Thanks to Kirsten, Paul, Scott, Sue, Vaughan, Nicola, Kev, Jordan, Daz, Carly, Steph, Donna, Laura, Hilary & Sox who all joined us for a wander on Wednesday.
Starting from White Cross at the end of Robin Hoods Butts, we followed a circular route that took us through Rosedale Intake and on towards Commondale via Box Hall.
White cross is a 19th century way marker, which stands on the site of a medieval cross. This marked the junction of the old west road between Whitby and Guisborough, and a minor track leading to Commondale. It is likely that these roads and tracks have been in use for many hundreds of
years carrying traffic between Guisborough Priory and Whitby Abbey.
After following Robin Hoods Butts for a mile, we turned off onto a trod taking across Danby Low Moor on Siss Cross Road, (Path). This is a good descent on a well-defined path, which passes Siss cross another medieval way marker, before joining the panniermans causeway above Rosedale Intake. Both routes have also been in use for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Once again showing the thread of continuity that runs deep within the landscape. When you step onto the old flagstones of a moorland trod it is easy to bring to mind a pannierman, someone who carried their goods in panniers, or a priest travelling on the same path without any aids to their navigation, aside from that given by the occasional
marker stone or cross.
Having passed through Rosedale Intake we joined up with the Esk Valley Walk path which took us towards Castleton Moor Station. An intake is a parcel of land usually of around 30 acres, or 12 hectares, that was "taken in " from moorland and put over to cultivation. The intake itself is some 10 miles from the village of Rosedale Abbey so the connection on the face of it maybe coincidental. But if you delve into the etymology, or origin of the word Rosedale, it appears to have been in use as far back as the 7th century. Made up from two words, Rose and Dale which stemmed from what may have been a personal name similar to Rossi or alternatively hross, which was old Norse for Horse. The second part, dale, comes from old Norse dahl, meaning valley. So, it is likely Rosedale Intake was "taken in" from the moor as a place to graze horses. Yes, I know I digress, lets carry on with our wander...
We followed the Esk Valley Walk until it came out onto the Castleton Road, just above the village tennis court, not quite SW19 but certainly good enough for a few sets on a summers evening. Several of the surrounding villages, including Ainthorpe and Glaisdale, have their own tennis courts, happily, they are all in a good state of repair, " new balls please".
Our route then followed the double cart track towards Box Hall, and Commondale, now only open to residents, foot travellers, and pedalists on national cycle route 165 it would once have carried most of the traffic between the two villages.
Just after Box Hall we took a minor path across the moor following the line of Shaw Dyke, which was indistinct in parts, which meant we had to do some heather bashing. Lifting your knees over the heather can get tiring after a while but is good training for the quads and glutes. Just before we joined the road, we passed some disused limekilns and quarries, which were in use in the early part of the 19th century. The seam of lime at the site was deemed to be too impure for agricultural purposes and was mainly used for the disposal of
animals.
Once on the road we had a steady ascent back to White Cross where our vehicles were parked. By the time we finished our run twilight had replaced daylight, high above the moors the first stars were starting to appear, one after the other, like the streetlamps of a celestial metropolis.
A timely, shining reminder that the nights are drawing in and head torches, will be required this coming week...
Our wander was just over 7 miles with circa 1000ft of elevation, over tracks, trods and moorland, all of which made for perfect trail running conditions on a late summers evening.
Until next week, "trot on"... 💪🦍
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