The Sheep Walk’s Silent Lament

Long ago, or so the legend goes, a Danish chieftain met a sticky end amongst these rocky crags now known as the Wainstones, a name supposedly derived from the Old Saxon ‘wanian,’ meaning to lament¹The History of Cleveland, in the North Riding of the County of York … By John Graves. Available online at https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_esc=y&id=9UQQAAAAYAAJ&q=wain+stones#v=snippet&q=wain%20stones&f=false. Perhaps our unfortunate chieftain found his doom in this rather dramatic boulder-strewn gap between the rock outcrops, now rather humbly named The Sheep Walk by the climbing fraternity. One imagines, of course, that any sheep bold enough to navigate these boulders would be forced into an uncharacteristic diet, no doubt wondering why they did not opt for a more sensible pasture.

The sandstone boulders have been worn smooth by countless boots and hands over the years—decades, possibly even centuries—by those seeking to avoid a rock climb. This route has been trodden by Cleveland Way walkers since 1969, when the long-distance path was inaugurated, and would have been noted, though perhaps with little enthusiasm, in Alfred Wainwright’s 1973 book “A Coast to Coast Walk.” He would surely have nodded approvingly at this route, obvious as it is. As for the intrepid Lyke Wake walkers of 1955, they, too, must have blithely stomped up The Sheep Walk, blissfully unconcerned with the notion of getting lost.

But times have changed. Just as the chieftain’s followers once lamented their lord’s untimely demise, today, I found myself lamenting something far less noble: the proliferation of waymarkers. Yes, some well-meaning organisation has decided that the natural beauty of these ancient stones was simply not enough; they have thoughtfully adorned the rocks with eight white acorns—the emblem of the National Trail—and four yellow Public Footpath arrows, just in case one might accidentally meander off the obvious path. I could, with great effort, concede the need for a sign at the top to direct lost souls downwards, but once one has located this monumental gap, no further decisions are required. Ascending, a well-pitched path leads the way to the Sheep Walk with the clarity of a well-worn bootprint.

However, the barrage of signs seems to cater to those who, having become slaves to their GPS devices, have entirely forgotten how to look at the world around them. It is as if they have become blind to the landscape, unable to navigate without digital assistance, their eyes fixed on screens rather than on the very terrain they are traversing.

In this new age of walking, it seems that the ability to simply observe one’s surroundings has become a lost art, much like the Danish chieftain whose cries forever echo amongst the stones.

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  The History of Cleveland, in the North Riding of the County of York … By John Graves. Available online at https://books.google.co.uk/books?redir_esc=y&id=9UQQAAAAYAAJ&q=wain+stones#v=snippet&q=wain%20stones&f=false