A-Walking: The Kepwick Knockabout

Following several consecutive trips to more distant locations, today's expedition (07-06-2009) brought us back onto our local terrain - the North York Moors. During the day we visited Garfitts, Beak Hills, Barker's Ridge, Arnsgill Ridge, Brewsters Hill and Thorodale before making our rendez-vous with the other two groups at Kepwick {SE 470 909}.

We set off from Clay Bank {NZ 572 035} (see the photograph below) at about 10.20 am. There were 9 people in the group: JB, PB, RB, KF, JG, JJ, PJ, JY, and PY. PJ led the walk.


From our starting point, we headed in a south-westerly direction towards Hasty Bank Farm {NZ 567 030} and then, further west, we passed Garfitts {NZ 563 031} on our left. We now turned onto a NW bearing. As we continued our NW trek, we skirted pass the Wain Stones {NZ 559 036} on our right (see the following picture) as we made our way towards the Cleveland Way.


We stayed with the Cleveland Way for about 175 yards. At {NZ 554 034} we turned onto a south-westerly bearing in order to make our way to Beak Hills {NZ 547 025}, Hall Garth {NZ 541 017} and Raisdale Mill {NZ 538 005}. From here, we began our climb up onto Barker's Ridge. We picked up a good track at {NZ 523 003} and followed this to {SE 535 984} where we had a very pleasant lunch stop - just north of Osmotherley Stones.

After lunch, we continued along our track in a southerly direction to Head House {SE 534 971} and onwards across Cow Ridge. We continued on a southerly bearing until we reached a minor road at {SE 527 939}. We then followed this (downhill) in a southerly direction passing Lane House (Snilesworth) at {SE 527 938}. We left the minor road at {SE 528 932} in order to follow a path through Green's Wood in order to reach Brewster Hill {SE 525 924}. Continuing on our southerly trek, we passed through Blueberry Wood to arrive at Harker Gates {SE 527 914} and Mount Pleasant.

Just after Mount Pleasant, at {SE 525 910} we took a right-turn into Thorodale. Following a westerly bearing, we passed by Arden Hall {SE 520 909} on our left and then picked up a well-defined track. Chasing the track in a NW direction, we climbed up through North Moor Woods in order to reach our point of exit at {SE 502 916}. We now made a short descent to {SE 498 917} before we were confronted with the final climb of the day - up to {SE 495 919} where we took a short tea stop.

After our short break we continued our westerley trek in order to reach the Cleveland Way at {SE 490 919}. Turning south, we stayed with this until we reached a track on our right {SE 489 909} that took us down to Gallow Hill {SE 485 899}. At this point we turned onto a north-westerly bearing and made for Pen Hill {SE 470 904}. As we dropped down over Atlay Bank we saw a tremendous display of pink rhododendron bushes. Meeting the minor road at {SE 466 908}, we turned right andfollowed the road into the village of Kepwick where our coach was waiting for us.


We had a great day and a superb walk. However, the weather was very different from what we experienced during our previous walk. Today, we were back to winter conditions!

Use the buttons below to see where we went, how we did and some of the sights we saw.

  

Many thanks to PJ for organising such an interesting and exciting adventure for us today. We had a really great time.

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