Cowesby - North Yorkshire Moors
Saturday 29 July 2006
From Cowesby church whose roof is falling in and restoration work is scheduled - we walked a short section of road before walking a footpath through woodland. The short section of this footpath has been turned into a muddy road by forestry clearance vehicles, thankfully it has been so dry that the mud was very hard and we stayed mud free. As we continued climbing up towards the moorland the woods changed into more deciduous woodland. We emerged out of the wood at Steeple Cross to meet the Cleveland Way Long distance footpath.
Keeping to the edge of the forestry we walked alongside a newly rebuilt stone wall till the path went back into the wood. As we came out of the wood back onto moorland, we saw our only walkers for the day. We were looking for a bridleway to our east that would eventually lead us to Hawnby. All along this stretch of path, butterflies were settling in front of us on the path, but nearly every time I was ready to take a photo of them they flew away. We saw Peacocks, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and the caterpillars of the Six Spotted Burnet moth.
As we found our next path a sign had blown off the gate warning us of extreme fire hazard ahead and saying that the open access areas were out of bounds but as the public rights of way were not affected we carried on. In the field next to the path a combine harvester was working its way around the field gathering the wheat up. Two tractors with trailers were also in the field waiting for the combine to unload the wheat into them. As we passed the end of this field two curlews flew up in front of making warning calls, trying to distract us from their nest, one of them even landed and pretended to be hurt by dragging one of its wings across the ground.
Starting to feel hungry now, as we had been walking for a few hours so we had lunch in a field near Noddle End, tomato and olive bread with cheese and pork pie shared equally between us.
After lunch the field led to the edge of a hill where we followed the path to an abandoned house (Gowerdale House), whose windows have recently been smashed. It’s a fine looking house, but it has only a field track leading to it.
Stayed on the track rather than take a footpath as the area isn't well walked, and we didn’t have any tools with us to cut back brambles and nettles, the track led to the road to Hawnby. We crossed the temporary metal bridge outside the village after the old stone bridge had been swept away in a torrential rainstorm a few years ago.
We had a lovely cup of tea in the post office garden. As we left the village the clouds were building up and we wondered if it was going to rain. We hoped not as we now had our steepest and longest climb of the day walking the road towards Arden Hall (17th Century) to take an old drovers way back to the moorland passing disused quarries along the way. As we approached the top of the hill light rain started to fall, we thought it would blow over quickly as the sky was quite bright around us and we could see some blue sky in the distance from where the rain was coming from.
The drovers track led us back to the Cleveland Way. We stayed on the Cleveland Way for 500 meters to join another bridle path, which followed a route overlooking Kepwick Hall. Had a stop another here and was able to see all the way over to Pen Y Gent in the distance and closer to us Thirsk, North Allerton.
The path then led us to Black Hill above the village of Kepwick. Missed the bridle path dropping down the side of Atley Hill, so had to look for another way down, so an old track which led us to rejoin the path to Cowesby. Atley Hill was overflowing with rabbits, you had to watch where you put your feet as there were so many rabbit holes. We lost count of the number of rabbits we saw on the hill and in the field below it. Walked along an old green lane to reach the village and our car. Had been out for almost seven hours so must have walked between 12-14 miles.
A very enjoyable walk.
From Cowesby church whose roof is falling in and restoration work is scheduled - we walked a short section of road before walking a footpath through woodland. The short section of this footpath has been turned into a muddy road by forestry clearance vehicles, thankfully it has been so dry that the mud was very hard and we stayed mud free. As we continued climbing up towards the moorland the woods changed into more deciduous woodland. We emerged out of the wood at Steeple Cross to meet the Cleveland Way Long distance footpath.
Keeping to the edge of the forestry we walked alongside a newly rebuilt stone wall till the path went back into the wood. As we came out of the wood back onto moorland, we saw our only walkers for the day. We were looking for a bridleway to our east that would eventually lead us to Hawnby. All along this stretch of path, butterflies were settling in front of us on the path, but nearly every time I was ready to take a photo of them they flew away. We saw Peacocks, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies and the caterpillars of the Six Spotted Burnet moth.
As we found our next path a sign had blown off the gate warning us of extreme fire hazard ahead and saying that the open access areas were out of bounds but as the public rights of way were not affected we carried on. In the field next to the path a combine harvester was working its way around the field gathering the wheat up. Two tractors with trailers were also in the field waiting for the combine to unload the wheat into them. As we passed the end of this field two curlews flew up in front of making warning calls, trying to distract us from their nest, one of them even landed and pretended to be hurt by dragging one of its wings across the ground.Starting to feel hungry now, as we had been walking for a few hours so we had lunch in a field near Noddle End, tomato and olive bread with cheese and pork pie shared equally between us.
After lunch the field led to the edge of a hill where we followed the path to an abandoned house (Gowerdale House), whose windows have recently been smashed. It’s a fine looking house, but it has only a field track leading to it.Stayed on the track rather than take a footpath as the area isn't well walked, and we didn’t have any tools with us to cut back brambles and nettles, the track led to the road to Hawnby. We crossed the temporary metal bridge outside the village after the old stone bridge had been swept away in a torrential rainstorm a few years ago.
We had a lovely cup of tea in the post office garden. As we left the village the clouds were building up and we wondered if it was going to rain. We hoped not as we now had our steepest and longest climb of the day walking the road towards Arden Hall (17th Century) to take an old drovers way back to the moorland passing disused quarries along the way. As we approached the top of the hill light rain started to fall, we thought it would blow over quickly as the sky was quite bright around us and we could see some blue sky in the distance from where the rain was coming from.
The drovers track led us back to the Cleveland Way. We stayed on the Cleveland Way for 500 meters to join another bridle path, which followed a route overlooking Kepwick Hall. Had a stop another here and was able to see all the way over to Pen Y Gent in the distance and closer to us Thirsk, North Allerton.
The path then led us to Black Hill above the village of Kepwick. Missed the bridle path dropping down the side of Atley Hill, so had to look for another way down, so an old track which led us to rejoin the path to Cowesby. Atley Hill was overflowing with rabbits, you had to watch where you put your feet as there were so many rabbit holes. We lost count of the number of rabbits we saw on the hill and in the field below it. Walked along an old green lane to reach the village and our car. Had been out for almost seven hours so must have walked between 12-14 miles.
A very enjoyable walk.
posted by rwr at
12:32 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home