DAY 12 ... CLAY BANK TOP TO GLAISDALE ... 19 MILES
A grapefruit half, cereal, scrambled eggs and toast
w/tomato, a very nice breakfast in the sun room.
Mandy drives me back up to Clay Bank Top at 8:30.
Weather is cloudy and breezy, but no rain. Its a
long steep climb up onto the bleak but stunning
Yorkshire moors, then a fairly level, slightly
undulating walk across the moor. Stone stele are
placed to show the way, relics of a past era that
aren't needed today for the path is now wide and
clear, even cyclist use it.. Up ahead, the disused
Rosedale Ironstone Railway bed joins the C2C and the
Cleveland Way turns north at Bloworth Crossing
following the RR bed. I continue on the RR bed,
crossing wide ravines with builtup earth, no bridges
or viaducts, as it leads toward the Lion Inn.
Disused Rosedale Ironstone Railroad Bed Leading to
Lion Inn, Oct 2006
A fast walker catches up with me. He is doing the 44
mile Lyke Wake Way (24 hours) in practice for a July
4 four day C2C competition. Up ahead, he takes off
left across the wild moor on no discernable path. I
have no idea what he is doing! Does he? Further
along is the apparent path for the Lyke Wake Walk.
Perhaps the poor fellow lost patience. I pass the
Lion Inn at 11:30, nine miles in three hours, then
follow the tarmac road north for 2 miles along the
upper west side of Rosedale and around Rosedale Head
to an old stone monument called Fat Betty. No one
seems to know its purpose.
The Lion Inn
Centennial Stone
Rosedale Looking South, Oct 2006
ROSEDALE DIVERSION, OCT 2006
On my walk in 2006, I turned south at the Lion Inn
to walk the Rosedale Loop, staying the night near
the village of Rosedale at August Guest House. The
Rosedale valley is a beautiful eliptically shaped
depression with a walkable disused RR bed around the
complete loop. Ruined ironstone calcination kilns
line the east side of Rosedale up above the valley
floor. The railway carried ironstone ore from the
kilns and then to north counties. Calcifying the
ironstone reduces it weight and makes its transport
more economical. The operations ceased in 1926,
leaving all to fall into magnificent ruins. The next
morning, I climbed up onto the eastern RR bed,
passed the coal bin, calcifying kilns and worker
housing, then north to near Rosedale Head. Here, my
host at August House had shown me a path leading
onto the moors through the heather and up to the
road where I meet up with the C2C at Fat Betty. This
morning walk was absolutely fantastic, looking down
over the valley floor and across to the Lion Inn
plus the challenges of a RR bed that had seen quite
a few physical disruptions.
Crossing the Rosedale Valley Floor, Oct 2006
Ironstone Calcination Kilns and Friends, Oct 2006
Railroad Bed, Kilns and the Valley, Oct 2006
Ruined Brick Miners Housing In Rare Sun, Oct 2006
Looking Across the Valley East to West, Oct 2006
BACK TO MY 2009 WALK
I pass by Fat Betty and stop at Trough House, an
1801 stone hut overlooking Great Fryup Dale. Here I
have lunch of an apple and a snickers bar. After
walking around the head of Great Fryup, wonderful
views, there is a bit of road walking on the ridge
between valleys. I meet a fellow going to Glaisdale
who is determined not to walk on tarmac so he is
following some very peculiar paths which send him in
circles. I leave him poring over his map. A dirt
track takes me across Glaisdale Rigg into Glaisdale
to Beggars Bridge B&B at the far lower end across
from the train station. It takes me 30 minutes to
walk from the top of the village to the bottom,
arriving at 3:30. Today was an easy 19 mile walk.
Great Fryup Dale, Oct 2006
C2C Signpost Between Trough House and Glaisdale, Oct
2006
Not too surprisingly, the b&b is across from the
famous 17th C. Beggars Bridge, but also used to be
the train station house.
A nice welcome by Jeanne who serves me coffee,
toasted tea cakes and cookies in the conservatory
(sun room). I have a nice, large ensuite room with a
soft double bed, a superb place to rest. Jeanne will
wash some clothes for my flight home.
Beggars Bridge in Glaisdale, May 2009
Beggars Bridge, Oct 2006
At 7 pm, I walk across the road in the rain to
Arncliffe Arms for dinner and hope to meet Bill and
Katie there. I order an organic ale from North
Yorkshire Brewery, very tasty. This makes up for
being out of Black Sheep last time I was here. For
dinner, I have a warm goat cheese tart with red
peppers, olives and tomato. Excellent! Great salad
too. As I'm served, Bill and Katie come in looking
like drowned rats. Its raining hard and they had to
walk from the top of the village, actually Red House
Farm where I stayed in 2006. I loved the place, but
hated having to walk all the way to Arncliffe Arms
for dinner and back in the dark, then back down in
the morning. B & K felt the same way. My b&b is much
better placed as I had anticipated.
Arncliffe Arms. Oct 2006
Dinner at Arncliffe Arms