Cleveland Way (Part 4) - Clay Bank to Great Ayton: 23 May 2010
- Distance
- 13 miles
- Difficulty
- Moderate
- Location
- Clay Bank … Map of start point
- Transport
- Moorsbus M2 during the summer
- Leader
- Bridget
We met at the pretty little town of Great Ayton, where even at 9.30 the sun was baking down and people were buying ice creams and sheltering in the shade as we waited for the bus. Jonathan and Andrew arrived with seconds to spare, the bus arrived, and we were off!
Leaving the bus at Clay Bank, we started straight up the hill, with a 200m climb up to Round Hill, the highest point on the North York Moors. After the initial ascent, the path levelled off, taking us to Bloworth Crossing, where we turned sharp left along the ridge over Burton Howe. Thankfully there was a gentle breeze taking the sting out of the blazing heat. To our left, we could look back at the route we had walked in the morning - the Cleveland Way makes a huge dog-leg, but it does maintain its height, a shortcut would involve a lot more hills!
As afternoon arrived, we joined a quiet road and started the descent into Kildale, where the group made good use of the tearoom in the village, especially a certain person who will remain unnamed, who had two milkshakes. (Heck, why should he remain unnamed? The greedy culprit was Matt!) Refuelled, we attacked the second big climb of the day, again struggling under the hottest day of the year so far. We reached the top and turned off the road onto a path through the trees - oh, wonderful shade! Then a tiny bit more up, and we reached the day's goal, Captain Cook's Monument.
From there, we left the Cleveland Way to drop steeply down through the trees and back across farmland to Great Ayton, where we watched kids playing in the stream, but decided not to join them!
Photos by Stevie, plus one by a random stranger on Tracy's camera