17/01/2018.
I'm looking forward to this walk I thought as I tucked into my delicious fryup that my wife had kindly cooked for me...This will set me up for the day..I am heading up to Great Ayton on the edge of the North York moors to meet up with my old bud Keith, who will be joining me on todays walk. Not seen the old bugger for a while so it will be good to catch up...I arrived at Great Ayton a little early so I had a walk around the village..Its a most attractive place with the River Leven flowing through the centre. I could see the familiar sight of Roseberry topping peering down on me above the village rooftops. A most attractive hill...A mini mountain.
Great Ayton is known as the village that the famous explorer and navigator Captain James cook spent his childhood years. There is a statue of him on the village green...Keith turned up and we decided to drive up to Gribdale gate to start the walk...Its a popular starting point for walks situated along the Cleveland way..A steep start Through woodland and we soon had another view of Roseberry Topping, it only just breaks above the 1000 ft mark but this distinctive little peak demands attention.
Up on Easby moor we came to the well known landmark of Captain Cooks monument. It certainly is a great viewpoint with panoramic views towards the Cleveland hills..How lucky the people of Stockton and Middlesborough are to have this on their doorstep...We hadn't really planned a route for todays walk we just kept going and see where it led.
We headed down to Kildale, a quiet backwater. That's what I love about the North York moors, so many quiet valleys.
From the shelter of the valley we headed back up to the moors and followed the track along Percy cross rigg, freezing cold up there. We came across some interesting old Hut circles, must have been a hard life up there in winter. I had 2 hats on, gloves, Thermal underwear and several layers and I was frozen, cant imagine how these souls survived up there living in a crude mud hut dressed in animal skins..We stopped for a sarnie and I could of cried as my hands were so cold...
We didn't stop long..As the next point of interest on the walk was to be The Hanging stone. This huge graffiti covered rock looks out across The town of Guisborough towards the North sea.
This view was probably the highlight of the walk for me..we stood for quite a while...looking around...after a while it was back across Newton moor. Another view of Roseberry topping loomed ahead..do we or don't we?...we decided against it
Well we are in our mid 50s...9 miles was enough so we headed back down to Gribdale...Its been a good day..Had a good catch up..conversations about Bakeries, Avocets, Wild camping, Dogs, Dusty Redstarts, The Cleveland way, Running, Petches pies, Lake district, Holidays, Hartlepool, The weather, Ray mears, hills...donkeys and Mo Farrah.
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