Absolutely topping walk James old fruit. May 18th
Pub quiz question; Which Yorkshire captain went to Australia three times but never got a game?*
There are four of us out today, punmeister, routemeister, halfmarathonmeister and me.
Courtesy of Brian the punmeister we have "borrowed" a map produced by Diabetes UK, Great North Walk, 2011 for a charity walk.
We got off to a poor start by driving in the wrong direction, too busy chatting in the car, before anybody realised and we had to turn round and head for Pinchinthorpe at the western edge of Guisborough in Cleveland which used to be in Yorkshire.
Theoretically easy to find from Newcastle, through the Tyne Tunnel, down the A19, turn left on the A174, after four roundabouts turn right on the A171 and soon you are at Pinchinthorpe Visitor Centre.
Pinchinthorpe Centre is on the edge of woodland, has trails for esay walks, mountain bike trails and a Trim Trail with a variety of torture instruments, plus a selection of lovely wooden carvings of insects and animals; I liked most of them, but especially the fox.
Fantastic Mr. Fox at Pinchinthorpe.
A group of junior school children were excitedly waiting for their warders to assemble the mountain bikes they had come to ride and we headed straight for the Purple Mountain Cafe for a bacon roll and tea. The roll was awarded 3.5 flitches, friendly staff, nice surroundings and good bacon, but why can't the British make decent bread rolls?
Should you decide a map is necessary OL26 is the one and Pinchinthorpe Centre is at GR594153.
This is the route we meant to follow:
We started well, past the railway carriage that seemed to be used as a classroom but after about half a mile we made wrong choice number one and instead of walking towards Home Farm turned up into Bousdale Wood and wandered south along forestry roads to High Bousdale Wood, turned north east and walked through Hutton Lowcross Woods. The trail eventually became no more than a muddy path which climbed quite steeply. Eventually we found a sign that said "Hanging Stone" and took the path to this outcrop. A good place to be because it gave us a sight of the monument we had planned to visit and the solitary bump that dominates the area.
Heading south from the Hanging Stone we crossed Newton Moor and Great Ayton Moor before heading downhill to a carpark, picnic spot and information board at the foot of the path leading up to Easby Moor.
On Easby Moor there is a memorial to Captain James Cook:
Monument to James Cook on Easby Moor. To give some idea of its height, that is Harry routemeister standing by the railing on the left.
Naturally there is an inscription that gives a very brief account of Cook's life;
The plaque on the monument.
James Cook was born in the village of Marton, now a suburb of Middlesborough, in 1728. He joined the merchant navy, transferred to the Royal Navy, saw action in the Seven Years War which gave Canada to Britain. He was a brilliant surveyor and cartographer, mapping Nova Scotia and the St. Lawrence River in Canada. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. Like Captain Bligh he was sent to the Pacific to observe the transit of Venus and whilst there, as captain of the barque Endeavour mapped the north west coast of America before crossing the Pacific and landing in Australia, which he naturally claimed for the crown and the prison service. More maps too, the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. On his third Pacific voyage he was killed by the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii, in 1779. Although his exploits as cartographer and explorer are still admired, as a British Empire builder he is a bit frowned upon today by lefty revisionists. On his voyages he made his men drink lime juice to prevent scurvy, hence the nickname "limey" for the British.
It was breezy on the moor and not very warm so we headed downhill to find a sheltered place in the wood for a Herbiespot. Ben had his home made ginger biscuits again, he puts us to shame.
From the monument we retraced our steps down hill and back over the moors but when we joined the Cleveland Way on Newton Moor we turned left and after going downhill climbed to the top of Roseberry Topping, the bump that dominates the area.
I have given up on the Geography and become a Geologist. Roseberry Topping is an outlier of the NorthYorks Moors, sandstone laid down in the Jurassic periods sometime between 208 and 165 million years ago. Although eroded by ice wind and rain the sandstone cap protects the shales and clays beneath. In 1912 for a reason that is not entirely clear, possibly a geological fault or maybe as a result of alum mining the top collapsed, leaving today's distinctive shape. Next week: plate tectonics in one easy lesson.
The name Roseberry Topping has evolved, very slowly from the Viking for "Odin'sberg" to Roseberry. Topping means a hill top and is good old Yorkshire dialect.
Pub quiz question; Which Yorkshire captain went to Australia three times but never got a game?*
There are four of us out today, punmeister, routemeister, halfmarathonmeister and me.
Courtesy of Brian the punmeister we have "borrowed" a map produced by Diabetes UK, Great North Walk, 2011 for a charity walk.
We got off to a poor start by driving in the wrong direction, too busy chatting in the car, before anybody realised and we had to turn round and head for Pinchinthorpe at the western edge of Guisborough in Cleveland which used to be in Yorkshire.
Theoretically easy to find from Newcastle, through the Tyne Tunnel, down the A19, turn left on the A174, after four roundabouts turn right on the A171 and soon you are at Pinchinthorpe Visitor Centre.
Pinchinthorpe Centre is on the edge of woodland, has trails for esay walks, mountain bike trails and a Trim Trail with a variety of torture instruments, plus a selection of lovely wooden carvings of insects and animals; I liked most of them, but especially the fox.
Fantastic Mr. Fox at Pinchinthorpe.
A group of junior school children were excitedly waiting for their warders to assemble the mountain bikes they had come to ride and we headed straight for the Purple Mountain Cafe for a bacon roll and tea. The roll was awarded 3.5 flitches, friendly staff, nice surroundings and good bacon, but why can't the British make decent bread rolls?
Should you decide a map is necessary OL26 is the one and Pinchinthorpe Centre is at GR594153.
This is the route we meant to follow:
Heading south from the Hanging Stone we crossed Newton Moor and Great Ayton Moor before heading downhill to a carpark, picnic spot and information board at the foot of the path leading up to Easby Moor.
On Easby Moor there is a memorial to Captain James Cook:
Naturally there is an inscription that gives a very brief account of Cook's life;
The plaque on the monument.
James Cook was born in the village of Marton, now a suburb of Middlesborough, in 1728. He joined the merchant navy, transferred to the Royal Navy, saw action in the Seven Years War which gave Canada to Britain. He was a brilliant surveyor and cartographer, mapping Nova Scotia and the St. Lawrence River in Canada. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society. Like Captain Bligh he was sent to the Pacific to observe the transit of Venus and whilst there, as captain of the barque Endeavour mapped the north west coast of America before crossing the Pacific and landing in Australia, which he naturally claimed for the crown and the prison service. More maps too, the east coast of Australia and New Zealand. On his third Pacific voyage he was killed by the inhabitants of the Sandwich Islands, now Hawaii, in 1779. Although his exploits as cartographer and explorer are still admired, as a British Empire builder he is a bit frowned upon today by lefty revisionists. On his voyages he made his men drink lime juice to prevent scurvy, hence the nickname "limey" for the British.
It was breezy on the moor and not very warm so we headed downhill to find a sheltered place in the wood for a Herbiespot. Ben had his home made ginger biscuits again, he puts us to shame.
From the monument we retraced our steps down hill and back over the moors but when we joined the Cleveland Way on Newton Moor we turned left and after going downhill climbed to the top of Roseberry Topping, the bump that dominates the area.
I have given up on the Geography and become a Geologist. Roseberry Topping is an outlier of the NorthYorks Moors, sandstone laid down in the Jurassic periods sometime between 208 and 165 million years ago. Although eroded by ice wind and rain the sandstone cap protects the shales and clays beneath. In 1912 for a reason that is not entirely clear, possibly a geological fault or maybe as a result of alum mining the top collapsed, leaving today's distinctive shape. Next week: plate tectonics in one easy lesson.
The name Roseberry Topping has evolved, very slowly from the Viking for "Odin'sberg" to Roseberry. Topping means a hill top and is good old Yorkshire dialect.
The classic view of Roseberry Topping. It is such a popular walk that the path has been paved with old mill flagstones.
Looking north from Roseberry Topping. It was not a very bright day!
Again we retraced our steps from the hill and turned left across Roseberry Common and onto the same forestry road we had started on, eventually returning to the centre at Pinchinthorpe.
Not many trees are safe from this woodpecker
A parliament of owls; they look as wooden as some of our politicians
My Higear claimed a walk of 11.7 miles and the Benbragometer said the same.
Outdoor App worked well today although I inadvertently switched it off on Roseberry Topping.. However I noticed and started it again, recording the day out as two walks. Together they totalled 11.37 miles. I have yet to learn how to download them onto a blog, but I have appended a couple of maps below.
On the way home we stopped at a Premier Inn which was also a pub, the Cross Keys.
They had an American bitter which was rather like Timothy Taylor's Landlord and Black Sheep. The punmeister cracked a good one but I can't remember it. The memory tablets are not working.
* Answer; Captain James Cook
One of the most fascinating things about writing this rubbish is the Stats page on the blog, particularly the Audience section. Most of my readers are in the UK, second is the US and then, much to my amazement, Russia. Last week there was somebody from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
I suspect most foreigners know that in England we play cricket and that other cricketing nations are, on the whole ex Empire or Commonwealth countries. The greatest cricket contest is the series between England and Australia which takes place here or there every two years. The two countries play for a trophy called "The Ashes" (Google it). A single game can last five days and there are usually five games in a series. Games can end in a draw, even after five days, and spectators still enjoy it!
Anyway this explains the pub quiz question, I hope.
Contains Ordnance Survey Data(Copyright) Crown Copyright and data base right 2012.
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