A Stroll With Stu: five-mile Saltburn circular offers stunning panoramic views over Teesside
If you want decent views, you generally need to gain a bit of height and this five-miler offers fantastic panoramas over Teesside, after a stiff climb up Warsett Hill near Saltburn.
At back of the Ship Inn, two paths begin their ascent.
Take the one on the right which rises slowly above the road, before curling left past cottages and farms then levels off on a wide track between arable fields.
Ignore any side-tracks and simply carry straight on, eventually crossing the railway line that takes Potash and Steel products from Boulby and Skinningrove respectively.
There is talk of reopening this line to passengers, giving East Cleveland a train service for the first time in donkey’s years.
Unfortunately, these things take an absolute age and require tens of millions of pounds of public money to be milked by some consultants with lucrative expense accounts, before announcing that the budget needs to go up by 350% due to unforeseen circumstances.
After the rail crossing the path bears left, curling around Warsett Hill – which looked rather loftier than I imagined.
After half a mile on the flat on a lovely grassy path, and immediately after the second fence line, take a sharp right uphill through some patchy bracken.
It is quite steep but you should soon reach a gap in the wall on your right, where the summit of the hill is announced by a prominent Trig Point (used years ago by people who paid attention in maths lessons to measure accurate distances across the land).
Pop over and have a look because the views are spectacular.
You won’t believe you’ve climbed that high as you peer down on that wide path from Saltburn, with all of Teesside stretching away in the distance and the sea and cliffs looking mighty impressive down to your right.
Retrace your steps through the gap in the wall and carry straight on downhill on an obvious path, going through an open gate to a further grassy field.
Now, the red “stop look and listen” signs that usually grace railway crossings are clearly visible to your left adjacent to the derelict Brotton Fanhouse.
The fanhouse is a huge structure that housed a Guibal fan (invented by Frenchman Theophile Guibal), which ventilated the Huntcliff Ironstone mine for 30 years at the end of the 19th Century.
The fan itself was an enormous 30ft in diameter, shifting many thousands of cubic feet of air per minute, much to the relief of the 88 men working deep underground.
The structure is worth a careful visit, as the housing for the massive fan is still clearly visible.
What is also clearly visible is a padlock round the gate next to those railway crossing signs, and (while the path in the field opposite is testament to those who couldn’t be bothered), you really need to head 200 yards further south to the official footpath crossing over the railway.
Turn left along the Cleveland Way and head back to Saltburn along the clifftops.
A while ago, I warned that the Cleveland Way is a mudfest in winter, but I did this at the end of that cold snap we had in January and the path was helpfully frozen solid.
Very soon, you will reach Richard Farrington’s steel artwork ‘Circle’ - or the Charm Bracelet as it is locally known.
Made locally with local steel, there are 10 items on the bracelet, all with a link to local life or Geography.
A Cleveland Bay Horse, a cat for Cat Nab (the little hill in Saltburn), a pigeon for the pigeon fanciers, a starfish and a mermaid from the sea, that sort of thing.
It’s really rather beautiful.
Sadly though, it was only there for six years before some unidentified nutters, unable to find an iconic sycamore tree, unbolted it and rolled it over the edge of Huntcliff.
Undeterred, it was recovered, repaired and permanently anchored with industrial strength bolts and superglue.
Just beyond the bracelet, the railway line comes ridiculously close to the cliff edge (and the path threads between the two!) before beginning a slow descent down to Saltburn.
Saltburn spreads out beyond the Ship Inn, and I can recommend a bracing walk down the pier, a quick coffee at Surf’s up, a fish supper at either of the sea front chippies and liquid refreshment with a view at the Spa Hotel halfway up the hill.
Enjoy!