Rosedale Railways #2: Rosedale Circular 06/09/23

11.4 miles, from Blakey Junction, via Glead Holes. Slead Shoe Bents, Low Blakey Moor,

 Sherriff's Pit, Thorgill Head, Thorgill Bank, Hobb Crag, Bank Top, Chimney Bank,

  Rosedale Abbey, Abbey heads, Bell End, Plane Trees, School Row, Hill Cottages,

   Low Baring, Stone Kilns, Iron Kilns, Black Houses, Dale Head, Nab Scar, Reeking Gill,

    Seven Head, Cross Gill, and Blakey Swang.

Two warm and pleasant days off from the trail are spent, filled with activity before we get back to the business of the walking plan for this round of Summer Jollies, and we did not expect moorland mist to be on our menu in the midst of our warm spell, as it hangs in the air for the full duration of our 23+ mile ride out onto the moorland top, during which Mum demonstrates an amount of fearlessness in her motoring that belies her years as we tool our way up to the crest of Blakey Ridge again, to resume our exploration of the railway and ironworking that took place in the moorland edges of Rosedale, which falls away to the west and south of the road we ride the high road. We alight at 9.45am at Blakey Junction, with a 5 hour trip in our sights as we descend beside the infilled cutting that passed under the ridge road, down to the site of the Little Blakey hamlet that stood by the division of the railway lines around both sides of Rosedale, of which nought but feint foundation remnants remain in the landscape, and we'll head south from here, down the western branch, for reasons that will become apparent as we start our circular tour, with the mist already burning off as we pass through the gate by the end of the long switchback siding, with mist still obscuring views to the east, and the kiln complexes at the end of the eastern branch, which will get much of the day's attention. It's a steady contour-hugging walk to enjoy as we progress south, at about 360m with only the slightest of declines as we trot away on a decent cinder track surface, with sleeper markings still present underfoot as we look over the valley of Rosedale, trying to get some context of the landscape below as move on among the banks of purple heather that illuminate in the sunshine behind us, settling into the shallow cuttings that run atop the edge of the Glead Holes edge, and looking down across the long rib of Middle Ridge, where it looks like a huge piece of the valley side sloughed its way downhill in antiquity, leaving a scarred and wild landscape in its wake, one not caused by human mining or quarrying activity, with our surroundings becoming more steadily apparent as we track south. 

The Misty Morning view of Rosedale from Blakey Junction.

The Rosedale Western Branch, at the end of the Switchback Siding..

Awaiting the Views as we progress southwards on the cinder track.

Middle Ridge, below Gilead Holes.

The lumps of Bell Top and Abbey Heads rise in the valley's centre, reminding us that there's a longer walk down the valley side than the brain has imagined, while the pair of lines to the kilns and mines on the east side demonstrate a much greater distance apart in height than is apparent on the map, which will demand some judicious choice of route when we get around there, while the path forward demonstrates two clear moorland nabs to be passed above ahead of the southern apex, to give us more useful visual context as the interesting parts of eastern Rosedale start to pass behind us and I find joy in finding other people up on these bridleways, enjoying the solitude on a midweek morning, in the wake of the school summer holidays. A corner turn brings us upon the site of Sherriff's Pit, the only deep mine on the moorland, with its uncapped 82m shaft still open to the 500m long drift mine that cut in below from Thorgill, with a small amount of the manager's house and the foundations of the winding house complexes still enduring, along with and interpretative board and rusted iron silhouette to give visitors a feel for wat is no more as they take a break on the available bench, ahead of the sweep of the line around to Thorgill Head and above the fall of its back into the valley, giving us a trek around the high moorland apron that feels a lot like our previous trek, elevating us above Thorgill Bank and the eponymous hamlet below as the line moves easterly, giving us grand end-on view of the railhead on the eastern valley side. We then turn with the trackbed to resume south, with the quiet idyll being disturbed by the sound of roadworks on the lanes leading north out from Rosedale Abbey, which might cause route issues in our future, though more immediately all traces of the mist have been burned off as we gain views up, down and across the valley, passing through the shallow cuttings and low embankments that lead us to the staring bench above Hobb Cragg and the village at the valley's heart, giving us context of Rosedale as a whole, about level with the mid point and only a brief way on from the railhead on the western valley side, which arrives as quickly as it had felt far away. 

Two Nabs to come on the Western Branch, Thorgill Bank & Chimney Bank.

Eastern Rosedale Finally Illuminated.

Sherrif's Pit, above Thorgill.

The Embankment across Thorgill Head.

The view to the north of Rosedale, above Thorgill Bank.

Rosedale Abbey village, in the Valley Landscape.

Looking North, across the Purpling Heather Moors.

The sole large tree and the apparent farm that's actually the remains of the railway terrace stand on the high valley side, with the path moving away from the railhead, but not before we've observed the remains of the engine shed with its inspection pit still visible, where the line's trio of locomotives were stabled during their service on these isolated high lines, while below we find the remains of the western kilns, where ironstone was baked in the process of calcination to reduce its mass and start the process of purification before being shipped for smelting on Teesside, around which an almost lunar landscape resides, of spoil tipped off the valley side, and the remnants of mining in the valley below. Our high path ends its steady descent here, by the interpretative model and starts its very rapid descent instead as we join Chimney Bank as it drops rapidly downhill, with us taking baby steps as we pass north-eastwards through the disturbed moorland grasses that cover the quarried valley side, finding them to offer a more favourable walking surface than the tarmac as we come around the switchback corner that leads us into the rural landscape of the valley floor, continuing to decline as we come to the bank's foot at the White Horse farm inn, revealing why we chose the anti-clockwise turn around after shedding 125m in less than half a mile, ahead of the final slither downhill under the cover of trees to make passage over the River Seven via Bow bridge, and our proper arrival in Rosedale Abbey village. It was once an actual abbey site in the past, apparently, one of at least six in the North York Moors area, though now it has more of the look of a model village that doesn't quite square with having been the heart of an industrial community of more that 5,000 a century ago,  passing the cornmill that's now the site of the caravan park and passing through the pair of village greens among the cottages ad tearooms, with the school and St Lawrence's church adjacent, where more interpretative boards provide local history, ahead of taking lunch in the shade before we resume the push up the eastern valley side, to be found up New Road, beyond the old non-conformist chapel.

Engine Shed Remnants, near the Bank Top Railhead.

Bank Top Kilns.

Chimney Bank, among the ironworking remnants.

Chimney Bank, descending into rural Rosedale.

The White Horse Farm inn, Rosedale Abbey.

Bow Bridge, on the River Seven.

Rosedale Abbey, first Village Green.

Rosedale Abbey, second Village Green.

The road is apparently closed for resurfacing, but a query with the workmen reveals that it is open for foot traffic, which is a relief, allowing us to track on as planned, starting the steady rise among the high hedges and increasingly unpleasant heat as we pass the high lump of Abbey Head and alongside the fall of Northdale Beck, which advertises the presence of the eastern branch of upper Rosedale that we won't be tracing today, before we come up below the looming Bell Plantation upon Bell Top, meeting the men who regard me suspiciously as they do their tarmacking and we come by Bell End farm, which entertains me enormously, ahead of falling into the wooded groove that leads up Bell End Green beyond. Elevation enough has been gained to reconnect us with the landscape of Rosedale was we look south and west, progressing northwest as we join the Daleside Road past Grove farm, and again finding the path to be longer than expected as we decline unexpectedly to the stray terrace at Plane Trees cottages and the crossing of Gill Beck, before we come upon the long School Row terrace and the village hall for the very poorly defined settlement of East Rosedale, beyond which we get to rising again, pretty steeply to meet the pair of Hill Cottages terraces, forming an industrial-type street on the high fringe above the valley, right at the residential limit, ahead of our turn off the roads, ahead of the chapel, to resume the railway exploration. The apparent farmstead beside the rising bridleway is actually the office of the old coal depot, with the staithes still in place behind it, where coal was brought to the valley from the pits on the moorland, and our passage joins the rail trail by what remains of the Low Baring terrace, by another lunar landscape of spoil piles above the line and scatterings of debris off the valley side, from whence we get sight of the finish line on the high western side of the valley, as we come around to the brow on which the trackbed sits, much lower down than on the other side, at about 250m elevation, meaning that there's a lot of uphill, to the tune of 120m, to do as we run up, and down, the valley to get back there during the next couple of hours.

New Road Up, but accessible to Foot Traffic.

Bell Plantation, above Bell Top and Bell End.

Western Rosedale, viewed from Bell End Green.

The Village Hall, and School Row terrace, East Rosedale,

The Hill Cottages terraces, Eastern Rosedale.

The Coal Oddice and Staithes, Low Baring.

The Low Baring terrace remnants, and spoil heaps, at the Eastern Branch railhead.

Post-industrial interest immediately arrives beyond the first corner, though as the many arches of the so-called Stone Kilns arrive, where ironstone was fed into the tops from the high line adjacent to the many drift mines, and the calcined stone was loaded for export below, all looking like a construction far older than the 160 years that it is, a place to break and takin in the works of another age, as par rangers tootle by on their offroad vehicle, before we move on, not a whole lot further along below the roughly cragged hillside to meet the Iron Kilns, the younger of the pair, looking at once both more purposefully industrial and yet plausibly medieval at the same time, as it a castle remnant got left up here. It's definitely something to ponder as we move on, with these massive structures looming large behind us, and the remains of the High Baring Terrace and the East Mines complex above becoming apparent, especially as we come around over the fall of Gill Beck and loon back from the be-chimneyed remains of the Black Houses cottages, how 19th century industry could leave its mark on the landscape in such a romantic-looking way, when 20th century post-industrial landscapes have demanded their remnants be scoured out of existence and their grounds reclaimed and detoxified, a thought pondered so much we almost miss the junction with the upper line as it sharply descends to meet the main track once around the next hillside corner. The need to keep a move on is hampered by the heat, and distinct lack of a breeze as we press on above the plantation that rises right up the gill that the railway has to pass around on a high embankment as it flows down towards Dale Head, not at the dale's head incidentally, which in turn leads us below the high cliffs of The Nab, from where another good contextual view around Rosedale opens out, with the wild valley head lying ahead, with another low embankment keeping us on this plausibly unstable-feeling valley side, and leading us into the shallow cutting that offers just enough shade for us to water in, before deciding that we will travel bottle-in-hand from now on, above the diminishing fields and last few farmsteads below.

The Stone Kilns.

The Iron Kilns.

The High Baring terrace remnants.

Black House cottages, and the Romantic Industrial Ruins.

Retaining Walls and the merging High Line of the Eastern Branch.

The Dale Head Embankment.

Around The Nab, and the view to the Valley Head.

The next push, among heather gathering around the rail-side, after so long among moorland grasses is across the embankment that rises over Reeking Gill, the next massive structure that makes you realise the economic viability of the local mining operation (560,000 tonnes in 1873!) to demand this much effort to render it accessible, noting an obvious post-usage slip in the surface ahead of another shadow-casting cutting that turns us around towards the top of the valley proper, on among the heather and long grasses, and towards the only section of the old lines where the trackbed is no longer walkable, where reeds and a wetland landscape have overtaken it, forcing us onto an undulating gravel track at its side. The actual Rosedale Head lies beyond, and another embankment crosses it descending gill, via what must have been one of the sharpest curves on Britain's railways, passing us over the young river Seven and over the downfall of Cross Gill in not a whole lot of chains-worth of radius, more descriptively moving from north-westerly passage to south-easterly as we land back on the western side of Rosedale, and on to the most obvious rise on the whole Rosedale complex, uphill towards a water tower that fed the thirsty locomotives when hauling fully loaded trains back towards Blakey Junction. The final stretch is on beyond, with the house opposite the Lion Inn on the ridge road now plainly ahead and above as we press on, carrying the impression gained of the whole of Rosedale in my head as we rise over the heather and grass, and among the moorland pools of Blakey Swang as we push back up towards the high road, with that last mile feeling longer than it should as the track up to the pub and down into the valley towards Moorland Farm give the impression of proximity a whole 10 minutes before we get sight of the view that we didn't get at the start of the day, where we meet the rise back to the car park and weather station, to complete the circuit at 3pm, right on the schedule we had expected.

The Reeking Gill Embankment, and Cutting.

Downstream Rosedale from the Greenhead Brow reveal,

A Wetland Landscape consumes the Eastern Branch trackbed.

The Rosedale Head embankment, and the Crazy Curvature.

All interesting points in Rosedale visible from Rosedale Head.

The Water Tower remnant on the climb back to Blakey Junction.

The Lion Inn's companion house, above Blakey Swang.

The Last Gate of the Day is not the End of the Circuit, it seems.

Returning to Blakey Junction, right on schedule.

The Parental Taxi awaits, and Mum is in place on a convenient bench to enjoy the views and provide me with extra refreshment before we leave, having gotten the thumbnail sketch view of my trail, and our shred looks over the hills to place RAF Fylingdates on the western horizon, and our apparent proximity to the Wolds in the south, before Mum starts her sixth (6th!) moorland drive to get us back to Ruswarp, and I'm sure her motoring skills have tuned better to this landscape than my navigation abilities have as we seek an alternative route back towards Danby, and I really cannot express just how grateful I am that she is still willing do this for me, at just a month shy of her 81st birthday, and route knowledge gained up here this year might hopefully pay dividends for us in the jollies season for 2024, maybe?

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 6138.1 miles

2023 Total: 215.9 miles

Up Country Total: 5,646.3 miles

Solo Total: 5795.5 miles

5,000 in my 40s Total: 4738 miles

Next Up: Holiday Summary, and a Bonus Stroll!