A-Walking: More Castleton Capers

Our previous 'Castleton Capers' (on 12th April) took us from Castleton to Great Ayton - click here to see the details of our previous expedition. In contrast, today's capers (24th May) took us into Castleton as our finishing point. We started near Brown Hill {NZ 670 118} and then passed through Westworth Wood, Guisborough Woods, Percy Cross, Kildale and Westerdale to reach our final destination at Castleton {GR 681 077}.

We set off at about 11.40 am from the isolated footpath sign {NZ 670 118} on the minor road that leads from the A171 to Castleton. There were eight of us in the group: PB, RB, KF, JG, JJ, MuS, JY and PY. JJ led the walk.


From our starting location we set off in a north-westerly direction and headed for the Quakers' Causeway. We had some good views of Lockwood Beck and the north-east coastline as we headed towards Hob Cross {NZ 646 133} and Westworth Wood {NZ 636 139}. Our route then took us into Guisborough Woods at {NZ 635 143}.

After entering Guisborough Woods we took a broad, westerly track from {NZ 634 144} and then joined the Cleveland Way (CW) at {NZ 618 140}. We followed the CW (in a westerly direction) to Highcliff Nab {NZ 610 138} and onwards until we reached a point just south of Highcliffe Farm {NZ 609 132}. Here we left the CW in order to make an exciting crossing over marshland using an ill-defined path that eventually took us to Percy Cross Rigg {NZ 606 119}. Click here to see further details of our crossing.

We now headed south, dropping down to Lonsdale Farm {NZ 605 108}, and then had a good climb up onto the eastern end of Coate Moor where we rejoined the CW {NZ 605 105}. Dropping down through Bankside Farm, we took our lunch break at a pleasant spot {NZ 603 098} overlooking Kildale Station.

We left the CW (again!) in Kildale where we turned left along the minor road passing Kildale Hall. At {NZ 612 095} we turned right into Green Gate Lane; this took us to Little Kildale and a good climb up to Warren Farm. From here we descended to Leven Vale {NZ 626 088} and then climbed up onto Kildale Moor. Now descending into Baysdale {NZ 632 078}, we picked up a good track running in an easterly direction parallel to Baysdale Beck. At {NZ 644 076} we turned right - leaving the track in order to get down to Baysdale Beck itself {NZ 644 074}. We had a pleasant and enjoyable tea break at {NZ 646 074} - MuS provided us with slices of 'Malteser Loaf' while JJ and PY cooled off their feet in the beck.

After our short break, we continued on our easterly trek along the bank of the river in order to get to Hob Hole. Using the road to cross the beck, we now had another good climb up onto Westerdale Moor in order to find a footpath on our left at {NZ 657 070}. We followed this in an easterly direction (passing Dale View on our right) to reach Carr House {GR 675 073}. From here we climbed in a north-easterly direction up onto Rigg End {GR 681 077} - where we met our coach. However, this was not the end of our trek! We descended down into Castleton in order to take some refreshments in the Downe Arms - see the picture below.


The final climb of the day took us from the pub back up to our waiting coach.

Many thanks to JJ for organising such an interesting and exciting adventure for us today. We had a really great time. Use the buttons below to see where we went, how we did and some of the sights we saw.

  

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