Chop Gate in Bilsdale

Harry Mead put on his countryside historian hat recently when he wrote an article in which he complained that the Badger Stone at the head of Bransdale had disappeared off the latest Ordnance Survey map for the North York Moors and indeed it has.

I had a search and found the stone named in 1857 script on www.old-maps.co.uk, and then surprisingly it turned up on the Defra map that one uses to check the open access status of any portion of land. It seemed a visit was in order so off we went to Chop Gate in Bilsdale.

Soon we were climbing to the moors, leaving the last of the lumpen sandstone walls, and levelling to the tops. In his article Harry Mead had also bemoaned the downgrading of the Cleveland Hills by name and thus distinction. Certainly on this walk they look superb and you'll see to the plains through the saddle in them, the one that's flanked by the Wainstones.

We marched on to the highest trig point on the map, at 1,500ft and one of the best. People flock to the moors for the late-summer purple but often there's heat haze. Spring brought long panoramic views - the "Cleveland Classics", Teesside laid out on the flats with the sea beyond, to the west the Dales, even a power station York way.

We lounged in the lee of the trig point and mused about the lizard we had seen, a viviparous lizard.

This is the best time to see these six inch reptiles because they bask more in the spring, trying to warm up in any sunshine, it's also mating time which involves the male seizing the female in his jaws.

Then we focused on the Badger Stone, and Mr Mead is right, it's impressive, visible nearly a mile away, the only big rock on the heather. Close up it's actually two rocks side by side, each, and pardon the image, larger than a caravan.

The sandstone is undercut and smoothed and clearly it's not much visited because there's only one name carved on it, and on the top, thankfully undisturbed, the Badger has a thick thatch of heather.

Views down Bransdale opened up, the Hawnby Hills showed, a mountain biker zipped by, and Tripsdale was to cross. Now this is a significantly steep valley, a long time SSSI with a beck and crags and birch and oak.

The hairpin bends of the shooters' track took the sting out of the climb and after a bit more on the flat, there's a direct descent straight down to Chop Gate.

Fact file

Distance: Eight and a half miles.

Time: Four hours.

General Location: North York Moors.

Start: Chop Gate.

Right of Way: Public routes and Open Access land.

Map: OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western area.

Dogs: Were legal under the old but extant Open Access agreement, but now definitely illegal under the Crow Act.

Date walked: Friday, April 14, 2006.

Road route: From York, via Helmsley.

Car parking: Village hall, free.

Lavatories: Village hall.

Refreshments: Inn at Chop Gate.

Tourist & public transport information: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173.

Terrain: Mostly moor.

Points of interest: Of lizards Britain has but three species, the sand lizard that is big, rare and doesn't live up here, the common or viviparous lizard, the slow worm that is legless.

Difficulty: Moderate in good weather.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.

Directions

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

Left from village hall car park, pavement through village, first road right (sign St Hilda's Church).

On sharp left-hand bend, track and fieldgate on right (sign), fieldgate, fieldgate, fieldgate (waymark) and steepish uphill on grassy path near wall to left, gateway, pass stone shed.

Gate to moor (waymark), up bank 50 yards to grassy path at 1 o'clock, joins dirt/stone track at stone Nawton Tower Estate access sign.

Right to track at junction (waymarked post), pass Trig point, half mile.

Track on right, 2/3 mile.

Right at tracks' junction, down to stream and Badger Stone (NZ 605004), uphill.

Track on right, quarry area after 50 yards.

Right to track at T-junction, track down and up sides of Tripsdale.

Right at track junction (wall corner 50 yards away), 100 yards, left, 50 yards on path to fieldgate, path downhill, fieldgate, cross field, fieldgate to walled track, swing right to farm, track. At second stile on right, diagonally across field, stile and right to road verge into Chop Gate.