Balk and Bagby from Sutton Village
7 miles Mostly Wet
This is a short, fairly flat walk and so is ideal for today's inclement weather. We drove into Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe on the A170 from the A19 and parked in the Whitestonecliffe Inn Car Park. Tom Scott Burns tells us that hikers are welcome to use the inn's car park. Thirty years later the pub is no longer open for business, however the large car park is still available for use.
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| Today's walk from The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills |
It was pouring as we left the car park and walked through the village but it is worth mentioning that there are several interesting weather vanes to be spotted. At this time it was too wet to get my camera out today so I have uploaded images of them from a previous walk.
The A170 is a busy road and traffic whizzed past us as we crossed the bridge over Sutton Beck and quickly turned left off the road and into a safe track at a footpath sign.
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| Sutton Hall, now luxury apartments |
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| Turn left at the wooden signpost |
We followed a track on tarmac then across fields to the town's sewage works. Keeping to the right of the sewage works we passed through more fields next to Sutton Beck, until we emerged beyond a static caravan park at the tiny hamlet of Balk.
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| The sewerage farm |
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| The stile is somewhat overgrown |
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| Passing by the static caravan park |
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| Approaching Balk |
We were interested to see that the bridge has been removed as we entered Balk, and for now, has been left intact on the pavement at the roadside.
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| The old bridge has been removed |
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| .... and left against the hedge |
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| The old mill buildings |
TSB tells us that Balk originates in the Old English 'balca' or 'bank' and would have applied to the ridge of land between Balk Beck and Hood Beck.
We turned right onto the road and walked through the village. admiring its three storey mill, now renovated into housing, and opposite it, the old mill buildings which have been taken over by a furniture manufacturer.
We stayed on the road heading west until we reached the larger village of Bagby where we turned left onto a track near new housing just before entering the village.
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| Leaving Balk |
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| Turn off the road at Bagby |
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| Weather vane at Bagby |
Passing through the houses at Bagby we headed south, following a water-logged track towards Thirkleby and passing by another caravan park and the grounds of Thirkleby Hall before emerging on to the road by the picturesque old school house.
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| "I'm so glad I cleaned my boots this morning.." |
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| Arriving at Thirkleby |
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| The old school house at Thirkleby |
We walked through the village and came to the isolated church of All Saints'. Here a memorial bench around a huge yew makes an ideal resting place for any passing hiker who might want to stop for coffee and scones, and thus it was to be.
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| House in Thirkleby |
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| The long drive to All Saints Church at Thirkleby |
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| All Saints |
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| Coffee and scones |
In the photo above you can see a bird box on the side of the tree. We decided to have a look inside, no birds but a large spider. This was a Walnut Orb Weaver, better known as a Toad Spider, the second most venomous spider in the UK, whose bite has been described as like an electric shock which can cause swelling and numbness. We hastily put it back.
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| Anything in there? |
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| "Only me mate!" Venomous Toad Spider |
After coffee we looked in at All Saints Church, which is open to visitors and is nicely kept and interesting to walk round. It is bigger than one would expect for the size of the village, with fine stained glass windows picturing St George and St Martin.
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| The rain stops as we look around All Saints |
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| Towards the altar |
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| St George |
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| St Martin |
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| Altar window |
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| Clive is tempted |
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| An explanation for the high spire |
Leaving the church we walked back to the road then crossed straight over to join a field path leading to a footbridge, then quickly on to the Little Thirkleby Road, where we turned left to walk parallel with the route we had followed into Thirkleby, this time to the right of Thirkleby Beck.
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| The cow is eating fallen apples |
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| Thirkelby to our left |
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| Following Thirkelby Beck |
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| We have to cross but a fallen log has blocked the stream |
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| Clive frees the obstruction |
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| It's shallow enough to cross |
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| Unwalked paths |
The next bit of the walk became rather tricky. We could find no way-mark signs (most unusual!) and field enlargement appears to have swallowed up the footpath described by TSB. Previously we have used the GPS to keep exactly on the track so we were able to march across the arable fields alongside and occasionally through crops knowing we have right of way. Perhaps a problem to be expected with Tom Scott Burns's walks is that paths are so little used that farmers feel entitled to plough them up. Continuing across these fields we found that the farmer had crops right up to the edge of the field, removing the footpath completely and making walking difficult, particularly in today's muddy conditions.
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| Splodging across |
We continued across the fields, always careful to ensure we were on rights of way, until we reached the farm of Low Osgoodby Grange. The path took us through the farm buildings.
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| Low Osgoodby Grange |
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| We are welcomed by a friendly collie |
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| Fallow deer skulls at Low Osgoodby |
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| More skulls at Low Osgoodby |
From Osgoodby Grange we followed the farm's track to the tarmac road where we turned left, heading back towards Balk. In the distance we could now see Whitestone Cliff.
Passing Mount Pleasant Farm we re-entered fields for a couple of miles and again found waymark signs to be sparse.
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| Mount Pleasant Farm |
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| .. and its residents |
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| Back onto field paths |
Just before our field path reached the tiny village of Balk we turned right and followed the track, now clearly way-marked, across fields until we reached the road at Sutton-under-Whitestonecliffe. Here we turned right and walked back to the Whitestonecliffe Inn and the car park.
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