| At
last we can walk in Bilsdale again! (Athough I noticed that
many of the paths around Laskill still have closed signs on
them) I met a friend in the car park at the village hall in
Chop Gate at 9.45am and as we put our boots on the National
Park rangers arrived in his land rover so we checked that
our indended route was really open before setting off. The
ranger told us that the path on to Cold Moor out of the village
was impassable because of the growth of brambles etc over
the summer so we went across the fields from the car park
to the lane that leads up to Carlton Bank. |
Village Hall in Chop Gate |
Roseberry Topping from Cold Moor |
We
followed the lane for about a quarter of a mile and turned
off right up a dead end road leading to Beak Hills farm. After
about 100 yards there is a footpath (not signposted) to the
right up a farm track. After about 50 yards the track turns
right but the path goes straight on up the field to a gate
at the top leading on to the moor. There is a footpath arrow
sign on the gate. We followed the path as it wound its way
up the moor. After a few hundred yards the path petered out
and we had to make our way through the heather. We walked
along the top of a spur of land leading onto the ridge of
Cold Moor. |
| We
aimed for two large boulders near the skyline about 400 yards
ahead and after that we kept towards our right but without
loosing any height until we struck a track coming up the top
of the next spur. We were then able to follow this track for
about 2 miles, all the way along the ridge of Cold Moor until
it met the Cleveland Way over looking Tesside. The view there
is magnificent. The Tees estuary is visible behind the distinctive
shape of Rosberry topping and at this distance the steaming
industrial towers and installations of Teesside have an appeal
of their own. |
Teesside from Cold Moor |
Cold moor seen from Cringle moor |
The
Cleveland Way was paved a few years ago and it has proved
to be a really good job. There has been little or no erosion
since the paving and cobbles were installed and the paving
itself has blended into the landscape completely. At the Cleveland
Way we turned left to descend from Cold Moor and then climbed
up the steep cobbled steps onto Cringle Moor. There is the
view over Teeside to the right and the view back towards Bilsdale
to the left so we could stop for a breather, "to admire the
view" as often as we liked. |
| On
Cringle Moor we paused for a few minutes to take in the panorama
from the Alec Falconer memorial stone seat looking out to
the north sea on the right and sweeping right round to the
Pennine hills to the left. By now it was about half past twelve
so we headed down from the moor to Lord Stone's Cafe, hidden
away half underground amongst the trees beside the road at
the top of Carlton Bank. There we had a mug of tea and a hot
chicken bun with stuffing, very tasty and quite filling. Just
after leaving the cafe we turned off the Cleveland Way and
followed the stone road towards the glider club on the moor.
|
Lord Stone's Cafe - half underground
|
Scugdale from the path near Barker's
Craggs |
A
few hundred yards before the glider club we took the path
to the left across the moor to Brians Pond and then followed
the path above Scugdale to Barker's Craggs and then on to
Barker's Ridge. We stayed on the stone track for about one
and a quarter miles to Cock Howe and from there we followed
the bridle way down a long spur of land directly back into
the car park at the village hall in Chop Gate. The whole route
is around 9 miles with a few climbs and took us about 5 hours
including a stop at the cafe. We provide a guided walk for
a group of friends about once a month and now that we're sure
the route is properly open we will walk this route with our
friends on Saturday. |
The
head of Bilsdale from the path descending from Cock Howe
to Chop Gate |
frank's
