North York Moors Walks
Roseberry Topping & Easby Moor
Date: 25th January 2008
Distance: 7.5 miles
Ascent: 1410 feet
Time: 3 hours 50 minutes
With: Lisa
Start Grid Ref: NZ562107
Walk Summary:
A very windy walk visiting Roseberry Topping and the Captain Cook monument, two of the best known landmarks in the Cleveland Hills.
Route Summary: Great Ayton - Rye Hill - Roseberry Topping - Cleveland Way - Great Ayton Moor - Cockshaw Hill - Easby Moor - Station Road - Great Ayton
Pictures:
1. Easby Moor with the Captain Cook monument on the skyline
2. Looking south to the Cleveland Hills
3. The distinctive profile of Roseberry Topping
4. Lisa by the shooting house below Roseberry Topping
5. Roseberry Topping
6. The trig point on Roseberry Topping
7. Great Ayton Moor from Roseberry Topping
8. Looking back at Roseberry Topping from Great Ayton Moor
9. On the summit cairn of Great Ayton Moor
10. The Captain Cook monument on Easby Moor
11. Another view of the Cleveland Hills
Walk Detail: I'd taken a weeks holiday which was supposed to be prior to Lisa going back to work after her maternity leave. Things didn't quite work out like that as she then found out she was about to be made redundant. Oddly enough our last walk in the North York Moors was shortly after I had been made redundant 15 months before.
It turned out to be the brightest day of the week and it was also the windiest. It wasn't too bad in the morning and the initial walk out to Roseberry Topping was quite pleasant though Lisa was a bit subdued due to her work situation.
Roseberry Topping was a fine objective and one of the shapeliest little summits in the north. The wind really picked up on the final climb though it wasn't as steep as it looked from a distance. The white painted trig was heavily defaced, but the view was excellent.
Due to the wind we didn't hang about long at the top which was a shame as in the right weather it would have been the perfect picnic spot. I enjoyed the descent and initial climb up on to Great Ayton Moor and was able to distract Lisa by discussing what type of house we would like to buy. Her mood improved considerably when we took advantage of the shelter afforded by the wall and plantation to have our soup.
I remember us both being in tears laughing so hard as I recalled some of the names the kids used to call each other whilst I was at primary school. In fact it put Lisa in such a good mood that she did not grumble too much when I then proceeded to make her cross the pathless moor to the summit cairn on the moor and then back to the wall again.
The walk down to the road and up to Easby Moor was also pleasant but by the time we reached the top the sun had gone behind the increasingly hazy cloud and the wind had really picked up. We only stayed long enough to get a couple of photos before fighting our way into the wind to begin our descent.
This next stage made me somewhat nervous as the gales were making the plantations creak ominously. Once out of the woods it was a fairly straightforward walk back to Great Ayton which was a beautiful village. All in all a good walk which I would certainly repeat in calmer weather (the drive home was particularly hairy in the strong winds).
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