Post 113: 14 February 2017, Cleveland Circles 15.
After a 7.30am start we arrived at a bookshop in Guisborough just after 9.00am. A quick recce of some local books and I had already spent £10 on a book of aerial photographs of Cleveland, where we were walking, called Ancient Cleveland From the Air by Richard Crosthwaite.
It was sad that the book was published in 1986, the year I moved to Yorkshire, but he died at the age of 53 in a flying accident on 8 May 1987 at Fangfoss Farm near Pocklington, whilst undertaking routine circuit training. This was before drones and he took the photographs from a microlight. They are superb and record historic sites from Neolithic Man to Bronze Age, Iron Age, Romans, Viking and after. The fleeting hour of life is quickly spent……….
We left Guisborough at 9.50am somewhat later than our normal starts. We soon entered an area that has a strong history of ironstoneworking, especially when ironstone was discovered in 1848 at Loftus. There was evidence of ironstone in these rocks we passed.
It has taken me 65 years to reach the conclusion that knowledge is knowing there are so many things that one doesn’t know…………
There is an awful lot that I don’t know about ironstone working. Suffice to say here that in the 19th Century the great ore field around Guisborough and along the northern edge of the Cleveland Hills became the main source of ore for the furnaces of Middlesborough. In 1860, 600,000 tonnes of iron per year were being produced.
We climbed fairly continuously towards Highcliffe Nab and it became evident as to why the Viking’s called this area ‘Cliff Land’.
We stopped for lunch in the shelter of Highcliffe Nab (note the iron stains) at which point Sid suddenly realised he had lost his hat somewhere between there and Guisborough.
This was the third hat he had lost in a year, a sinful threesome, and whilst carol and myself sat and had an enjoyable lunch in the sun he was sent back down the very steep hill to try and find the hat.
Under Ethics Committee rulings:
to loose one hat merits a warning,
to loose two hats merits a red card
to loose three hats it would be the stocks as shown here.
About 20 minutes later he returned hatless and so it was to be the stocks.
He looked desperately in the distance for his hat, whilst wearing his spare hat.
But still it failed to turn up.
So we carried on along the Cleveland Way National Trail, which was opened on 24th May 1969 at Helmsley Youth Hostel, to become Britain’s second long distance walk four years after The Pennine Way was opened.
On the last mile we entered the peaceful, sun-soaked tranquil grounds of Guisborough Priory.
We arrived back at Guisborough Market Square and Cross.
Then we moved into Bakehouse Square with the 2004 Mural
Now where were the stocks?
Not being able to find them Sid had the idea at the end of the walk that we could drive to where he might have dropped his hat. I gave him a 10% chance of finding it. But against the odds there it was on a post! Unbelievable. A lucky let off. He avoided the stocks.
Driving back over the moors we saw cool and trendy Shaun the Sheep waiting for bus
and the White Cross.
Miles Walked 10.3
Calories Burnt 996
Steps 23,558
Average Pace 19.14 Minute per Mile
Maximum Pace 6.11 Minutes per Mile.
Elevation Gain 844 ft
Minumum Elevation 299 ft
Maximum Elevation 1,046 ft
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