THE NORTH YORK MOORS - A Northern Coast to Coast Walk: From St Bees to Robin Hood's Bay - page 111

recovering, has some deceiving contours, which may be one of the reasons why the
justices sitting in Northallerton in 1711 decreed that guideposts should be erected
throughout the North Riding of Yorkshire (as it then was). Opposite the trig point on
the top of Urra Moor stands one such guidepost, the Hand Stone, with a rough carving
on each side depicting a hand, and inscribed with the words 'This is the way to Stoxla'
(Stokesley) and 'This is the way to Kirbie' (Kirkbymoorside). A short way further on,
and probably much older, stands the Face Stone, depicting a crude face incised on the
east face.
From the top of Urra Moor a broad track begins an easy descent to a spot
known as Bloworth Crossing, where the onward route joins the embank-
ments of the former Rosedale Ironstone Railway. At a line of grouse butts
on the left, ignore a faint green path going left, but keep ahead instead
to a slight boggy depression, climbing easily to the railway embankment.
On reaching the trackbed, turn right, and follow this literally all the way to
the Lion Inn - roughly 8km (5 miles) - at the head of Blakey Ridge, a long
serpentine walk of the easiest kind.
THE ROSEDALE IRONSTONE RAILWAY
The Rosedale Ironstone Railway was constructed in 1861 to carry iron from Rosedale
over the watershed to the furnaces of Teesside. Iron Age man more than likely worked
the Rosedale iron ore, but in 1328 Edward III granted land for that purpose to the
nuns of Rosedale Abbey. Five centuries later the ore was dismissed as poor quality and
worthless, only to be regarded later still as magnetic ore of the highest quality. Once
the railway link was made across the moors, some five millions tons were extracted in
the first 20 years. By the later 1920s, however, the seams had worn thin, and a de-
pression was looming, presaging the final end of the mining operations.
At a second gate shortly after Bloworth Crossing the route takes its leave
of the Cleveland Way, but is not yet able to shake off the Lyke Wake Walk,
which continues with us for some time yet. For a distance the railway bed
contours neatly around the head of Farndale, a wild and beautiful valley
renowned for its springtime display of daffodils, and once destined to be
flooded to supply water to Hull, until common sense prevailed.
After what seems like an eternity, the Lion Inn at Blakey Junction springs
encouragingly into view on the skyline, rather like an oasis after the track-
less way of the disused mineral railway. As it is approached, the trackbed
is left to pursue a path through heather leading up towards the inn (sign-
posted 'LWW').