Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
5 THE NORTH YORK MOORS
Stretching from the outskirts of Thirsk in the west to the coast in the east,
and about half that distance in a north-south direction, the North York
Moors present an open, unenclosed, virtually uninhabited expanse of high
moorland that seems to have been devised solely with walkers in mind. In
reality the moors are not one, but a huge collection of them, almost 150,
each bearing a name, though quite where one ends and the next begins is
a matter for geographers and others who seek to debate such niceties.
Along the southern boundary of the moors lies the Vale of Pickering,
feeding into its companion, the Vale of Mowbray to the west, while the
northern extremities filter out as they reach Teesside. It is not by chance
that the whole of this area, looking on a map not unlike the outline of Aus-
tralia, has been embraced within the North York Moors National Park. It
is a beautiful and true wilderness, traversed by few roads, and most of
those seemingly aimless. Here pheasant run madly about the woodlands,
grouse clatter through the low heather where once dinosaurs and ptero-
dactyls may have roamed, and primitive man settled at a time when cli-
matic conditions became favourable.
Not unlike the moorlands of the Northern Pennines in character, the
North York Moors are, however, rather less bleak, a touch more colourful,
and with escape in an emergency a little easier to effect - though when
the mist rolls in, and everything is lost save for the few strides ahead,
you may be forgiven for doubting that observation. There is much here to
please walker and naturalists, as well as geologist and industrial archae-
ologist.
Few walls or fences encroach onto these gently rolling moors, contrast-
ing sharply with the patterned fields viewed from the northern escarp-
ment, here known as the Cleveland Hills, where the loftiness of the vant-
age point also arouses sensations of great freedom and satisfaction. Not
by chance is a good section of this magnificent upland also shared with two
other walks of note, the Lyke Wake Walk, a gruelling 40-mile trek against
the clock, and the Cleveland Way, which in 1969 became Britain's second
long-distance path, all 109 miles of it - not bad for such a compact area.
Walkers staying overnight at Ingleby Cross, or nearby, might consider
taking time out to visit Mount Grace Priory.
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