Captain Cook Country from Great Ayton
8 miles Fine and dry
We parked on Great Ayton High Street near to Suggitt's Cafe and crossed the River Leven by the steel bridge opposite the cafe. There is a sign next to the bridge explaining its origins shortly after WWI.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Cleveland Hills |
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| Ayton High Street |
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| Happy childhood memories - Suggitt's Ices |
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| One of three pissoirs in Great Ayton |
We paused briefly to admire the old 'pissoir' which has been located near the bridge as a non-operational feature and painted red for some reason, then moved on to read the information board next to the waterfall.
This board told us about the flood of 1840, which caused much damage and destroyed the Fulling Mill at Kildale. We resolved to find the site of the old mill later during today's walk.
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| Details of the 1840 flood |
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| The waterfall in Waterfall Park |
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| Clive passes the old sluice gate |
Tom Scott Burns says in his walker's guide that Great Ayton was known as Canny Yatton in the local dialect and was once the haunt of Au'd Nanny, a notorious witch described in Blakeborough's verse, T' Hunt of Yatton Bridge:
Her naals they were lang an' humped war her back
And baith lugs war pointed, her skin ommaist black..
Leaving Waterfall Park behind we followed field paths along the River Leven, towards Woodhouse Farm.
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| Good job Clive is wearing his seven-league boots in today's muddy conditions |
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| "They look placid.." |
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| "We are!" |
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| Hidden gate at Cross Lane |
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| Woodhouse Farm |
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| Farm history - Built 1712 - Rebuilt 1905 - Modernised 1962 |
After Woodhouse Farm we crossed a horse field whose inhabitants had no interest in us whatsoever, thank goodness. A couple more fields led us to a bridge over the river to reach Easby Lane. After walking through the village we stayed on the tarmac road for half a mile before crossing a way-marked stile into fields just before Borough Green Farm where we began a steady climb to Easby Moor.
Reaching the river we saw the ruined foundations of the mill to our right, just off the concessionary path.
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| Climbing to Easby Moor |
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| Note the date on the moor gate - '1668 JW' |
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| Easby Hall far below |
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| Turn right after the moor gate and follow the track.. |
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| Quiet cattle next to our track |
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| Our track carries on through the stone gateposts, but we turn right... |
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| ... on the permitted path |
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| ... which we descend to the river |
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| ... and the Fulling Mill's ruins |
Leaving the ruins of the mill we followed the river along the concessionary path. On a bend in the track we saw a stone memorial inscribed 'Black Pepper'. TSB tells us this this marks the burial place of the favourite pony of Cecily Turton from Kildale Hall. Poor Cecily died in the 'flu epridemic of 1919 aged 20. We decided the horse must have dropped dead at this spot, as it would have been very difficult to bring it here for burial.
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| Rare plant - Clubmoss at Kildale |
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| Boarding to get near to Clubmoss |
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| Black Pepper - see text |
Continuing along the riverside path we passed by Kildale Force, a waterfall occasionally visited by my family when our children were young, but now fenced off to the public.
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| Kildale Force |
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| The waterfall is no longer open to the public |
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| Pathside bluebells are past their best |
We came out of the woods below Bankside Farm where stones and logs positioned to deter motorists from parking made ideal seats for our coffee stop.
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| Those logs will make a good seat for our coffee break |
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| Bankside Farm |
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| Happy families at Bankside Farm |
After coffee we followed the farm road uphill from Bankside Farm until coming to a fork where we turned left to walk through the trees of Coate Moor. A gentle climb led us to Captain Cook's Monument.
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| Snug as a bug in a rug |
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| From 'Round and About the NY Moors' by TSB, note the door! |
TSB notes that the 51' monument was built in 1827, the foundation stone being laid by Robert Campion of Whitby. The above photo was taken during its restoration in 1895. TSB relates how on Saturday 9th July 1960, the structure was hit by lightning and split from top to bottom, and I can remember walking with my father to view the damaged monument shortly afterwards. Presumably the next restoration, to repair this damage, also bricked up the doorway seen in the above photo.
Walking down from the monument we passed the remains of old workings that mark the site of Ayton Ironstone mines, worked by Pease and Partners from 1909 to 1928.
We took care on slippery paths as we descended through the trees and followed the track to pass some white cottages on the Gribdale Gate road, Dikes Lane.
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| Walking towards Ayton Banks Wood |
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| Gribdale Terrace to the right |
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| White cottages on Dikes Lane |
A steep climb followed, up the tarmac track to Aireyholme Farm where there is a fine view over to Roseberry.
Aireyholme Farm is famous for being the workplace of Captain Cook's father, who was bailiff there in 1736. It was also a place where I could purchase free range eggs but my intentions were thwarted.
Descending from the quarry we crossed the railway line once more before following the path towards Cleveland Lodge. Here we met the local farmer who was spreading dolomite on to the very muddy track in an effort, he said, to stop people breaking pieces of fence "to stand on in their trainers" where the path was muddiest. He was a character and we had a chin-wag with him for a few minutes before walking on through the mud to reach Great Ayton.
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| Dropping down to the railway |
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| Magnificent Undercliffe Hall over to our left |
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| Dolomite for our track |
Our boots were now filthy and therefore necessitated a return to the car for a change of footwear before we could enter the Royal Oak beer garden to discuss today's walk over a welcome pint of ale.
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| To Black Pepper! |
