The Drove Road and Windygill Ridge from Boltby

7 miles                                Drizzle

Today's forecast was for dry weather, partly sunny, but what we got was drizzle and sometimes rain, in a way a pleasant change from the recent weeks of constant dry warm weather.   We drove through Boltby and parked at a hard shoulder on the right hand side of the road, shown by 'P' on the map below.  After booting up we walked uphill along the same road, away from the village, until turning left at a footpath sign into a farm track to Lunshaw House Farm.

 

 

Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills

 

Take the left fork

.. then over the stile into fields

Follow the farm track for about a quarter of a mile then cross into fields at a way-marked stile.  At first the track is very clear but at this time of year it soon disappears into bracken.  Eventually we reached another stile and crossed into trees.  Here we encountered hundreds of recently released pheasants which ran along ahead of us.

At first the path is clear and the bracken short

.. but both soon change

We find the stile

.. and more bracken

.. and pheasants

It was amusing to be led along the woodland paths by dozens of young pheasants, still tailless and reluctant to fly.  Eventually our path led us to cross an almost dry Lunshaw Beck on old stone slabs and Low Paradise Farm came into view.

 

We follow the gang

Low Paradise Farm appears to the left

Lunshaw Beck is almost dry

We start the climb

We then started a mile long ascent which TSB correctly describes as a 'muscular climb'.  This climb first passes Low Paradise farm, then Oak Beck cottage before continuing to climb all the way to High Paradise Farm.

 

Low Paradise Farm

Noisy hounds at Oak Beck Cottage

Oak Beck Cottage

High Paradise Farm

High Paradise Farm has a nice cafe which is open from Thursday to Sunday during the summer months and we decided to pop in. Rhubarb scones were on offer and we enjoyed a nice break but as we ate the light drizzle turned to rain.

 

Rhubarb scones and coffee at High Paradise

 

After finishing our coffee we left the farm cafe and walked out into the rain towards Sneck Gate and the moor.  Passing through the gate we were now on the Hambleton Drove Road, which we followed left for 1.5 miles, soon reaching forest. To our right was Daletown Common Moor.

 

Leaving High Paradise

Approaching the Drove Road

 

On the Drove Road, Daletown Common to the right

We walked on through the trees for some time and then, just before reaching the ruins of Steeple Cross (first mentioned in 1246 but no longer a cross, now just a 2 feet high piece of stone) we turned left to enter the plantation's trees.

Steeple Cross, turn left here..

... and go through the gate

.. into Boltby Woods

A lot of felling has taken place

 ..and a lot of the woods are no more.

We walked on through the trees and after about 1.5 miles we reached Windygill Ridge which we followed with fine views (in better weather) down to Cowesby.

 

On Windygill Ridge

Just after passing Seta Pike the path turns left to descend on a steep forestry path.  Even in this dry weather the track was wet and boggy in places and the steep descents were slippery making progress slow.  We reached a forest access path which bordered Gurtof Wood and followed it down, thus avoiding what is the worst part of the descent, tricky even in dry weather but nasty today with high bracken masking the steep path.

 

Starting the descent 

We decide to follow this track instead of descending through bracken

The track skirts Gurtof Wood which we should be struggling through

 

We're back on TSB's track and again ignore a way-mark as the path it indicates is no more

Clive gazes down into Gurtof Wood and across to Boltby Forest

We then walked through fields using way-marks on the field boundaries as guides until joining a wide track.  We followed this to a green lane, which led us down to Boltby.

An English Elm, now rarely seen in our area as a mature tree

Descending into Boltby from Gurtof House

Walking through Boltby

The pony trekking centre used to be the village pub The Johnstone Arms

The old village pub, being renovated following a fire

We came to the Holy Trinity Church where we paused to look around.

 

The Holy Trinity Church, Boltby

Looking towards the altar

Altar window

A penitent on his knees at Holy Trinity 

Ah no, it's Clive who has dropped his donation

Holy Trinity churchyard seems to contain only fairly recent graves and a further look at our guidebook 'The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills' explains why: apparently it was the custom until Victorian times to carry the dead from Boltby and Kirby Knowle for burial at Felixkirk, "swathed in linen and uncoffined."  It would be interesting to know the reason for this practice but unfortunately the book does not give one. It seems strange as they had perfectly good churches in both Boltby and Kirby Knowle. 

 

 

We continued through the village, crossing the old pack horse bridge and climbed steeply up the hill, heading towards the car and a well earned pint.  

 

"Cheers!"