is the site of a chambered cairn, part of a complex Neolithic burial site dating from the Bronze Age, roughly 2300 - 800BC, a time when these moors were covered with mixed forest and woodland clearance was beginning to take place. By the Iron Age the site was treeless and cultivation was in progress.  Following the Iron Age, heather had spread across the moor replacing farmland, so the moors have in fact looked much as they do now since that time. 

Roseberry from Great Ayton Moor

A corridor of trees no more

We followed the distinct path through the remains of a conifer wood which TSB describes as 'a corridor of trees rinsed with the scent of pine.'  No more, I'm afraid those trees have gone.

The path eventually led us to a surprise view of Hanging Stone, which is a massive block of sandstone that TSB believes may have been part of an old quarry.  We needed to pick our steps with care as we descended past the stone as the heavy rain was now starting to make the path slippery.

Walking through some self seeded spruce brings us to...

...Hanging Stone and its view of Guisborough

We climb aboard for a better view

Looking over to High Cliff from Hanging Stone

A slippery descent

The track falls steeply from the Hanging Stone and is treacherously slippery, so we took our time descending through the trees to briefly join a connecting track through Hutton Lowcross Woods, then turning left to again descend to reach Hutton village road.  Turning right along the road we entered Hutton village, which was built as a model village during ironstone mining of the 1850s.  At the end of the village our track climbed towards Bold Venture Gill.

Hutton Lowcross Woods

Slippery when wet!

In 2015 we admire this 1973 Rover V8 in Hutton Village

We are surprised to see the same car today, still obviously in daily use!

Once these were miners' cottages but now smart private homes

Eco Home as we leave Hutton Village

Bold Venture Gill disappears into a culvert

We stayed on this track ignoring all turn-offs and noted recent forestry work.  No longer are there 'endless rows of conifers' as described in 'The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills'.  A convenient bench near to the nab was too exposed to the strong westerly wind for our coffee stop so we continued under the nab on to Guisborough Moor.  We followed our path alongside a dry stone wall and came to a well placed bench, out of the wind if not the rain.  Hot coffee and scones were very welcome.  As we ate the weather brightened and the rain stopped.

A steady climb to High Cliff

High Cliff appears ahead

Following the moor path below High Cliff

A bench!  Time for coffee.

Scones in the rain

Our walk now led us on to the open moor where we looked down to High Cliff Farm.  We then strode across Codhill Heights, 'Cod' being derived from the Viking word 'Keld', which means 'spring'.  As we crossed the moor rain flurries stung our faces as we walked into the strong wind.  On our left we looked down into Sleddale which is apparently derived from the old English 'slaed', a wide flat valley.  Soon isolated Sleddale Farm came into view, looking a bleak place in today's weather.

High Cliff Farm

Clive points out the way ahead

Codhill Heights

Moors resident

Heather has been burnt off alongside our path

Sleddale

Sleddale Farm with new pond under construction

We joined a tarmac road that serves as the access road to Sleddale Farm.  After a while we came to a T junction with Percy Cross Rigg rd and turned right into it, enjoying views in all directions. The rain had stopped and a watery sun was occasionally breaking through the clouds.

We came to a small fenced area which is the site of several Iron Age huts that were excavated in the 1960s.  We were pleased to see that dense heather which had previously covered the huts had been cut back, giving a much better idea of the layout of the huts.

Percy Cross Rigg

'I don't know where to start!'

Hut circle remains

Hut circles

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 a gate and information board at Percy Cross Rigg.   Here there is a meeting of paths that 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 listed 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.   Looking at the map of the walk (above), you will see that this took us alongside Lonsdale Plantation.   The trees shown on the map have also been felled, but in this case with the advantage that there is now a fine view to be had into Lonsdale Bowl.  

Looking across at High Cliff from Percy Cross Rigg

The moors are a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Lonsdale Bowl

Captain Cook's Monument in the distance

We followed our path across Great Ayton Moor for the final leg of our walk, dropping down from the moor to retun to the car at Gribdale Gate.  A short drive took us to the Royal Oak at Great Ayton where we discussed today's winter walk over a pint.