Country walk at Rosedale Abbey

ROSEDALE Abbey is in the Walkers Are Welcome network and the village hosted a walking festival last year, by accounts successful, and there will be another one this summer.

Kate Jones, the organiser, says the dates will be finalised soon. She is a partner with Gillies Jones, the Rosedale art glassmakers with an international reputation, so the festival walks should have style.

And in the summer, it will be dry. And I must confess, when I suggested today's route to my navigator, she said 'squelchy’, but I said it would be fine once we started to climb.

Indeed, the streamside path was sometimes squelchy; we paddled, as did the large number of sheep. Water seeped from the slopes and flowed as a film over the pasture; despite all this and a fork of freshly dug drainage ditch, Northdale Beck ran clear.

In the spring there are wild daffodils, but Northdale is a lovely valley for all seasons.

After a while, we connected with stone tracks and the last bit of a metalled road. There is no way out of the head of the valley, so at Northdale Farm we turned back for the day’s climb. This is a memorably straight mile of steadily inclined track.

Unfortunately, vehicles have run up and down, for pleasure or commerce or a mix I do not know. The result is that water ran in the wheel grooves rather than in the ditch to the side of the track.

So walking was less head up than it should have been, not that we got any of the long views, the valley was misty, the winter extra muted.

Below us, a pheasant-shooting party worked round a copse; above us, on Brown Hill, with the heather all around, half a dozen waders flew off fast and direct with just a single squeaky cry between them.

At the top, on the flat, at about 1,000 feet, stands a stone waymark on which is carved ‘Road’ and perhaps something else. This enhances the status of our route, as does an 1850s Ordnance Survey map on which our incline is named Northdale Brow Road.

The descent was nice enough, including two of lengths of back road; by one stands a stark cross, on the other a JCB Fastrack tractor hummed along Hartoft Rigg.

Back down, in Rosedale now, in the sheep mire, my navigator said “no more fields”, so we took the drive from The Grange. Think summer, think walking festival.

Directions

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed. (wm=waymark, fp=fingerpost). 

1. From village green, cross road (sign Egton), uphill, after hotel through public car park on left (sign), gate into field, 11 o'clock, gate (wm), riverside path with gates/gateways (becomes permissive, white wms), angle uphill before trees to gateway (old fp). Grass track below reeds.

2. Gated wooden footbridge (wm), one o’clock uphill, gate (wm), slab bridge and diagonally right 100 yards to gate (wm), left to good track.

3. Gate to road. Becomes track and skirts above large farm.

4. Before bend downhill, gate on right into field (sign please shut gate), diagonally right uphill on initially grassy track, gate, gate to moor. Ignore track on left.

5. Right to road downhill, before cross, narrow track on left (footpath sign).

6. Right to road (verge), 300 yards. Track on right before cattle grid, not track by wall as signed, 50 yards, right fork, 50 yards, pass cairn and seat, path. Gate in wall (wm), path downhill, gate (wm).

7. Right at wall end (fp), double stile, gate (fp), gate (wm) to track, gate (wm) into yard, left down drive.

8. Right to road, some verge.

Fact File

Distance: Five miles.

Car parking: Free car parks at Rosedale Abbey.

Right of way: Public and permissive.

Date walked: January 2014.

Tourist information: Pickering TIC 01751 473791.

Refreshments: Inns and cafés at Rosedale Abbey.

Map: OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western area.

Terrain: Valley and moor.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.