Carlisle & District Rambling & Fellwalking Club

Walk & Event Reports

Sunday 17th May 2015

Annual Coach Ramble

Osmotherly

A , B & C Walks Followed by Dinner at the 

Three Tuns, Osmotherley

Walk Leaders: Roger Tringham, John McKay, David Hall

Reports by Peter Flynn & John McKay

Photos by John McKay, Peter Flynn & Heather Perrin

A Walk

Without the assistance of the O.S. map I cannot be sure of the place names we visited on this walk*, but I do know it was a section of about 12 miles of the Cleveland Way – a long distance path round the edge of the moors overlooking Teeside with the continuation to the North Yorkshire coastline.  I believe we started at a place called Rosemary Topping** and the A party were all warned to “hit the ground running” as it was thought we would be struggling to complete the route in the time available. In fact 10 of us (“oh ye of little faith”) did it at a comfortable pace with 1½ hours to spare and in the meantime enjoyed what must be some of the best views in England.  The views were mainly to the north and north east.  We could see the whole of Middlesbrough,  Billingham, Stockton  and the intervening villages, as well as the sea off Hartlepool. It really was amazing.The weather was dry but windy – ideal for a long walk and the moors to the south looked dark and featureless,  certainly not inviting.   At one stage we descended to the valley and bumped into the B party who were following a similar route about 700 feet below us, a route that was equipped with toilets, cafés and all mod cons. For us it was back to the wild heights, through the edge of a forest and onto the village of Osmotherley, where we enjoyed an excellent dinner at the Three Tuns. Superb walk,many thanks to Heather and Roger for planning and leading it.

Peter

*Hasty Bank, The Wainstones, Cringle Moor, Carlton Bank, Live Moor ** Roseberry Topping 

B Walk

What a fantastic day. Not an area I’ve ever walked in before but definitely one I will go back to, absolutely stunning. Forty three of us on the coach, the A party were allowed off first, they were going to be pushed for time so hit the ground running. The B party, seventeen of us ambled casually behind them, we had plenty of time. We saw them several times along the way, we were walking in parallel but they were at a much higher level. We were walking along a lovely lower level path and the views were quite magnificent. The weather was fantastic, perfect walking weather. I took the wrong path at one point but realized after a hundred yards I had made the wrong choice and quickly rectified the situation. We arrived at the café along the way, the name of which escapes me, in perfect time for lunch. I can’t remember the last time I had such a civilised lunch stop on a walk, public toilets, tables and chairs, waitress service, what more could you want. The only down side was the rather sour faced waitress who served us. While we were having lunch the A party came through but they didn’t hang about. We set off after lunch on the only real climb of the day but it was fairly short and we soon reached the summit and trig point. Thereafter it was wonderful walking along the hilltops and we descended slowly to the woods. This is where I went wrong again, I chose the wrong path and after about half a mile my instinct kicked in, it didn’t feel right. The map was consulted in closer detail. We were heading off in the wrong direction but the situation was easily rectified. We may not have arrived in Faceby on the intended path but it turned out to be quite fortuitous as it was a rather lovely path with lots of lovely bluebells and yellow gorse. We were picked up by Tracey, our driver for the day and we were soon seated in the Three Tuns for our dinner. What a great dinner it was and the service was fantastic. Overall a brilliant day, many thanks to everyone who came along and special thanks to Neil for suggesting Osmotherley as our destination and to Heather and Roger for recommending the Three Tuns, doing a recce of the walks and providing such clear details for me to follow. I should have read them a bit more closely but we got there in the end.

John