Edge Walking

I followed the edge southwards. It wasn't an edge in the sense of any steep drops; the landscape just rolled away gradually to the flat fields in the west. I could see the extensive forestry plantations near to the village of Over Silton. I'd be travelling back through those woods later in the day and I wondered what challenges the Tree Troublers might present to me. The trail skirted the top of White Gill Head offering a great view down the valley. Further south above Kepwick Quarry, I could see a flag on the top of the hill and what looked like a long silvery line trailing from it. It was only when I got closer and saw a long line of mountain bikers queuing at the flag, that I could see that it was a downhill course for mountain bikers. A notice said it was 'stage 2' of whatever event they were participating in. My planned route would take me off the Cleveland Way and down into the valley to Nab Farm. The OS map showed an information point a bit further along the Cleveland Way and this perked my interest. I decided to go and see what it said as a short out-and-back. In truth, the board was only small and didn't say a great deal. I headed back to the start of the path down into the valley. 

Valley Walking

It was a pretty descent with a nice view over the wood and field landscape. A sign on the gate to the first intake field warned that cows with calves can be aggressive. I could see about 20 to 30 cows and calves milling about a beck that ran through the field. I thought I might be in for some trouble but apart from a couple of hard stares most of them looked quite lethargic. There was another field full of them further along the track past Nab Farm. Again, apart from a couple of the nearest ones, they showed no interest in me. I reached tarmac at The Nab and headed off towards the village of Nether Silton. It was a single track road and had practically no traffic. There was plenty of birdlife around.Two Buzzards flew from a nearby tree and started to ascend in small circles. I wasn't sure whether they were eyeing me up for lunch, since they followed me all the way into Nether Silton. In the centre of a village I joined a footpath that would take me over to Over Silton. It went alongside the back garden of a house and a man was laid out on a chair soaking up the sun and fast asleep. Mischievous thoughts about sneezing, or speaking loudly into my phone did pass through my mind, but in the end I left him to his slumber. 

Over Silton

I visited St Mary Magdalene's church on the outskirts of the village of Over Silton. I'm not a religious person, but the building intrigued me. It seemed to be missing a roof on the main part of the church and also to have an extension built on. Reading a notice at the entrance, the nave is the oldest part of the church, and probably 12th century. There is some evidence that it was a church even before the Norman Conquest. The name Silton was first mentioned in Saxon chronicles of AD780. Ton is a saxon name for a village. They are unsure as to where the Silt part of the name comes from; it could be Anglian (scelf meaning a shelf) or Danish (silt attributed to a person's name). I took my sunhat off and had a peek inside. It was nice and cool after the blazing sun from outdoors. The rafters looked quite old and so I presume the current roof as been in place for some time. There was a bench just outside the church's entrance and this made a very pleasant lunchspot. I could have almost fallen asleep if it wasn't for the near future prospect of walking through Tree Troubler Terrain. 

Silton Woods

My planned route through Silton Woods looked straight forward enough on the map. There was a clear bridleway and then a footpath that would take me through the woods to Oak Dale. From there I would just pick up the Cleveland Way and head back to Square Corner and my car. In fact, everything went to plan in the first half hour. The paths were clear, although quite muddy, and the signage reasonable. It was only when I branched off the bridleway and on to a footpath through the Thimbleby Plantation that things started to go awry. The footpath got narrower and I started getting the first stages of conifer claustrophobia. Eventually, it dumped me out on to a forestry road. I noted that there was no sign to indicate the footpath if you were going the opposite way. It would be very easy to miss. I then saw that the Tree Troublers had nuked the area where I expected the next stage of my path to be. I debated whether to follow the path as indicated by the friendly green line on my OS map, or make another route up using the forestry roads. The nuked area looked uninviting and so I chose the latter. 

The forestry roads remained true to my OS map and it wasn't that much of a hassle really. In fact some of the views along the roads were quite nice. Hambleton Hill, my first ascent of this morning, came into view and I headed in its general direction. Eventually my forestry road merged with the Cleveland Way a few hundred metres before Square Corner. 

Return To Square Corner

A couple of other walkers came back to their car while I was packing my stuff away. They'd just done a walk over the moors to the north. One of them said that he'd just tried out his gps that his wife had bought him last Christmas. 'Seems to work okay. I don't know why I need it though since me and my mate both do the same walk every time.' I thought about saying that Silton Woods might be a good place to test its usefulness. 

I really enjoyed today's walk. The weather was superb and the walking easy. The area around Nether Silton and Over Silton is typical North Yorkshire prettiness. Silton Wood was a good exercise in map reading and navigation.