Chop Gate, Bilsdale

ON AN autumn Sunday, the car park at Chop Gate in Bilsdale held dozens of walkers' vehicles, the Moors bus stop was marked with a sandwich board, the traffic was humming by from the smoke to the coast, and the North York Moors looked inviting.

We made a bit of height, enough to connect with a track running south, a provider of views across to the valley. En route were ripe brambles, stone posts notched for pre-gate bars, dribbles of springs, powerful oaks, the fuss of pheasants, some land that is probably rough from 19th century jet mining, and a field of thistles and damp that ejected snipe.

Along the route the field walls are of dry stone so regular that it could be used for fine houses, and there is a new house of pleasing tiered rooflines but a polka dot of pale and dark stone that needs some time to blend.

We had done a mile or two and looked for a way up The Nab. Theoretically there are three options, to the north of some woods, through them or round the far side of the trees. We chose the latter, avoided tripping on a water pipe that serviced the pheasant pens and did the climb, which involved a bit of bracken bashing.

On the top of the Nab a lovely track runs the ridge. Not that you will be steaming on regardless because soon there is a magic zone.

First a broken ring of small standing stones, about a dozen left, the prehistoric circle 20 feet in diameter. Like others on the moors they are called the Bride Stones.

Sit here and love it all, look down over the Nab to the joining of the valleys of Bilsdale and Tripsdale - it's gorgeous. To cap that, 50 yards on there is a treat too, a big cairn with panoramic, trigpoint-quality views including to the Cleveland Hills.

And that's the way we headed, Tripsdale tapering up to the moors to one side, Bilsdale wide on the other, a mile through the heather at 1,000 feet under a pastel sky pink through grey to blue.

The descent comes clean and direct, it's a straight line down, you can see Chop Gate from the top and pick out the Buck Inn Hotel. A few miles north is the Jet Miners pub in Great Broughton and a couple of miles more Stokesley, where they used to complain about the stink from the Bilsdale burning of the jet-bearing shale, rock that contains 20 gallons of oil a ton and was used for roads.

Done, we sat watching the bikes and chatted to members of the Teesside Trekkers filtering in from their half marathon.

Directions

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

1. From car park, right to road (verge), 100 yards, stile on left (sign), 1 o'clock across field, stile and left to track, 200 yards, stile on right (waymark), 50 yards, fieldgate on right (waymark) and immediately left, gate, fieldgate, uphill between wall and fence.

2. Through farmyard, fieldgate out, left to track, fieldgate, fieldgate.

3. Ignore right fork, 20 yards, fieldgate (waymark on its far side), 20 yards, 1 o'clock 100 yards downhill then 2 o'clock to waymarked post after stepstream, 11 o'clock uphill towards house for 200 yards then right to concrete drive (fingerpost), 150 yards.

4. Left to field-edge path (fence to left), fence or fallen wall (gateway blocked), stile/fieldgate on left before wall and uphill (waymark), fieldgate and right to wood-edge path (overgrown first 25 yards), stile out of wood, 11 o'clock for 25 yards, gateway.

5. Uphill diagonally through saplings to third of way up edge of next conifer wood, sharp left to join sunken path coming out of wood (waymark), 100 yards to stone post, 50 yards, right to overgrown sunken path which curls back up to just above wood corner, left to overgrown path beside wall to right.

6. Stile on gate in field corner, left, wall for 50 yards then ridge path becomes track. Cairn.

7. After wall corner below, 100 yards, left to track (propped up post), 50 yards downhill, fieldgate, path, fieldgate, cross field, fieldgate to walled track, fieldgate, track swings right then left through farmyard, track then outward route, second stile on right.

Fact file

Distance: Five miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: North York Moors.

Start: Chop Gate.

Right of way: Most of the route is along public rights of way. Some is on land that is double open access, under the long-standing Nawton Tower Estate Inland Revenue deal and now under the Countryside Rights Of Way Act; dogs are banned on this until June 12, 2010. Check access restrictions for people on www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk.

Date walked: Sunday, October 2, 2005.

Road route: B1257 via Stokesley or Helmsley. Moorsbus route.

Car parking: Free at village hall, signed.

Lavatories: Car park.

Refreshments: The Buck Inn Hotel.

Tourist & public transport information: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western area.

Terrain: Valley flank and moorland ridge.

Points of interest: Mining information from The Historical Atlas of North Yorkshire edited by Robin A. Butlin.

Difficulty: Moderate.

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

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 10:36 Saturday, October 08, 2005