My Walking Diary - Friday 3 December 2004 Lockton, Stain Dale, Bridestones circuit, NYM

Friday 3 December 2004
Lockton, Stain Dale, Bridestones circuit
Map: OS Explorer OL27 North York Moors Eastern area at 1:25000

Limousin bull having a good stretch	There was a sharp frost this morning and everywhere was shrouded in mist. I had arranged to meet a friend in Lockton opposite the cemetery gates where there is plenty of room to park off the road on the wide grass verge at map ref. SE 846899. We set off walking just before 10.00am along the footpath next to our parking spot to cross the main road (A169) at map ref. SE 850907. We continued along the path towards a farm called Mount Pleasant but there is no public right of way from the path onto the lane at the farm. A couple of years ago a new bit of path was opened to give access onto the lane at map ref. SE 853909 and we climbed up the bank to join the lane at this point. We walked along the lane past Mount Pleasant farm and took the path through the farm yard at High House Farm. There are no footpath signs through High House Farm until you have cleared the farm complex and reached the open fields, then there is a familiar yellow footpath arrow on each stile.
We followed the path across Grime Moor to the pond at map ref. SE 870922. Grime Moor is divided into large open fields with cattle and sheep grazing. In these large fields it was far too misty to be able to see the next fence across the field so we had to make sure we left each stile in exactly the right direction to walk a couple of hundred metres though the mist before we could see the next fence. The stiles were very icy and I managed to slip off one completely and land in a heap in the frozen mud below - fortunately only my dignity injured. The mist made the cattle very nervous - I suppose in the wild predators could sneak up to their prey very easily in these conditions. Anyway as we made our way across the fields we could hear the cattle bellowing to one another to keep in touch and we could see them galloping about just on the edge of our visibility about 60m away. It was quite eirie. From the pond we took the path along the wall side to the track at map ref. SE 873923. Here we turned right to follow the track to map ref. SE 876914 and then a narrow path on our right to the Bridestones.	*Bridestones in the mist*
Stain Dale in the frosty mist	We sat on a ledge under one of them for our lunch - a bit early but we can just please ourselves. We followed the path from the Bridestones down into Stain Dale and walked along the bottom of Stain Dale to Stain Dale Lodge at map ref. SE 850889. We continued across a field with some highland cattle on the path towards High Dalby for a few hundred metres and then turned right up the valley side through the woods and then across the fields to the Fox and Rabbit on the A169 at map ref. SE 844882.We crossed the main road and took the path down the farm drive opposite to join the lane at map ref. SE 840882, and followed the lane back into Lockton. The whole route was about 13.5km and took us just under four hours to complete including our lunch stop.
Sheep in the mist near Lockton	Pond at the edge of Grime Moor
Bridestones in the mist	Bridestones in the mist
Path into Stain Dale from the Bridestones	Sheep grazing in Stain Dale
Stain Dale in the frosty mist	Hawthorn and Gorse in Stain Dale
Staindale Beck	Highland cow at Staindale Lodge
Woodland path towards the Fox & Rabbit	Ponies near the Fox & Rabbit
*Ryeland Sheep* near the Fox & Rabbit	Misty view over Lockton