11.0 miles
Explorer Map No OL26- North York Moors Western Area
With good visibility, this walk should be high on anybody's lists
of walks worth doing.
There is an initial steep pull up Rosedale Bank, but once you
are up on top the rest of the route is very easy, - both in terms
of navigation and in ease of walking. However, this gentle trail
provides some absolutely spectacular views, and at the same time
lets you appreciate something of the industrial past of this unique
dale.
For a Memory Map overlay of the walk described, please select the
above link.
(Overlay made with Version 4 of Memory Map)
Some new mapping software is now availabe which you may want to try, - QUO mapping. You can download the software for free from the link below, complete with demonstration maps. Having installed QUO, you can import and export Memory Map overlays. Thus YOU DON'T NEED Memory Map to use any of the overlays provided on the Grey Panthers website, - just use QUO!!
Park in the small car park in Rosedale Abbey (NZ44631
22735).
Head past the Village Store and make for the road bridge over the
River Seven. Cross the river. Where the road bends sharp left, there
is a footpath straight ahead of you beside a cottage. Follow this
footpath over a field until you reach a minor road. Cross the road
and take the footpath over the golf course (follow the waymarls) to
eventually head up Rosedale Bank. After a steep climb, reach the old
railway track bed.
Now head North Westwards along the old railway track bed, and follow
it past Blakey Bank to Rosedale Head.
Continue all the way round Rosedale until you come to the reamins
of the Iron Kilns.
Just past the second set of ruins, the footpath leaves the railway
track bed to head downhill past a farm to the hamlet of Swine Stye
Hill.
Cross the minor road, and follow the waymarked footpath to Low Thorgill
Farm.
Take the farm access road to the minor road, and turn left.
Follow this minor road for a few hundred yards until you come to a
footpath sign on your left.
Take the footpath down to the River Seven, then follow the footpath
all the way back to the village of Rosedale Abbey.