Sunday 18th February 2001
Weather: Sunny but a bit hazy - another lovely day though
Today's walk - Saltburn - Warsett Hill - Skelton
( 9 miles )
Today's walk with some of my work colleagues begins at the Ship Inn, Saltburn (Grid Ref. 669 216)
From there we join the Cleveland Way path and climb the steps up to the cliff top path
Here we look back
west towards Saltburn - the constant erosion of these cliffs is
obvious from the photo
- great care must be taken on the more exposed parts of the way
We come across some strange metal sculptures further on - I haven't a clue why they're here
The railway in the
background is the mineral line serving the Cleveland Potash Mine
at Boulby
- in more romantic times, steam trains carried passengers from
Saltburn to Whitby on a glorious journey
Looking south-east
into the sun and haze we get a good view of Cattersty Sands,
Skinningrove Jetty,
Hummersea Cliff and in the far distance, Boulby Cliffs
At Grid Ref. 699
213 we leave the Cleveland Way path and after carefully crossing
the railway line
we climb steeply up Warsett Hill . . .
. . . to enjoy the superb views along the coast from the trig point - it's much better on a less hazy day
( Brian seems content enough though . . . )
From Warsett Hill
we follow a track south along the edge of the golf course and
after passing through
part of the village of Brotton we cross the A174 near the Gree
Tree pub (Grid Ref. 692 198)
and continue south along Kilton Lane for about ½ a mile
The old pit wheel
above has been sited on the new roundabout where the recently
opened
Brotton by-pass crosses Kilton Lane - it's a fitting memorial to
the thousands of men who once worked
in the ironstone mining industry which dominated East Cleveland's
employment for over 100 years
At Grid Ref. 693
189 we turn right and follow a path west across the fields soon
reaching the
ruins of one of the above mentioned pits - Lumpsey Mine (Grid
Ref. 686 186)
From Lumpsey we
again cross the railway line and follow the track west towards
the
village of North Skelton where I was born and lived for 37 years
Here we look back
north-east across farmland (and a good muck heap!) towards
Brotton
(Warsett Hill can just be seen to the left of the white house
prominent on the centre horizon)
Believe it or not,
the field in the foreground was where I played my first games of
football
- the pitch was then grazed by cattle and it was more difficult
dribbling around the 'cow-pats' than the opposition!
As we passed
through my old village it was sad to see the delapidated states
of some of the once immaculately tended allotments where my Dad
grew delicious fresh vegetables for our dinner plates
From North Skelton
we follow Machine Lane ('Mucky Lane' to locals) until it meets
Stanghow Road
- here (Grid ref. 668 182) we turn right along the road for about
100 yards then left up Trouthall Lane
Near the top of Trouthall Lane we turn right and follow a track
until we rejoin the Cleveland Way path
for the rest of our return route to Saltburn
From the top of The Hills looking north-west we enjoy a good view of my present home village of Skelton
I live to the left
of the tall white building (The Duke William pub) which is
centre-left in the photograph
Skelton Castle is in the right-centre of the picture and
Errington Woods are on the hill in the far distance
Redcar and the North Sea are usually clearly visible but not in
today's hazy conditions
From Skelton we
follow the Cleveland Way north across fields, then through Crow
Wood
and over Skelton Beck passing beneath the huge arches of the
railway viaduct
Continuing on
through Rigg Wood we soon reach the Valley Gardens
where some of my colleagues are enjoying a sit-down and a rest in
the sunshine
From the Valley Gardens it's only a short stroll back to the sea front where we enjoyed a pint in the Ship Inn
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