5.5 miles (8.4 today) Cold and bright
It is three years this month since we walked this short Tom Scott Burns route and in the light of today's experience it may be a while before we attempt it again.
This walk is one of the few times where we beg to differ with the start point of a Tom Scott Burns walk. He suggests parking at the pay and display car park at the information centre at the top of Sutton Bank but we prefer a (free!) car park just below the White Horse on Low Town Bank Road, shown as the P below the White Horse in the map below. This gives a better balance to the walk, we feel, with Gormire Lake being reached at the half way point.
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| Today's route from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills |
Looking at the above map you will see that the route passes by Hood Grange Farm where there is a choice between the official foorpath and joining the farm track to the A170, but on arrival at the footpath we found it had been closed and we were directed along the forest path, shown above as a dotted parallel line below Hood Hill. There is no choice but to follow the route as shown on my map below as there are no further footpaths across Hood Grange. This added three miles to our walk, a lot of it on tarmac.
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| What we actually walked! |
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| The White Horse from the Car Park |
From the car park we crossed the road and joined a track that follows the road steeply downhill, running parallel with the road we had just driven up.
At the bottom of the hill the track rejoins the road and here we crossed over to go through a gate with a footpath sign.
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| Walking downhill alongside the road |
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| Leave the road at the gated track |
We followed this frosty farm track through the charmingly named forestry plantation of Happy Valley with views up to the cliffs of Roulston Scar on our right.
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| Happy Valley |
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| Entering Hoodhill Field Plantation |
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| Roulston Scar above us |
Eventually we reached the stile and footpath to Hood Grange Farm and saw to our surprise that the footpath was closed to users. As we read the notice a fellow walker approached and complained furiously about the path being closed when no alternative route was provided. Checking our map we saw that he was correct and there are no other footpaths across Hood Grange, we would have to press on along the forest trail.
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| A sign no hiker wants to see! |
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| The heavy black line shows the closed route.We are 'here' and must turn left along the forest path |
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| We march off, the irate hiker ahead of us |
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| Hood Hill Grange, so near yet so far |
Every cloud has a silver lining and ours was the discovery of a couple of new weather vanes depicting a sow and piglets and a llama, as we circumnavigated Hood Grange to return to the A170 and our original route.
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| Osgoodby Hall |
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| Pig weather vane near Osgoodby Hall |
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| The three mile detour |
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| Back on the A170 |
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| Llama |
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| Turn left at High Cleaves entrance |
Now on the busy A170 we crossed to the entrance of High Cleaves Farm and returned to our proper route. Here, almost immediately, we turned right into a field track. This leads to the little valley of Butter Dale, which TSB says was cut out by last the Ice Age.
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| Imposing High Cleaves Farm |
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| Walking through Butter Dale |
Following the footpath over a stile, a sharp climb took us to the first lake, at Gormire Rigg. At the end of this lake we turned right and climbed through trees, soon reaching the waters of Gormire.
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| First lake at Gormire Rigg |
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| I'm fairly sure the land and lakes are owned by the National Trust (I'm wrong - see NB below) |
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| Snowdrops in Garbutt Wood |
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| We reach Gormire |
We followed the lake round to its eastern shore passing the spot where in 2018 we saw a rare Golden Pheasant, and finding a sunny spot by the water we sat to enjoy our coffee and scones.
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| A Golden Pheasant in 2018 |
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| This looks a good spot.. |
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| .. for coffee and scones |
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| Someone waits for our crumbs |
Coffee over we commenced the long steep climb to the top of Whitestone Cliff. After twenty minutes we reached the top and turned right on the path, signposted Sutton Bank. We now had a ridge walk of about 1.5 miles along the top of the escarpment and in today's clear skies were able to enjoy good views into the Vale of Mowbray.
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| Clive starts the steep ascent |
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| Hood Hill in the distance, "We walked round that!" |
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| At the top is another warning of the path closure |
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| Behind Clive is "The Finest View in England" |
TSB explains in The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills that during the last Ice Age, glacial sheets unable to override the Cleveland Hills swept round both sides of the moors carving out the great cliffs at Gormire and Roulston Scar.
Opposite us we could see the cone shaped summit of Hood Hill where a number of barrows and earthworks are located around the summit.
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| Our path takes us across the A170 once more |
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| Nice and dry today |
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| Memorial stone at the path side |
We passed by the Information Centre and crossed the A170 again, continuing along the path which apparently was known as Thieves' Highway in olden days. This was because it was supposed to be a getaway route for robbers who had plundered travellers on the Hambleton road.
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| The Gliding Club |
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| Our view back towards Whitestone Cliff |
We walked past the Yorkshire Gliding Club and then past Roulston Scar to reach the top of the White Horse. At this point is the glider club runway and we watched a glider being winched into the air.
The car park lay just below and we descended steps alongside the White Horse to reach it.
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| The head of the White Horse and our car park below |
A short drive took us to the Forresters Arms in Kilburn, which is open all day, where we enjoyed our post-walk analysis and pint.
For obvious reasons we couldn't recommend this walk at the present time.
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| The Horse from Low Town Bank Road |
NB Thanks to Roger who points out I was wrong about the National Trust owning Gormire. It's privately owned and was for sale in 2021 for £500,000. Present owner not known.
