Caydale and Noddle End from Murton

7.5 miles   Misty and cool

We left Middlesbrough in fine weather but as we drove up Clay Bank we entered low cloud which remained with us for most of the walk.  We passed Hawnby and drove up Murton Bank, parking on the roadside at Murton Grange.

 

Tom Scott Burns' map of today's walk

 Murton Grange Farm

Leaving the car we walked past Murton Grange Farm along Murton Heights.  We had no views in the low mist but noticed neat repairs to the roadside dry stone walls and soon came on the man responsible, sitting in the back of his van having a cigarette. He got out to chat and after we had enquired if the stone was limestone he gave us a brief lesson in the art.  He explained how the wall was tapered so that it wouldn't hold water that would allow ice to form and force the wall apart.  He told us that the wall settled over time and so had to be built on a firm surface, but not too hard or it wouldn't settle properly.  He had his own small quarry and had dug out the stone he was working on that very morning and would be finished this section in two hours.

 A brief lesson in the art of dry stone walling

We walked on and turned right into a tarmac road at Wethercote Lane, passing Wethercote Farm which we could make out only dimly through the mist..  Eventually we reached Boltby Scar and joined the Cleveland Way. We should have enjoyed a panoramic view but could see nothing.  We found a sheltered spot next to an old quarry and enjoyed our coffee and scones.  While we ate the mist slowly lifted and we could make out the shape of  High Barn ahead of us.

 We join the Cleveland Way

 Coffee and High Barn appears in the distance

 Looking down on the old quarry from our coffee stop

 Approaching High Barn

We followed the Cleveland Way past High Barn where there should have been a view of Boltby Village and entered part of Boltby Wood where we found a sad looking horse standing in our path.   He ignored us as we approached, looking disconsolate in the damp mist and we stopped to talk to him.  Clive found a couple of fruit shortcake biscuits left over from our coffee break and they were gratefully received and we felt he was looking more cheerful when we left him.

 Entering Boltby Wood

 A horse on our path

Horses like fruit shortcake biscuits

We continued along the Cleveland Way for some time until we eventually reached High Paradise Farm which was a nicely kept farm, everything looking tidy and pleasing to the eye.  As we walked through the farm we noticed there were some fancy hens and a sow and piglets running free in a small field.

 Dry Stone wall at High Paradise Farm

Just beyond the farm we crossed the Hambleton Drove Road and passed through the moor gate onto Dale Town Common.  The track gradually lost height by Gowerdale Bank and then as we arrived at an old ruined barn at Noddle End the mist had lifted sufficiently for us to enjoy a great view of Dale Town in the hollow below.

 Dale Town Common

Gowerdale Bank

The view from Noddle End

 Derelict Gowerdale House

We walked past the derelict Gowerdale House and climbed out of the hollow to Dale Town which was once a thriving medieval village but is now a single farmhouse.  A stiff climb from the farm took us left along Peak Scar Top and then to Murton Bank Road and our car.

Looking down at Dale Town Farm from Peak Scar Top, Hawnby Hill and Easterside Hill in the distance

The weather had improved as the day went on but we decided that this is a walk we must do again as we missed a lot in bad visibility during the first half.  It is also worth remembering as a good wet weather walk as there are good paths throughout the distance.

Hawnby Hill and Hazel Head from Hawnby

7 miles    High cloud, dry and fairly warm

Our third walk from Hawnby in as many weeks, this time from the top of the village where we parked in a small car park near to the Inn at Hawnby.

 

TSB's map of today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills

The village sits under Hawnby Hill, (298m) the twin of  Easterside Hill that we walked round a couple of weeks ago.  These two hills, known as Corallian Outliers, once formed part of the Tabular Hills.  We left the road opposite the Inn and immediately started to climb across a field, then through bracken until we reached the top of Hawnby Hill. From here there is a good view in all directions, to the left down to Arden Hall and to the right Easterside Hill.  We walked along the long ridge identifying places we had passed on our previous walks.

 Looking back towards Hawnby as we near the top of Hawnby Hill

 Looking to the left we see Arden Hall amongst the trees

 The view ahead along the ridge of Hawnby Hill

To the right is Easterside Hill

Just before the end of the ridge the path bears right and then drops down to Moor Gate and the road.  We crossed the road and joined a sandy track for a couple of miles.  As we walked we saw a gamekeeper's 4x4 with dead rabbits in a box but no sign of the gamekeeper even though we could see for miles in all directions.

Looking back from Hawnby Moor towards Hawnby Hill

Gamekeeper's 4x4...

...and its grisly cargo!

Reaching Round Hill our path turned left from the main track and we walked towards Hazel Head Wood. Just before we entered the wood we found some crater like holes that were sheltered and facing towards the ruins of an old barn.  We sat here and enjoyed our coffee and scones while referring to the Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills where Tom Scott Burns informed us that these craters were known as 'Hell Holes' in the past but were actually formed by different grits in the strata being dissolved by water.    He also mentioned that the ruined barn had once been used as a Wesleyan Chapel.

 Walking towards Hazel Head Wood

Looking down from our coffee stop towards the old barn

A gate led us into the woods and a faint track led us past more ruins, the long abandoned Hazel Head Farm.  The ground was very damp and sunlight didn't penetrate the trees and we were interested in the numerous types of fungi growing everywhere we looked.  

 Ruin of Hazel Head Farm

We came out of the woods onto the road near to Hazel Head Car Park before re-entering the trees of Ellers Wood.  All along this stretch of woodland are bird feeders and we were constantly surprised as startled pheasants took to the air in large numbers.  

 A grim warning - dead crows tied near to bird feeders

 The wide path loses height and eventually led us to the River Rye where forestry vehicles could obviously pass through a foot or so of water, but we searched for the footbridge mentioned by TSB.  We quickly found it and backtracked slightly on the forestry path to fight our way through the bracken and brambles to reach the bridge, which is obviously little used by walkers.

 Hidden bridge

Clives checks the map!

We followed our path upwards alongside a beck and then the trees of Blueberry Wood before dropping down past St Agnes House and Half Moon Plantation and to a large arched footbridge over the River Rye.  We wondered why someone had gone to the expense of  this unusual bridge at this quiet spot.  Perhaps a danger of flooding requires an arched bridge?

 Large arched footbridge over the River Rye

 View upriver from the footbridge

A quick scramble upwards led us to a well defined path that runs alongside the trees, taking us through field after field of cattle until we suddenly dropped back down onto the Hawnby Road and the awaiting Inn at Hawnby.

 Looking up at Hill End House from our trail

Our path gets fainter

Walk over, the view from The Inn at Hawnby

 

Coomb Hill and Dale Town from Hawnby

5.5 miles  Good weather with high cloud

 

We drove past last week's parking place at the old Wesleyan Chapel and followed the narrow lane down towards the River Rye and All Saints Church, where I parked on a wide grassy verge.  We put our boots on and went to look round the old church, which is Norman and was rebuilt in the 14th Century.  The church is unlocked and we went inside where we found a fine stained-glass war memorial window and in front of it a wreath to the four German Airmen killed at Pepper Hill, whose death I mentioned in last week's walk description.
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 Tom Scott Burns' map of today's walk

 War Memorial Window and wreath to German Aircrew

All Saints Church at Hawnby

 A cautionary epitaph

We left the church and walked over Church Bridge where we turned sharp right along a farm track towards the woods of Coomb Hill.  At this right turn we saw a footpath sign inscribed with The Inn Way logo and realised we were joining that long distance walk for a while.  

Our footpath skirted the woods and the track was very indistinct in places, sometimes just an impression in the grass and bracken.  At the end of the woods we had to double back on ourselves.  It seemed wrong but this is the direction the right of way takes.  It was confusing but suddenly we came to a gate which had a board and a map with a "You are Here!" arrow and all became clear.  We were very close to the road which we quickly joined and which led us passed Arden Hall.

 Indistinct paths lead us around Coomb Hill

 Arden Hall

Once past the hall the road became little more than a cart track and we followed it steadily uphill until we reached an old limestone quarry, after which we turned left onto Dale Town Common. The long climb from Arden Hall to the open plateau of Dale Town Common had given us an appetite and as it was nearly noon we decided to pause for our coffee and scones.  We sat with a spectacular view down onto Thorodale Lake below us and over to the right, our walk so far.

 Looking down on Thorodale Lake from our coffee stop

 Looking right from our coffee stop, back at Coomb Hill woods to the left

Setting off again we walked across Dale Town Common following a green lane which seemed little used by man or beast (well just a few sheep) and which had a good springy surface. We reached an old water tank and climbing up to look inside saw that it was still full of water.  

The high plateau of  Dale Farm Common

 Old water tank

We turned left just past this point and followed a long straight walk through fields until we came to an old barn which is marked on the OS map as High Buildings.  The field here was full of cattle which had made a mess of the track but just past the buildings we had a good view over to the twin mounds of Hawnby Hill and Easterside Hill, the latter of which we walked last week.  

Just past the barn are a series of mounds which Tom Scott Burns tells us are a group of bronze age tumuli, one of which was excavated in the 1850s and found to contain the skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon lady of rank.  She wore a leather girdle round her waist with a gold clasp inlaid with a cross of garnets and her hair was secured with gold and silver.  

 Tumuli

View across Toad Hole from Sunny Bank Farm, Easterside Hill in the distance

We walked on towards Sunny Bank Farm and noticed a sign pointing sharp left which said, "View Point" and "Clean Path for walkers."  This should have been our trail but mistakenly we continued along the main path which eventually brought us down to Hawnby Bridge, and gave us an additional half mile walk along the road.

 Hawnby Bridge

As we neared the church and my car we saw the rigid steel Dalicar Bridge on our left, where our footpath should have brought us out onto the road, thus is the way with walking!