Autumn Walk 2021 - Castleton Moor & Danby Dale

Friday 15th October 2021

Walking Diary (All Walks) North Yorkshire & Co Durham Country Pub Crawls North Yorkshire Moors

Its been over 18 months since we have been let loose into the countryside to re-start our bi-yearly pub crawl event. We are so much out of sync, this has been titled an 'Autumn Walk' rather than the usual Summer or Winter ones. The debate is now whether to have a Spring one to complete the set. Lets just wait and see.

Todays walk/crawl was limited in mileage but also in pub numbers - they either don't exist or are no longer opening all day. It's getting harder and harder to arrange a suitable walk to keep everyone happy. Fortunately, most were content with 3 hours of walking and the 6 hours of drinking - actually when I think about it, I had the least amount of moaning and whinging on this one compared to any of the others. So maybe this is the future !

For once we took advantage of the train and boarded the Esk Valley line to Whitby just after 10am and departed off at Castleton Moor where fortunately the now very smart Eskdale Pub was just opening up for the day (probably the only one for miles around that catered for the early walker/drinker), so it was a hop, skip and a jump from Platform 1 to rest our weary legs for the first couple of the day.

The next stretch was the only real walk of the day - heading up through Castleton itself and into the very picturesque Danby Moor before lunch at the Fox & Hounds in Ainthorpe. Nice beer and a lovely meal.

Next stop was Danby, only 15 minutes down the lane followed by a couple of hours in the Duke of Wellington. As the light began to fade, we headed back along the Esk Valley Way to Castleton and spent the rest of the day in the Downe Arms before grabbing a quick whisky on our way back to the station at the Eskdale. As the trains only turn up every four hours and this was the last of the day, it was important not to overdo our last stop.

Upon our return, the hardier members of the group managed to head off into town and somehow continue the days celebrations - For me, it was time to take off my boots and head home.

A great day out all round ! I've missed all this over recent times, roll on our next trip !

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Distance: 7.5 miles
Duration: 9:15 hours
Ascent: 1058 ft
Difficulty: Moderate/Easy
Accompanied By: Davy, Dicko, Ste, Mark, Casino & Rob
Weather: Dry, Fine & Sunny Intervals

3D outline of route

Parking

First pint of the day in the Eskdale at Castleton Moor. This pub is a lot smarter than I can remember from our last visit - possibly making use of lockdown ?

After the climb up into Castleton, it was out into the countryside and the sumptuous expanse of Danby Dale.

Chaos abound, as for a minute the group think they have lost their guide !

Heading in the direction of Botton as we all enjoy the Autumn sunshine.

A photo opportunity as we enjoy the lush greenery of this very quiet part of the National Park. Danby Dale is one of a series of valleys that flow north into the Esk, creating a pattern of valleys and ridges that give the area its distinctive character. We didn't bump into any other walkers throughout the whole day (to be fair though, 2/3 of the day was actually spent indoors)

There's always one who is fitter than the rest - as Ste shows off by racing ahead

Ready, Steady, Go ! "Were running up that hill" as Kate would have said.

A rest at the top to admire the view.

St Hilda's Church, Danby Dale

The sun shines on the righteous - He's a good lad is Rob ! but he's not to keen on the other loud one.

Crossing the River Esk at Danby.

Afternoon stop at the Duke of Wellington, Danby

All smiles as Rob treat us to some of his walking gymnastics as he entertained us with his customary slip slide and splat into the muddy track !

As the sun starts to set, we are given some stunning views of the North Yorkshire countryside where the colours seem to gain even greater depth.

The day wouldn't be complete without a 'selfie' -Plus as I take most of the photo's, I'm hardly in any of them !

Capturing the sun setting as we head back to Castleton. Pretty good photo, if I do say so myself - think I'm getting the hang of this finally.

Another pub that has significantly improved since our last visit - The Downe Arms at Castleton.

Most of us had head torches - but we needn't have bothered as Mighty Minion Rob's was so powerful it illuminated the whole of North Yorkshire.