Commondale, Guisborough Woods, North York Moors

Wednesday 5 October 2005
Commondale, Guisborough Woods circuit - 15km
North York Moors
Maps: OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors Western area at 1:25000

It was a cold bright autumn morning and we drove to the village of Commondale near the northern edge of the North York Moors. We parked at a road junction in the middle of the village next to the carved millennium seat at map ref. NZ 662105. *Millennium seat in Commondale*	The start of the path over Commondale Moor We set off along the road up the hill out of the village westwards to for about 400m to map ref. NZ 658105, where we turned right off the road on to a footpath across the moor.The path led us across a little valley that had been planted with trees amongst the bracken.
As we climbed out of the valley a grouse was standing on a post next to a gate on the footpath and it refused to fly away until we were only a few metres from it, so I managed to get quite a good photo. Grouse perched on a gate post	The path across a little valley above Commondale
Looking back towards Commondale from the path to Commondale Moor
Stone memorial to two local men killed in the first world war	We continued along the path, which joined a stoney track, for several hundred metres to map ref. NZ647117 where there is an old goods container with half the side cut off to make a covered veranda for a plastic table and chairs. It looks like a makeshift shooting hut. About a hundred metres beyond the 'hut' we took an indistinct path which forked left off the track and led us to a memorial stone to two local men who were killed in the first world war. We continued on the path for about 1.5km from the 'container shooting hut' to map ref. NZ 634124 where the path crosses a stone trackand continues for another 2km across Guisborough Moor to the edge of Guisborough Wood.
Looking to the coast from the path over Guisborough Moor
A grasshopper sunning himself on my leg We sat in the sun with our backs to the wall for some lunch. A grasshopper landed on my leg and stayed for a few minutes enjoying the warmth. It seems a long long time since, as a boy, I used to catch them to put in a jam jar with string round the top and a newspaper cover.	Along the edge of the woods are the remains of a wall made from large dressed blocks, much more elaborate than a normal dry stone wall. I think it could have been a boundary of the estate formed from the Guisborough Priory lands Elaborate wall along the edge of Guisborough Woods
We took the right fork to stay at the top of the woods. We continued on this track which was very boggy in places, for another 1.5km to map ref. NZ 634143. From here we followed a zig-zag series of tracks through some very pretty woodland to map ref. NZ 637138.	After our break we walked west following a path beside the ruined wall along the edge of the wood to map ref. NZ 615137. Here we turned right into the wood for 100m and then turned right again to follow a track through the woods. The Cleveland Way uses this track but after only about 250m the Cleveland Way takes a left fork down the bank. Seasonal heather burning across Kildale
Approaching the edge of Westworth Wood
We emerged from the woodland across a small stream and up a steep muddy bank on to a path across high moor with a lovely view to the sea over to our left. We continued across the moor for about 2km to map ref. NZ 659130 where our path joined an old paved pannier way or pack horse trail called the Quakers' Causeway. Looking towards the coast from High Moor We followed the Quackers' Causeway towards a series of tumuli and we noticed a pair of small birds fyling ahead of us along the path. Each time we approached they flew a few metres farther on. I had a good look through the binoculars and was sure they were buntings of some kind, but there are lots a similar looking buntings. These two were unusual with a lot of white on their sides, wings and head and the only one I could think of was a snow bunting. This seemed unlikely, I had never heard of them on the North York Moors before. We turned off the path to sit on top of a tumulus for a break with a great view all round us. A mountain biker came along the path and stopped in front of us to ask excitedly "Did you see the snow buntings?". Well that confirmed it! It turned our that he lived locally and had been riding up here most days for the last week and had seen the snow buntings several times. (I did look them up in by big glossy bird book when I got home and I'm sure we were not mistaken).
*The Quakers' Causeway - an old paved pannier way or pack horse route*	Swaledale Tupp on the edge of Commondale From the tumulus we followed the path to a bend in the road at map ref. NZ 670117. From the bend we took the path down the hill to map ref. NZ 667107 and from there we walked down the road back to our start. On the way home we stopped at a very nice family tea shop in Kildale for our usual drink and toasted teacake just to round off a very pleasant day out.