A-Walking: Stanghow Stunner

Our walks this Sunday (21st February) took us into the East Cleveland area of the North York Moors. The A walk started from Brotton while the B-Walk and C-Walk both commenced at Carlin How. All of the walks terminated in Guisborough.

During its expedition, the A-Group visited Warsett Hill, Skinningrove, Carlin How, Kilton Thorpe, Stanghow and Westworth Wood before finally arriving at its destination.

We set off from our drop-off point on the A174 road at about 10.25 am. There were 11 people in the group: JB JPB, PB, RB, KF, CH, MH, JH, MS, JY and PY. CH and MH led the walk.

From the public footpath sign on the A174 road {NZ 697 193} we set off on a north-westerly trek towards the cemetery on the eastern side of Brotton {NZ 692 197}. Turning right, we now headed north to the club house at Hunley Hall Golf Course {NZ 692 204}. Maintaining our northerly bearing we passed the golf course (on our right) and continued onto Warsett Hill. We made a quick detour to visit the trig point {NZ 692 214} (see picture below) and then descended in an easterly direction. After crossing the railway track at {NZ 698 212}, we joined the Cleveland Way (CW) at {NZ 701 211}.


We followed the CW in a south-easterly direction to Skinningrove {NZ 713 199} where we picked up the Cleveland Street footpath. This took us on a good climb up to the A174 road in Carlin How {NZ 708 192} and then across a number of fields (in a westerly direction) to reach the disused ironstone mines at {NZ 686 187} - Lumpsey Ironstone Mines (see here). Because of the inclement weather conditions (snow, snow and more snow), we decided to take what shelter we could from the ruined mine buildings in order to take our lunch stop.

After lunch we followed the course of the dismantled railway in a southerly direction to the minor road (Kilton Lane) near Kilton Thorpe {NZ 690 175}. From the dismantled railway bridge, we took an easterly bearing along a path that led us to Stank House Farm {NZ 698 174}. As we approached the farm we found that there was a substantial amount of flooding (see the picture below) which caused us to make a slight diversion to the official route.


From Stank House Farm, we made our way on a south-westerly bearing to Buck Rush Farm {NZ 692 164} and onwards to the village of Stanghow {NZ 674 156} - where the snow falls had produced some really stunning views. We now followed a snow-laden, westerly going road across Stanghow Ridge. At the junction of this road with Jenny Frisk Road (from Boosbeck) {NZ 661 153}, we changed to a south-westerly bearing and trekked across Low Moor to reach the beacon at the car park at the top of Birk Brow Road (the A171) {NZ 658 149}.


After a short tea stop, standing about in the snow, we crossed the A171 road and followed a snow-laden path in a south-westerly direction to the path junction at Woodhill Gill Head {NZ 656 141}. We now followed a south-going path over Stanghow Moor to the path junction at {NZ 659 123} on High Moor. At this point we executed an 'about turn' and headed off on a north-westerly bearing to Westworth Wood {NZ 636 139} - where we met two familiar faces (JJ and JG).

We trekked through the wood and re-joined the Cleveland Way at {NZ 630 145}. Following this in a westerly direction through Guisborough Woods, we located a north-going footpath at {NZ 622 144} that took us in a northerly direction (downhill) to the bottom of Belman Bank {NZ 622 148}. From here we maintained our north-westerly trek to reach the car park at the centre of Guisborough {NZ 615 158} where our coach was waiting to take us home.

As most of our route today was on relatively high ground, we were exposed to one long 'snow shower'. During the day the intensity of the snow fall varied from light to heavy. There was also considerable amounts of snow and ice under-foot. Despite the harsh winter conditions we had a great day and we were exposed to some superb snow scenes.

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

    

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