Wade's Causeway
Wheeldale Moor
Up on one of the bleakest sections of Wheeldale Moor runs an excavated stretch of ancient stone road known as Wade's Causeway – and that's the only fact about it that everyone can agree on. It's just as often known as the "Roman road", which was long what it was assumed to have been. Certainly, there are former Roman camps in the area at Cawthorne, and it could be that the road once linked the old Roman settlement at Malton (and possibly even York) with the coast at Whitby. But archeologists have taken another look recently and concluded that it could be much older, pre-historic even, or conversely much younger, dating from the medieval period. Or, if local tales are to be believed, it was built by a giant named Wade, hence its popular name. So you have plenty to muse on as you tramp along the line of the road, and frankly your guess is as good as anyone else's. It's undeniably a road though, cambered in parts, with foundation stones, kerb stones and drainage ditches all visible, which makes it rather an extraordinary sight up here in the moorland wilds. Come up on the Wheeldale road, through Cropton, from Pickering, and you can park right by one of the best-preserved stretches and stride off across the moors. Or there's a walk from near Goathland which includes the road – follow the Egton Bridge road out of Goathland, turn left at the 'Roman road' sign and park at the single-track road's end, where there's a footpath sign.
