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WALK 3

Lockton, Stain Dale, Saltergate and Levisham Moor

Start/finish	Lockton Youth Hostel, SE 845 900
Distance	20km (12½ miles)
Total ascent/descent	390m (1280ft)
Time	6hrs
Terrain	Generally easy, but a long walk; woodland tracks and field paths in the lower dales give way to higher moorland paths and tracks
Maps	OS Landranger 94; OS Explorer OL27 South
Refreshments	Horseshoe Inn at Levisham, Lockton Tea Rooms at Lockton, possible café at Saltersgate
Transport	Regular Yorkshire Coastliner buses serve Lockton and Saltergate from Pickering and Whitby.

Lockton and Levisham lie within easy reach of deep dales and open moorlands. This fine, long walk leaves Lockton and drops down into Stain Dale, then later climbs to reach strangely sculpted rocks at the Bridestones. Newgate Brow and Saltergate Brow allow wide-ranging views across the moors and dales. An easy walk over Levisham Moor leads to the charming stone village of Levisham, which surrounds a spacious green. The last stretch of the the walk crosses a deep, wooded dale on the return to Lockton.

Leave Lockton and its little youth hostel by heading for the A169 road, as if going directly to Saltergate. If arriving by bus, the bus stop is beside the main road. Cross the main road to enter a field. Don’t follow the grassy track alongside it, but strike diagonally right across the field. If there is no trodden path, keep to the right of a pylon to find a track leading down through a gate. Go down the track into a wood and pass through a couple more gates. Watch carefully, as the route avoids Staindale Lodge in the following manner: turn right as marked up a grassy slope, turn right up an access road to a gate and stile, turn left to follow a track through a wood, then just before reaching a cattle grid, turn left to cross a stile and walk down to Staindale Lodge. Keep to the right of outbuildings, cross a ladder stile and turn right along a track.

Follow a grassy path through Holm Woods, then continue walking through meadows in Stain Dale. Use power line poles as guides when looking ahead to spot gates and stiles. Pass to the right of buildings at Low Staindale, then climb a little to find a grassy track and follow it down to ford a stream. Turn left to go through a kissing gate and enter little Dovedale, with its ancient oak woodland and flower-rich grasslands. Cross a little footbridge over Dovedale Griff and walk along the grassy floor of the dale. Cross another little footbridge and follow a stone-paved path up a ridge called Needle Point, which is sparsely wooded, with a lush ground cover of heather and bilberry. The path levels out and runs through a groove in the heather, then a sandy path leads to the Bridestones, at around 200m (655ft). Turn right here, away from the oddly sculpted rocks, to follow the path into a little valley full of birch and bushy bilberry. Climb uphill a little and swing right to pass more curious outcrops, including the deeply undercut, top-heavy Pepperpot.

The top-heavy Pepperpot is one of the natural Bridestones sculptures

Turn left along a clear path and keep left at junctions with less well-trodden paths. A clear track runs onwards, with Dalby Forest to the right and scrub moorland to the left. Keep to this track, which rises very gently as it proceeds, to reach an improved pasture on Newgate Moor. Turn slightly left to follow another track along the top of wooded Newgate Brow, with the hump of Blakey Topping prominently in view. Later, watch carefully for a narrow path slicing down to the right. An old stone gatepost partly buried in the undergrowth helps identify it. Follow this path down across the wooded slope and continue along its foot, keeping left of farm buildings at Newgate Foot.

Cross stiles on either side of the access road and turn left along a grassy terrace. Watch carefully for a small gate on the right and walk down through a squelchy field to a large gate. Follow a path that gradually drifts away from a forest, going through more gates as a couple of big fields give way to bracken moorland. Continue until you reach the prominent leaning stone pillar of Malo Cross at a junction of paths.

The leaning stone pillar of Malo Cross and the rounded hump of Whinny Nab

Turn left alongside a fence as the path rises gradually from a slope of scrub woodland and bracken to the top of a fine grassy brow. Alternatively, climb straight from the stone cross on to Whinny Nab, at 296m (971ft), then continue along the brow. Either way, keep walking along the grassy brow, with views down to the former Saltersgate Inn. Go through a gate beside a shelter belt of trees. Turn left to follow a path running parallel to a track, reaching a farm road. Turn right along this to reach the busy A169 road. A national park information van might be parked nearby in summer.

THE LEGENDARY SALTERSGATE INN

Saltergate was an important trading route running inland from the coast. It was also known as the ‘Salt Road’ or ‘Fish Road’. Smugglers carrying illicit goods along the road would often hole up at the Saltersgate Inn. According to local lore, revenue men raided the inn one night, but the smugglers ensured that nothing was discovered. However, one revenue man who lingered too long afterwards was killed and his body buried beneath the hearthstone of the inn. The landlord of the day insisted that a fire was kept alight to deter anyone from digging up the hearthstone, and this tradition was maintained for generations afterwards. The ever-blazing fire at the inn became a tourist attraction in its own right! Alas, the fire burns no longer and the inn closed in 2007. There is a plan to demolish the inn and build a café and small brewery.

Cross the road with care and turn right along a path to reach a gap at the head of the Hole of Horcum, above a sharp bend on the main road. Go through a gate and follow a moorland track a short way uphill that soon levels out at around 270m (885ft) on Levisham Moor. There is only one clear track across the undulating heather moorland, so route-finding errors are unlikely, even though the area is quite featureless. Small cast-iron plaques mark features of interest along the way. Tiny Seavy Pond and Dundale Pond, which were dug in medieval times as watering-holes for livestock, can be easily passed by unseen, as they are choked with vegetation.

The track crosses a gap at the latter, where there is a five-fingered signpost. Walk a short way uphill to leave the moorland at a gate, where it becomes a tarmac road, Limpsey Gate Lane, leading down into the attractive and spacious village of Levisham. Keep walking down the road to the bottom end of the village. Follow a path straight downhill, cutting out a sweeping bend to land on the road at a lower level. Turn left down the road to pass Levisham Mill Farm, deep in the valley. Climb up the steep road to return to Lockton.

LEVISHAM AND LOCKTON

Levisham boasts a broad central green surrounded by stout stone cottages and farmhouses. Facilities include the Horseshoe Inn for food, drink and accommodation, as well as Rectory Farm B&B. There is a youth hostel at nearby Lockton across the valley, as well as the Lockton Tea Rooms. The road between the two villages features 1:5 gradients on both sides of the valley.

Houses in Levisham face onto a broad, open green.