This route covers moors, farmland and forest.  The first half of this route traverses the top of the Cleveland hills from Claybank (the same as the Round Hill walk) and heads West to Cringle Moor offering great views across Teesside.  The route then descends to the Teesside plane and returns to Claybank along the bottom of the hills and back up through the Broughton Plantation. 

Circular  |  13km (8 miles)  |  Difficulty: Medium to Hard

Claybank to Cringle Moor Elevation

The first section of the walk is well maintained and traversable in any weather.  The second part of the route is completely different though, the footpaths it follows appear to not be used frequently.  There are markers denoting where to go but so much of the way is overgrown walkers may often find themselves wondering where to go next.  Also on wet days the routes can be muddy along this section; incredibly muddy.  Because of the second half’s overgrown and muddy nature this part of the route can be very difficult to traverse and can slow walkers’ speed significantly.  Either choose a dry day to do this walk or prepare to get muddy.

1: From the car park the route follows the road uphill to where the Cleveland Way crosses it.  The route follows the Cleveland Way to the West where it climbs up Hasty Bank.  This is the first of three banks the route climbs along the top of the hills.

2: The Cleveland way eventually passes through the Wainstones.   Walkers can choose to continue along the top of the bank to get a closer look at some of the other stones or can follow the route downhill, the two paths meet up after a short distance.  The route continues along the Cleveland Way and starts to ascend a second bank.

3: The route, still following the Cleveland Way, eventually reaches a third bank (the highest point along this route) which it ascends.  If walkers don’t feel like going further uphill they can follow the path which skirts around the bottom of the bank to the right.  At the top of this bank are some amazing views of Teesside, as long as there isn’t any low cloud or fog.  Be aware that at the top there can be some strong winds, as is the case on all the banks along this section of the route.

4: The route eventually reaches the memorial for rambler Alec Falconer.  Again there are some great views across Teesside.  The route now heads downhill, still following the Cleveland Way.

5: Now the route leaves the Cleveland Way and becomes much more difficult to traverse.  There’s a gate to the right of the Cleveland Way as the route heads downhill from the monument.  The route here becomes rather convoluted since the path crosses a bike track which isn’t shown on recent OS maps.  Sticking on the path should eventually start taking walkers downhill.  The route winds left and right down the hill and can be incredibly muddy.  Halfway down the hill, the path becomes incredibly overgrown so it becomes difficult to see where to go.  There is a gate at the bottom of the hill which walkers should head towards.   After the gate the route heads further downhill until it eventually reaches a stile.

6: Walkers should cross the stile and look for the marker on the other side of the field.  Crossing the stile by the marker will lead through a wooded area.  There is a very faint path here which is incredibly overgrown.  Lots of ducking and pushing through the overgrowth will be required to get through.  Eventually the path will reach open fields which can be incredibly muddy.  There may also be cattle in these fields.   Walkers should keep following the markers to stay on route.

7: The path eventually reaches a farm where walkers should keep to the left (there is a marker pointing right for a different route which should be ignored). The route crosses a style and past the farm.  There is another stile further ahead which lets walkers onto the farm’s drive which the route follows down to a road.  The route follows this road briefly to the right.  The footpath is signposted continuing on Eastward.  Along this section the route is clearly marked and continues on till it crosses through a farm yard then follows a road.

8: The road eventually reaches a turn where it heads left.  There’s a footpath sign here which points up hill  The route turns right here and follows where the sign points up the track.  The route continues following the track as it turns left and continues along it till it apparently ends.  Despite appearing like the end, the track does actually continue ahead but it is very overgrown.  Along here the route can be very muddy and slippery (again).  Keeping to the right by the fence will eventually yield results as a clearer path emerges here.  Soon the route crosses a stile and heads up hill into a clearing.  Walkers will need to cross the clearing to find the markers for the route.  The route continues following the markers and eventually reaches another farm.  Following the markers takes the route through the farm then down towards the road.

9: Before reaching the road walkers there is a marker to the right. If walkers have not had enough with overgrown paths they can follow the marker, otherwise the route follows the main road uphill back to the car park.  The road is the longer option but is less of a climb.  The route following the marker leads back uphill into the Broughton Plantation.  The path occasionally disappears so walkers should keep to the fence on the right when this happens.  The path can be quite steep in places which may be made more difficult by slippery terrain. Eventually the path reaches a track in the forest.  Following the track downhill leads  back to the main road which walkers can cross and follow for a short distance back to the car park.

The first half of this walk is great and offers some amazing views.  However, the second half is muddy, wet and overgrown.  It appears it is rarely used.  Following this route the other way round is inadvisable, especially during wet weather since we effectively slid the whole way down.  Nobody wants to cut through muddy fields and overgrown tracks to reach an un-climbable section of hill.  A better possible route may be to turn back at the monument (point 4) and double track back, or follow the alternative route along the side of the bank, to point 3 where there is a crossroads.  From here you may be able to find a route that cuts back through the forest rather than heading to the bottom of the hill.