Clay Bank was slithery, the car park an ice rink, and the views over the Cleveland Plain were stark and grand, of dark wood and forest on white ground. Two grown men plus me tried to roll a snowball but it was sticky on a day of thaw.
We started our way through the tree band, met a snowman, probably theirs as there were few footprints to follow, but a few were better than none.
Pine trees gave way with altitude to lacy silver birch and our eyes panned the plains and to keep to a permissive route, we descended through the spruce almost to the flatlands.
As a result, you have the full winter warmer of the climb of the north escarpment of the Cleveland Hills, nearly 1,000ft of it. A lot of the up is on steps and these were well used. They lead direct from the village of Great Broughton. It was steps of snow compressed to ice, but there is a way to cheat here, to bypass them.
At the top of the bank the Wainstones rise near, black rocks of sandstone hard against the sky. It was a steep approach, slow where the snow was deep, easier where the winds had stripped it from the grass.
The outcrop of rocks has a vertical character of tall blocks, fissured, and separated by parallel narrow and precipitous gaps, and in the gaps are wedged other rocks weighing tonnes and some spaces were filled with snow, so that concentrated the mind on the last 50ft.
The top spot is one of only three points on this sheet of the North York Moors map that the Ordnance Survey honour with a full 360 degree viewpoint symbol, the others being Roseberry Topping and Eston Nab. Nevertheless, we declined the most spectacular scene and tucked in downwind on the top so had our sandwich view south towards Cold Moor. To our entertainment, two walkers were scaling the stones by a trickier route. Soon they appeared, Vic Scott and Lawrence Maxwell, out from York, with tales of old and tales of snow and names for every climb.
We were on the Cleveland Way. Easy does it. Over the tops, past Hasty Bank, under a complex turn of sky, of clouds of all sorts, some heavy, glued and grey, others small and scudding fast and low and some wispy curls in the high blue.
We had a mile of chat, passed Raven’s Scar and a corniced edge and White Hill where the heather was swept clean and then came a fun descent of tumbles and laughter.
Directions
When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point.
Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.
1 From carpark at top of Clay Bank, right downhill on main road for 100 yards, track on left and immediately right to barrier gate and track uphill. Ignore a right fork downhill and stay on track (fingerpost Great Broughton).Later downhill.
2 Route option: 100 yards before left hand turn, track on left uphill.
3 Otherwise at routes junction take steps (no sign, nearby fingerpost for other routes) steep uphill on left and opposite a path on the right (signed).
4 Right to track (waymark) to join route option in Direction No2 uphill.
5 At top, left to track for 20 yards, gate on right, 10 o’clock across field for 200 yards, fieldgate (waymark), uphill, snickelgate. Path steep up to the Wainstones and then taking a route between the big rocks towards the left, that is the northern side of the top. Take care, steep drops. Cleveland Way path continues from the top, engineered surface, more steep drops to your left.
Snickelgate by woods and right by wall, steps and path to road. Left on main road to carpark.
Factfile
Distance: Three miles.
General Location: North York Moors.
Start: Clay Bank.
Right of Way: Public and permissive.
Dogs: Legal.
Date walked: December 2010.
Road Route: From York, via Stokesley.
Car Parking: Free carpark.
Lavatories: None.
Refreshments: None.
Tourist & Public Transport Information: Great Ayton TIC 01642 722835.
Map: Drawn from OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western.
Terrain: Escarpment.
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.
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