A-Walking: Saltburn Swinger

Following last week's 'inland' walks, today's events took place in the eastern coastal region of the North York Moors. Our expedition today started at the Gerrick junction (and car park) on the A171 road {NZ 705 119}. We travelled from here along Gerrick Lane (see picture below) to Saltburn via High Waupley, Roxby Woods, Roxby Park, Boulby and the Cleveland Way (CW).


We set off from our drop-off point at about 10.55 am. There were 8 people in the group: JB, JPB, PB, RB, MC, JH, KF and SR. JB led the walk.

From the locality of the A171 road, we walked in a northerly direction along Gerrick Lane. As we went down the lane we passed the old derelict house at {NZ 705 126} (see here). At Low Farm {NZ 706 129} we turned onto an easterly bearing and made our way (via Stubdale Farm {NZ 713 127} and Lane Head Farm {NZ 716 134}) to the B1366 road at {NZ 719 135}.

Continuing in an easterly direction we now trekked over Waupley Moor to a point just west of Low Waupley {NZ 725 136}. After negotiating a somewhat dilapidated stile¹, our route now took us north to High Waupley {NZ 727 144} - passing the trig point on our right². We continued through the farm, subsequently making our way to a path junction at {NZ 729 153}. Turning right, we followed the PRW³ to meet a minor road (Grinkle Lane) at {NZ 737 150} where we turned left.

Now walking in a northerly direction,we followed the road to find a footpath on our right {NZ 740 157}. This took us through Grinkle Park Farm and Spring House Cottages {NZ 745 160}. From here we descended in an easterly direction into a steep wooded valley. We crossed Easington Beck using a footbridge at {NZ 748 159} and then climbed up to a minor road (Ridge Lane) at {NZ 749 159}. We used the path on the immediately opposite side of the road (see here) in order to make our way to the footbridge over Roxby Beck {NZ 751 158} and then continued across the fields to a minor road at {NZ 762 161} near Home Farm - just to the north-west of Roxby.

Turning left, we went downhill (pass Manor House Farm). Just after the church (see picture below) we turned left onto a northerly path. This took us down into Roxby Woods (again). We used the footbridge at {NZ 761 172} (see here) to cross Roxby Beck (again). Just after crossing the stream, we stopped for a very welcome lunch stop - for which, we sat on a conveniently positioned fallen tree trunk overlooking the beck.


After lunch we continued on our easterly bearing, following a delightful path through the woods⁴, in order to reach Ridge Lane at {NZ 769 179}. Turning right, we followed the road for about 190 yards. We now turned left over a bridge/ford and had a good climb up to the A174 road at {NZ 769 185}. From here we made our way to Redhouse Nab where we joined the Cleveland Way at {NZ 770 187}.

We now turned onto a north-westerly bearing and followed the route of the CW to Boulby {NZ 760 191} - after which we had a very good climb up Rockhole Hill. Once we were up on the high ground, we had a 'good run' along the coast to Skinningrove {NZ 714 200}. There were some tremendous views of the eastern coastline during our trek along the CW. As we were making our descent into Skinningrove, we could see the B-party just leaving the village after their tea stop. As the benches overlooking the sea were now vacant, we decided to take advantage of them and have our tea stop here.

After our short tea break, we made our way pass the old jetty (on our right) to Cattersty Sands. After negotiating the sand-dunes, we had another good climb up onto Cattersty Cliff {NZ 706 206}. Following a short 'catch-up' stop, we continued (at a goodly pace)along the CW - passing Richard Farrington's iron sculptures near Hunt Cliff {NZ 691 218} (see here) as we went. By the time we reached the Ship Inn at Saltburn (see the picture below) we had caught up with the tail-end of the B-party. However, at this point, we decided to have another catch-up stop.


The final part of our route took us across the sea front at Saltburn (over Skelton Beck) to {NZ 668 216} where we turned onto a south-westerly bearing. After another good climb we arrived at the bandstand, near to which, our coach was faithfully waiting to take us home.

Although we had slightly over-shot our 6-hour time window for the walk, we had a brilliant day. Even the head-on strong winds we experienced coming up the CW were enjoyable - they added a level of unpredictability to the trip (not knowing where we would be blown next as we swung about in the wind).

Many thanks to JB for facilitating today's adventure - and, of course, for his expert level of leadership.

Use the buttons below to see where we went, how we did and some photographs of the excellent things that we saw.

  

Notes

¹ The stile at {NZ 725 136} was in a very poor state of repair, so much so, I decided to report this to the North York Moors Parks Authority (NYMPA).

² The trig point at High Waupley was surrounded by a barbed-wire boundary fence and was really a little too far off to photograph without a telephoto lens. However, here are two photographs: Photo-1 and Photo-2.

³ The path section running from {NZ 729 153} to {NZ 732 152} is shown on the OL 27 map as running along the south-side of the boundary fence. In actual fact, it appeared to us that the path lay on the northern side of the fence. Again, I took this matter up with the NYMPA.

⁴ As we went through this part of the wood, JB took us to see an old tramway tunnel dating back to the ironstone era - for further details see here and here.

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