Rievaulx Abbey and Caydale from Murton
8.5 miles Wet and cold with a blustery wind
We parked in the same spot as last week, on the roadside near Murton Grange. We set off walking past Murton Grange and turned left into a cart track known as Ox Pasture Lane. After a while thick blackthorn hedges protected us from the north wind and gusts of rain. Pheasants and partridges were sheltering in the lee of the hedges and took to the air as we approached except for one little partridge that sat, head bowed, looking very sorry for itself. We walked up to it and I took a photograph; its eyes were closed and it looked very ill. Clive said he had better put it out of its misery and as he reached out to take hold of it the partridge's eyes opened, it squawked in alarm and set off at speed, zig-zagging along the path before taking to the air. Presumably it had been asleep and because of the wind hadn't heard us until Clive spoke!
Ill? Dying? No, just dozing..
Our path continued alongside Deep Gill Wood and then gradually descended into the Rye Valley giving us nice views down to Barnclose Farm where we joined a tarmac farm track that led past Tylas Farm.
Deep Gill Wood
As we leave the woods we get a surprise view of Easterside Hill in the distance
We left the road and a narrow track took us alongside the River Rye. This track had become very muddy in the rain and at one point neat boarding had been laid to walk alongside the river. We came to Bow Bridge and crossed the river and walked past the old quarry shown as Penny Piece Quarry, where the limestone was excavated for Rievaulx Abbey in the 12th century. The monks dammed the river here and diverted the water into a canal which carried the stone on barges to the site. The canal is still clearly visible although full of bushes and shrubs. It was narrower than I had expected, only about 10 feet or so across.
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| Bow Bridge |
Our first view of Rievaulx Abbey
Rievaulx came into view and looked splendid when approached from this direction. We eventually reached Rievaulx Village and found ourselves a low stone wall to sit on whilst we enjoyed our coffee and scones, looking across at the Abbey. The sun even shone for a while to celebrate the occasion.
The view from our coffee spot
We walked along the tarmac road out of the village with views of the Abbey to our left. We crossed Rievaulx Bridge and started to walk on the other side of the river, still on the road, to Ashberry Farm. The path left the road here and went behind the farm and around the base of Ashbery Hill where Tom Scott Burns notes there is a 'stunning view of the monastery' below. Unfortunately new conifer growth prevented us from enjoying Tom's view and this growth accompanied us all along this stretch until well past the point where a view of the abbey was possible.
Rievaulx Bridge
Views of Ashberry Farm
We continued along this path for some distance. Crossing a cattle grid Clive pointed out that it was made of narrow gauge railway lines. We have seen several cattle grids like this, some still showing the bolt holes where they had been joined together. This is a legacy of all the quarrying in the area where rail track was used to move the minerals and it was pleasing to see materials being re-used for other purposes. We walked alongside the quaintly named Lambert Hagg Wood before rejoining the farm road near to Tylas Farm and retracing our outward journey for a while before heading left into Birk Bank Wood. Horses had been ridden through these woods and our track was a quagmire made even worse by the persistent rain. We came out of the woods and rejoined the road at a ford next to Caydale Mill. We washed the mud off our boots in the ford before following the road steeply uphill for a while and then onwards to Murton Grange. As we passed last week's wall repairs a rainbow appeared over Murton Grange; the end of the rainbow seemed to be just where Clive had parked his car. There was to be no pot of gold in his car however, just our muddy boots.
A rainbow at Murton Grange
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