Walk: 10:15am to 2:45pm - 7 miles and 1209ft of ascent
A few weeks ago when staying on the North York Moors we ventured inland to walk close to the Hole of Horcum, but today we decided to go right into the heart of the Moors and walk around Rosedale; we chose the area as not far from the village of Rosedale Abbey there are numerous ruins of old mines. The weather was again in our favour, so around 9:20am we hit the road in the direction of Guisborough.
After coming off the main road near Egton we had an 8 mile or so crossing of open moorland taking us across Egon High Moor, and boy did the weather change from the blue skies we had left at the coast. As we drove across the top of the moor it became very foggy and our focus turned from admiring the views to making sure we stayed on the remote lane. Thankfully by the time we had reached Rosedale Abbey the cloud had risen to take away the fog, but the skies were very grey and menacing.
We parked up and walked through the small village, crossing the stream to pick up the lane towards Thorgill. As we walked up this section of road the battle above us was raging, would we be rewarded with sun and blue sky, or suffer grey skies all day. This was a battle to continue the whole length of the walk with each party taking turn at getting the upper hand.
The walk was going well, but was soon to take a turn for the worse as we went a little off track. We reached a junction close to Thorgill Farm and the plan was to continue along the track towards House Farm, running along the bottom of the hill. However, we took a wrong turn and headed up Thorgill in the direction of Stone Hagg. The thought had crossed my mind as we were heading uphill towards the top of the moor, and the path was becoming harder to identify and was getting VERY boggy. To say that walking this section wasn't that pleasant would be an understatement.
We didn't actually realise that we had gone wrong until we reached some old building remains near Pike Howe. I took out the Garmin GPS and when checking the co-ordinates against the map, this confirmed how far off route we had gone. No wonder we hadn't seen any of the waymarkers that I'd expected to see!
Never mind though, we could see the old Mine buildings across the valley so headed back across the moor and down Thorgill. We picked up the track that we should have been on if we hadn't gone awry, then crossed the fields up the hill to Hill Cotts. Within about 20 minutes we were on the track above Florence Terrace and viewing the old mine buildings. Unfortunately due to falling masonry the buildings are fenced off, but it didn't spoil the experience. And now time to take a spot of lunch - a lovely warm flask of thick soup made by Donna's friend Kate, and ham sandwiches made by.......me.
The route back was really straightforward, we just had to follow the lane back towards Rosedale Abbey - even we couldn't get this bit wrong. Plus it gave me a bit of a giggle as we passed through Low Bell End on the way back; yes I know it's childish, but come on 'Low Bell End' Whilst the fog had long gone the valley was swept by smoke from the controlled fires on the moors so looked similar to how it had done around 4hrs earlier, but this time carrying the smell of the smoke.
A quick change of footwear before going into Graze on the Green for a slice of cake and a drink. Well after all we deserved it after our efforts....
A few weeks ago when staying on the North York Moors we ventured inland to walk close to the Hole of Horcum, but today we decided to go right into the heart of the Moors and walk around Rosedale; we chose the area as not far from the village of Rosedale Abbey there are numerous ruins of old mines. The weather was again in our favour, so around 9:20am we hit the road in the direction of Guisborough.
After coming off the main road near Egton we had an 8 mile or so crossing of open moorland taking us across Egon High Moor, and boy did the weather change from the blue skies we had left at the coast. As we drove across the top of the moor it became very foggy and our focus turned from admiring the views to making sure we stayed on the remote lane. Thankfully by the time we had reached Rosedale Abbey the cloud had risen to take away the fog, but the skies were very grey and menacing.
We parked up and walked through the small village, crossing the stream to pick up the lane towards Thorgill. As we walked up this section of road the battle above us was raging, would we be rewarded with sun and blue sky, or suffer grey skies all day. This was a battle to continue the whole length of the walk with each party taking turn at getting the upper hand.
The walk was going well, but was soon to take a turn for the worse as we went a little off track. We reached a junction close to Thorgill Farm and the plan was to continue along the track towards House Farm, running along the bottom of the hill. However, we took a wrong turn and headed up Thorgill in the direction of Stone Hagg. The thought had crossed my mind as we were heading uphill towards the top of the moor, and the path was becoming harder to identify and was getting VERY boggy. To say that walking this section wasn't that pleasant would be an understatement.
We didn't actually realise that we had gone wrong until we reached some old building remains near Pike Howe. I took out the Garmin GPS and when checking the co-ordinates against the map, this confirmed how far off route we had gone. No wonder we hadn't seen any of the waymarkers that I'd expected to see!
Never mind though, we could see the old Mine buildings across the valley so headed back across the moor and down Thorgill. We picked up the track that we should have been on if we hadn't gone awry, then crossed the fields up the hill to Hill Cotts. Within about 20 minutes we were on the track above Florence Terrace and viewing the old mine buildings. Unfortunately due to falling masonry the buildings are fenced off, but it didn't spoil the experience. And now time to take a spot of lunch - a lovely warm flask of thick soup made by Donna's friend Kate, and ham sandwiches made by.......me.
The route back was really straightforward, we just had to follow the lane back towards Rosedale Abbey - even we couldn't get this bit wrong. Plus it gave me a bit of a giggle as we passed through Low Bell End on the way back; yes I know it's childish, but come on 'Low Bell End' Whilst the fog had long gone the valley was swept by smoke from the controlled fires on the moors so looked similar to how it had done around 4hrs earlier, but this time carrying the smell of the smoke.
A quick change of footwear before going into Graze on the Green for a slice of cake and a drink. Well after all we deserved it after our efforts....
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