The Walk
Day 12 – Wednesday 25th June, 2008 – Clay Bank Top to Glaisedale
With blisters sorted and a good breakfast inside us and a
lift to Clay Bank Top, we were ready for the day ahead.
The walk started with a steep climb up to Carr Ridge and then
onto Urra Moor, once up there we walked on a sandy path through
the heather. It was windy, but the sun did keep popping out to
see us.
The ground nesting birds were in abundance especially grouse.
Judging by the cacophony that was going on around me, I’m not
sure that the rest of the group were/are as interested in birds
as I am.
These moors are huge and one can understand how easy it would be
to become lost out here. We had a clear day to take in the
vastness of the moors and to respect that nature can be harsh
and dangerous as well as kind and beautiful. The colours ranged
from light green, through brown, deep purple to black, without a
tree to be seen. I could imagine snow covering this terrain
making it a very bleak place to be stranded. A shudder went
through me as a consequence of these thoughts and I quickly
caught up with Jenny for company.
Stockdale
Moor
We reached the former Rosedale Ironstone Railway line, long
since disused, and walked along it to Bloworth Crossing. It was
here that we finally left the Cleaveland Way path.
This long walk over Ferndale Moor was a bit tedious, the path
was straight and uninteresting, either that or we were getting
tired and in need of a break. Along High Blakey Moor we could
see the rooftop of the Lion Inn, and that spurred us on, our
steps quickened and suddenly we were not so tired. A short climb
up to the Inn at Blakey Ridge just as it started to spit with
rain. This was about halfway for us and a good place to stop for
lunch.
The Lion dates back to 1553 and from the outside does not look
as inviting as perhaps it should for a building that old.
However, once inside and it’s a different story, low beams,
small areas off of the main large bar area, and the wonderful
smell of food. There is a restaurant with full menu and the
opportunity for bar meals. Judging by the number of ‘ordinary’
folk as opposed to walkers, the food was going to be good. I had
veggie soup and roll (the best on the whole walk). Steve and
Chris were already there, and Chris was suffering from a large
blister on her foot, Steve wanted to ‘pop’ it for her, but so
far she had refused. (they were still discussing it when we left
about an hour later!)
The Canadian group came stumbling in, soaking wet as it was now
tipping down with rain and the wind had got up.
We struggled into our waterproofs in the little bit of space
that was now available, as the pub had filled up considerably in
the short time that we were there.
We had a lot of road walking to do and it’s even worse in the
rain, the road was not too busy, but a straight road, the
traffic took advantage of this fact, so they were rushing past
us adding to the wind that we were already struggling with. For
some reason we got lost, my fault entirely, someone had asked me
if they could look at the book (map) and I turned back one page
instead of two, so for a short while we were lost.
Back on track and passing ‘Fat Betty’ we eventually came to
Great Fryup Lane, where we did our last bit of road walking for
a while. We turned right onto Great Fyup Dale stopping at Trough
House (a disused cottage on the moor), for a comfort break,
eventually climbing up onto Glaisdale High Moor.
Chris joined us for a pit stop
We had a little bit of road walking along Glaisdale Rigg before
turning right onto the path over Glaisdale Moor. This path
seemed to go on forever and we were all feeling tired and ready
to stop, in fact Jenny and I did stop for about five minutes, we
shouldn’t have done that! Getting going again was a bit of a
struggle.
We looked back along the path to see a number of walkers
following who we suspect had delayed their start from the Lion
due to the rain, which had stopped after about a mile into the
walk.
Arriving in Glaisdale at around 5pm we found a shop and stocked
up on fruit etc. Ashley House, our B&B was a little way out of
the village so we had to plod some more before we could relax. A
muscle in my left calf had decided enough was enough, Jenny had
a muscle in her hip that was giving her pain, everyone else was
just tired and or nursing blisters.
Another lovely welcome awaited us and for the first time on the
whole walk I had the largest room, double bed, at the front of
the house overlooking the valley and the village beyond, what a
treat.
View
from my window at Ashley House
Toasted buns, and tea was served in the guest lounge, Di, Val
and Celia went off to take a bath, while Jenny and I did
exercises on the floor to relax our muscles (we were glad that
our hosts didn’t come in).
A bath, and change of clothes, plus a massage with Deep Heat
from Val (phew that stuff stinks, but it does work), and I was
as fit as a fiddle…. Well nearly. We walked the 200 or so yards
to the Arncliffe Arms for a superb meal. If ever you are in
Glaisdale you just have to eat there, a brilliant chef.
We strolled back up the hill to Ashley House and were all in bed
by 10pm. As my room faced West, I sat in bed and watched the sun
going down over the village. Total relaxation. I wrote up some
of my log before dropping off to sleep, like the rest of the
group I was too tired to stay awake any longer.