Distance 10.1 Miles
Climbing 1680 ft
Difficulty Moderate
Weather Fine
Company Mal & Richard.
One of the reasons we chose this route was because we would encounter a couple of long climbs and Mal and I felt that it would help with our preparations for the C2C.
We met up at his house and he drove us to Littlebeck where we parked at the village hall car park in return for a voluntary donation. Some parts of the route were either new to me or not walked for a long time so I was also taking the opportunity to brush up on my navigation skills etc.
The first part of the walk took us across some fields of lush pastureland to Low Farm and Goathland Banks where we began our first long climb of the day to the top of Black Brow. Although we did not actually see any, we were certainly in adder country; we knew this because we saw several skins shed by the growing snakes. From Black Brow my original idea was to then head for York Cross and Louvern Howe before returning to Littlebeck by way of Old Wifes Neck and Falling Foss, however, the lure of coffe & scones dragged us down Fair Head Lane to Grosmont. Once we were refreshed we retraced our footsteps up the 820 ft climb to the moor top and on in the general direction of Newton House plantation. By this time Richard was experiencing some cramp in his feet so we decided to head back to Littlebeck by the shorter, less demanding route via Lease Head Farm. As we neared Littlebeck I warned the others that there was some boggy ground ahead and Mal obligingly walked straight into it.
This was not a particularly long walk but I found it to be very enjoyable.