The best cycling routes around Commondale

Each of the sacred monuments that you repeatedly encounter – despite all the differences in their external design – has a common concern: The cross that rises here not only wants to attract the viewer's gaze, but – and this is primarily – to make him think of God. Not only in theological books, but even in secular literature, God's voice is often represented, and this is even often the case in crime novels. For example, Ellis Peters set the series of novels about the Benedictine 'Brother Cadfael', which is set in 12th-century England, in the surroundings of a monastery. In "The Virgin in the Ice" it says: "And yet life, clinging to faith, the tenacious struggle with fate had to go on, the land had to be cultivated year in, year out. Plough and harrow must not rest, and one had to take care of sowing and harvesting the fruits of the earth as much as here, in the monastery and church, of sowing and harvesting souls." I wish the viewer here in front of the cross a good thought for his soul.

Nice spot to fuel up with a view. Cakes simple sandwiches and drinks. Friendly staff

Delicious ice cream or a cake or sandwich with tea or coffee at the Stepping Stones

Had a delicious meal where fresh herbs were used, such as in the Hake fillet

I tend to hike/trail run early (sometimes starting around 5am), but I passed through Danby mid-morning on a Saturday and the smell coming from the bakery was heavenly. All the excuse you need for adding Danby to your route!

Useful landmark village with numerous routeing options and a useful supermarket for resupplying if you need to, but generally not quite as inspiring as Danby and Lealholm to the east, the latter of which is very picturesque.

The monument includes a standing cross, Listed Grade II, used as a boundary marker and known as Fat Betty or the White Cross. It stands on Danby Moor at the junction of three parishes whose boundaries were fixed during the medieval period. It is on the north side of a minor road to Rosedale 510m to the east of the cross known as Young Ralph. On the north side of the base is the date 1919 cut in the stone. On the west side is an inscription BS IB 1953. Neither inscription bears on a date for this monument. There is also an OS benchmark on the west face. The cross has been repeatedly whitewashed over the years in accordance with the practice of the Downe Estate on which it stands. The cross has been set up on Danby Moor to mark the meeting of the old parishes of Danby, Westerdale and Rosedale. It also marks the side of an old road down to Rosedale from the cross called Young Ralph. The road is mentioned in a 13th century charter from Guisborough.

Wayside crosses are one of several types of Christian cross erected during the medieval period, mostly from the 9th to 15th centuries AD. In addition to serving the function of reiterating and reinforcing the Christian faith amongst those who passed the cross and of reassuring the traveller, wayside crosses often fulfilled a role as waymarkers, especially in difficult and otherwise unmarked terrain. The crosses might be on regularly used routes linking ordinary settlements or on routes having a more specifically religious function, including those providing access to religious sites for parishioners and funeral processions, or marking long-distance routes frequented on pilgrimages. Over 350 wayside crosses are known nationally, concentrated in south west England throughout Cornwall and on Dartmoor where they form the commonest type of stone cross. A small group also occurs on the North York Moors. The wayside cross and boundary marker known as Young Ralph survive complete even though previously broken and repaired. The cross marks the highest point on the old road from Keldholme in the south of the moors to Castleton in the north. It also marks the boundary of the Wapentake of Pickering Lyth. It has been adopted as the symbol of the North York Moors National Park and has been a listed monument since 1938.