Rosedale walk

Rosedale rain ran down a sign reading 'Extreme fire risk on the Moors' and we set off to climb parallel to the Chimney Bank road, 550 steep feet involving pastures, one hole of golf course and a wild and winding last pitch.

More mist and rain clouds lurked in the head of the dale. But we had reached the famous Rosedale railway line, long abandoned since the ironstone mining days and now a classic walking and cycling circuit.

Soon there's a massive view bench carved with propulsive, free-form haiku - 'In the dark, working hard, loading up the wooden cart'. And 'Work shift over, in sun, on the hill, having fun'.

We were going to have some fun and postponed the rest of the railway line until a snowy day and headed south on a track, targeting the trig point on Shooting House Hill.

Take the OS map for this walk, use the compass, I took two bearings, and two GPS readings. My compass worked fine, no ironstone interference. This was important because we wished to skirt the 30 ponds of Jewel Mere, skirting being better than sinking. The ponds we saw were jet black with peaty water or emerald shimmering with algae or quite dry and ivory with cotton grass.

Golden plovers await the shooting season, wait a few weeks and the heather will be purple

The trig point is on the top of a plateau of blanket bog, at 1,132 feet, an ecosystem that according to English Nature in 2002 was "degraded" and "declining" because of heather-burning. We got there at noon and, well this just happens, the sun came out. The views were good, north beyond Rosedale, east to tumuli called the Three Howes and to Ana Cross on Spaunton Moor, then south over Ryedale and west towards Farndale. Nearby there's the remnants of a very small building.

The return to the railway line was easy. At a spooky fenced shaft and gaunt bit of wall we dropped into Thorgill, comfortably at first on a path mown through the heather then slowly after crossing the beck due to bracken and boggy bits.

At a nice place of little field remnants and foxgloves a quiet back road connected us with the River Seven, its banks of shale stained rusted red and its blue tinted meadows. The caravan park like the golf course was a fleeting pleasure.

There's a plaque on the remnants of Rosedale's one time Cistercian nunnery, a fingerpost points to The Inn Way, for song try chanting the haiku.

:: Directions

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. From village green to Chimney Bank road, bridge, 10 yards, gate by house (signed) and uphill, 2 stiles, cross road, stile to golf course, 100 yards, right at fence corner to path between short posts.

2. Ladderstile to leave course and path on left uphill, ladderstile and left to path up through bracken, swings right after 50 yards then left to stile to moor, 25 yards, path at 1 o'clock uphill to three trees, right to track, 100 yards

3. Right to disused railway line. View bench then 200 yards.

4. At track on left EITHER continue on rail line to Direction No. 6, the only route if you have a dog OR take the track, note, shooting butts to right not left as on OS map. At last butt (No.9) bear c260 magnetic to edge of Jewel Mere, then c245 degrees to trig point.

5. From trig point north to rejoin track.

6. At mining remains (wall and fenced off shaft), right of two paths (unofficial Thorgill sign) angling down, heather pathway cut after 50 yards.

7. Tiny bridge over beck and left above field walls. At wall corner path loops 20 yards up then back down to avoid wet area, down on sunken path. Stile in wire fence about 5 yards from wall to left and downhill through small fields (wall to left) stile, path, path between gully and field, 20 yards, small gate, track.

8. Right to road.

9. Snickelgate on left (signed), cross field, snickelgate, gate, footbridge and right, stile, snickelgate then through caravan site. After play area, left across grass for 25 yards (signed), gate.

:: Fact file

Distance: More than five miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: North York Moors.

Start: Rosedale Abbey village.

Right of Way: The route is along public rights of way and on CROW Access land.

Date walked: Friday 22 July 2005.

Road route: Moorsbus from various locations.

Car parking: Free car parks at Rosedale Abbey.

Lavatories: Rosedale Abbey.

Refreshments: Rosedale Abbey.

Tourist & public transport information: The Moors Centre Danby 01287 660540.

Map: Based on the new OS OL26 Explorer, North York Moors western area.

Terrain: Hillside, blanket bog and valleys.

Points of interest: Useful looking 'dog exercise area' a few miles away near Hutton-le-Hole, courtesy Spaunton Estates.

Difficulty: Tricky in poor visibility.

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

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 16:19 Friday, July 29, 2005