This morning we drove to Chop Gate in Bilsdale and parked at the village hall at about 9.45. The sky was still overcast as we set off on the path from the back of the car park straight up the hill to Cock Howe (map ref. SE 543984) We followed the stoney track along the ridge for about 1.5km. Here the track bears off to the right and we continued straight on along a rough path for another 600m almost to the foot of the TV transmitter mast. The spring heather burning was underway and great clouds of smoke billowed across the moor, hiding the mast completely from time to time. There is no significant landmark but at map ref. SE 548964 we turned across the rough moor to follow the line of the right of way marked on the map across Bilsdale West Moor passing to the north of Beacon Guest Crags and it's around this point that we picked up an old sunken track winding its way down the hill to the intake wall. We continued on the path towards High Crookleith Farm. Just before we reached the farm yard we took the path across the fields to the road at map ref. SE 567975. We crossed the road and took the path up the hill to the corner of a wood and then turned right to skirt the bottom edge of the wood. We continued on this path contouring round the end of the hill and into Tripsdale. There are lots of old mine workings from the 19th century or earlier and spoil tips beside the path that have been added to more recently with rubbish of bottles and scrap metal. The path crosses Tripsdale Beck at map ref. SE 581978 It's a difficult boggy area to cross but Tripsdale is very pretty and worth the effort. The right of way ends near the top of the valley side but there is a well used path continuing across the moor. At map ref. SE 583983 there is a narrow path (not marked on the map) to the left along the top of Kay Nest to join the bridleway on a stone track at map ref. SE 583989. From here we followed the track back down into the valley to the beck. We followed the bridleway and path over the moor to William Beck Farm and returned to down the farm drive to Chop Gate village hall. The whole route was about 14km and took us almost 5 hours including our stops. As the day went on the weather improved and it was warm and sunny by the time we reached Tripsdale.

gap

Looking across Bilsdale to Nab End

Twisted oak tree in Tripsdale