10.5 miles Fine and warm
A warm day with 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.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills |
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| Looking down towards Osmotherley from Square Corner |
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.
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| Starting the walk up Black Hambleton |
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| Mystery Stone - where is Cray Hall? |
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| Nearly at the top |
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.
As we walked we were buzzed by a plane that was so low we thought it might be landing but it continued on out of sight.
We met a dry stone waller who stopped work and chatted to for a while. He explained some of the mysteries of his craft as well as telling us some local gossip that I can't print here. I did repay him for his information by discovering a sheep tick on his dog's ear as I stroked it and I held the dog's head while he briskly nipped off the tick with his fingernails.
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| Buzzed! |
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| Looking down towards Over Silton |
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| Looking over Kepwick Moor to Nab Farm |
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| Dry Stone Waller and his dog.. |
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| .. a Hungarian Vizsla |
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| We give him some valuable advice on which stones should go where... |
It is very pleasant to watch someone work but eventually we had to move on and soon reached the site of the old Limekiln Inn. The only evidence of this old drover's inn is a memorial stone and nearby another small stone stands in memory of Bert, man or dog, we don't know.
Here we left the Hambleton Street and turned left onto the open moor on a green track that quickly took us to the hidden valley of Thorodale.
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| Bert's memorial had fallen over so Clive replaces it.. |
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| That should keep it in place! |
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| Memorial to the Limekiln Inn |
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| Turning left across the moor soon brings us to... |
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| .... the hidden valley of Thorodale |
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| Thorodale Beck |
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 bluebells and the white flowers of wild garlic. We stopped just before Arden Hall at a commemmorative bench, placed in memory of three hikers who were killed in an accident after a walk in the area. Their bench made a fine stop for our coffee and scones.
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| Entering Thorodale Wood |
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| Bluebells are still in bloom |
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| This area had been left to return to meadow with fine results |
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| Wild garlic abounds |
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| The view from our bench |
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| Time for coffee |
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| Memorial to hikers |
Tom Scott Burns says that the name Arden was probably derived from arn, an eagle, and doen, a deep valley - the valley of the eagle.
Arden Hall occupies a site that was once a Benedictine nunnery (of St Andrew) founded in 1148. All that's left of the nunnery is an old chimney which is now embodied into Arden Hall.
After our break we retraced our steps back uphill to rejoin our earlier path, this time turning right to walk towards Mount Pleasant Farm, and as we walked past the farm we had fine views over to Coomb Hill on our right and the rooftops of Arden Hall below.
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| Coomb Hill |
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| A glimpse of Arden Hall through the trees |
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| Coomb Hill |
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| ... and to the other side is Hawnby Hill |
Walking up from the farm we passed the pretty cottage known as Harker Gates then on into the woods of North Moor.
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| 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.
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| January 2020 |
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| Brewster Hill Farm |
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.
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| Hag House Farm over the River Rye |
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| Plenty of 'upping and downing' |
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| The River Rye below us |
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| Ruined Cow Wath |
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| A bridge large enough to drive cattle over |
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| Ruined Far House |
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| Remains of lime kiln at Far House |
We now walked across Low Locker Moor where we passed a family of grouse, so well camoflauged in the burnt heather that we only saw the male at first. We then joined the tarmac of the Osmotherley to Hawnby road where we turned left to walk back down to the car.
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| To Thorodale! |
