Osmotherly to Helmsley

Friday 3rd September 2010 

After my epic thirty mile walk of the day before, I thought twenty-two miles to Helmsley would be easy, but this turned out not to be the case. A combination of the heat, the dreariness of the surroundings, and the consequences of the previous day's hard walking had all taken their toll on me. By the time I reached Helmsley I was exhausted and unable to think clearly. Even though I did reach Helmsley I have no idea how I got there! The day started with a lot of mist and very poor views across the moors, but most of this cleared to reveal another warm, tiring day, though the distant views remained misty all day. To start the walk I climbed out of Osmotherly along the Cleveland Way and headed up onto the open moor where I joined the Hambleton Track, which is an old drovers' road (cattle way), that goes straight on for miles across the heather covered moors of the Hambleton Hills. I'd seen so much purple flowered heather during the previous couple of days that I was becoming so fed up with it that I was desperate for a change of scene. 

This eventually happened when I left the track and dropped down through a wood past High Paradise Farm. Beyond the Sneck Yate Road I climbed onto the edge of an escarpment that has precipitous drops down to a lush tree-filled environment. This is Boltby Scar while the wood below was Town’s Pasture Wood, and it was the highlight of the walk. As the path clung to the edge of the escarpment the surroundings felt wonderfully wild with an abundant variety of plants that were a far cry from the heather filled moors. I continued along the path under the hot sun in a wide arc at the top of a steep hillside above extensive woodland. On rounding a corner I passed the sparkly Gormire Lake, nestled in a woodland setting, and came upon Sutton Bank, where a main road, the A170, climbs up the steep hillside on its way to Helmsley. Crossing this busy road I stopped at a vantage point where the extensive views across the wide Vale of York were hazy in the hot sunshine. After lunch I set off along the edge of the escarpment around the perimeter of a gliding club. Around a corner of the escarpment I came upon a large white horse made out in stones on the side of the steep hillside. After looking at the white horse and the extensive views southwards I returned around the corner to a signpost that marks the continuation of the Cleveland Way. This was where things began to blur for me as the Cleveland Way leaves the edge of the escarpment and heads out across dreary farmland to the village of Cold Kirby. I do remember that I didn't like the farmland that I was walking through as I thought it was a little too much like that found in Leicestershire. According to the map I must have passed through the village of Cold Kirby and continued down into the valley of Nettle Dale. This valley left little impression on me as I walked along a wide track before joining a road. I do remember the long, dreary walk along that road and passing a particularly fine looking ruin of an abbey, which would have been Rievaulx Abbey, considered by many to be one of the most beautiful abbeys in England. I wish I’d visited it. 

With aching legs I eventually reached the small town of Helmsley where I collapsed into the youth hostel. This was not a great walk but at least it did have one or two memorable moments. The final stage of the walk contained all that I consider bad about long distance paths. For years I have shunned long distance paths and been content to just go up individual hills, but in the last couple of years I have taken an interest in stringing along a series of great walks across great countryside. Unfortunately some of this walk was just too tedious, and I was too tired to be interested. However, since this is actually usually the start rather than end (as in my case) of the Cleveland Way, maybe the gentle couple of miles to the escarpment are a deliberately easy start. Whatever the case, it wasn't to my taste.