Rievaulx Abbey and Caydale from Murton

8.5 miles                                  Fine and Sunny

We left Middlesbrough in mist and fine drizzle, planning a short walk, but as we motored up Clay Bank we drove into sunshine which remained with us all day.  We decided to walk to Rievaulx, a walk that we did last year in rain and had set aside for a fine day.  We drove to Murton Grange and parked at the roadside.

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

We walked a short distance along the road and turned into Ox Pasture Lane which we followed to the top of Deep Gill Wood.   Alongside the path were large hawthorn trees that had been allowed to grow instead of being hedged, and they were covered in berries. The path gradually descended by the side of the wood until it reached Barnclose Farm and our walking drove out dozens of pheasants.

Hawthorn Tree

Ox Pasture Lane

Alongside Deep Gill Wood

We drive pheasants ahead of us

We passed through a herd of placid horses and joined a tarmac road which climbed past Tylas Farm. TSB tells us this farm was built by the monks of Old Byland as a tile-house, hence its modern name.   We followed the tarmac track until we saw a gate and rough track leading to our left, which we took and which tracked the River Rye below us.

I send Clive ahead to negotiate with sweeties

Masses of sloe berries on our path

Watch for the turn off near Tylas Farm

We walked along a faint meadow path with the River Rye below us and gradually descended into the valley bottom, where we joined a duck board path for several hundred yards adjacent to the river, until we emerged and crossed the ancient Bow Bridge. 

We follow the River Rye to our left

Duckboards are welcome at the river's edge

Toadstools aplenty

Bow Bridge

A short walk on the road brought us to a sign pointing to our path across fields to Rievaulx Abbey.  We left the road and soon the abbey came into sight.  Our route followed the traces of the old canal that the monks had built in the 11th century, to carry stone for the abbey from the nearby Penny Piece Quarry, so named because quarrymen were apparently paid a penny a day.  We soon arrived at the village and turned right to follow the road past the entrance to Rievaulx Abbey until we came to a quiet spot where we could enjoy our coffee and scones.

Leaving the road near Bow Bridge

First glimpse of the Abbey

Looking across someone's garden at the abbey

Rievaulx Abbey

A nice spot for a little something...

Refreshed, we returned to the road and followed it across Rievaulx Bridge to Ashberry Farm which we also visited in last week's walk from Old Byland. As we walked along the roadside the same shooters (well, the same vehicles) that we saw last week in their jeeps drove slowly past us, waving regally as they did so.  Here we left the road and walked into the farmyard where we turned left through a gate into the path around Ashberry Hill.

Rievaulx Bridge

Entering Ashberry Farm

A nice new bench above Ashberry Farm

We followed the wooded path through Lambert Hagg Wood cursing the new growth that has removed the wonderful view of the Abbey that Tom Scott Burns describes in his book, written in the 1980s.   We left the wood on the same road that we had followed past Tylas Farm on the way out, but this time we left the road before the farm, turning left to climb onto Birk Bank on the other side of the valley.  As we did so we could see our shooters' jeeps stationary opposite us, positioned alongside Penny Piece Quarry.  

Lambert Hagg Wood

Partridge lying low

Partridge hunters next to Penny Piece Quarry

We followed Birk Bank through conifer woods until just before we left the trees we came to a gate, patrolled by a large black horse.  At this point Clive produced an apple from his bag and this was gratefully accepted by the horse in return for unhindered passage.  We left the trees and immediately looked into the pretty valley of Caydale.  Joining the road we walked down to a ford where we cleaned our boots.  We now faced a very steep ascent on tarmac for about .75 of a mile, a bit of a struggle after 8 miles, until the road levelled out and in a few minutes we saw the welcome white buildings of Murton Grange in the distance.

How are we going to get past that?!

Simple!

Boot cleaning in the ford

Murton Grange appears in the distance

Old Byland to Nettle Dale and Scawton

7.5 miles                             Fine and Sunny

Tom Scott Burns describes how in 1143 the Norman baron Roger de Mowbray granted land in Ryedale to some wandering monks from Furnace Abbey in Lancashire.  They moved about the dale for a few years before settling in a site they called Bellalanda, or Byeland.  We approached Old Byland from the B1257 Bilsdale Road via Rievaulx Abbey and parked at the roadside.

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

The All Saints Church is hidden behind houses on the village green and we decided to look around it before we started our walk.  We were impressed by the beautiful brass weather vane and as the church was unlocked we stepped inside.  There were bat droppings around the altar but generally the church is in good shape.  We noticed the ancient carved pagan stones set into the wall of the church that TSB mentions, dragons with knots in their tails and horned-headed men.  He tells us these emblems are associated with the old fertility religion of Europe.  As we left the church we noticed another interesting weather vane on a house opposite, of a running fox.

All Saints Church, Old Byland

Pagan carved stones

We walked away from the church and as we left the village we bore left through a gate and into the woods of High Gill.  The track was badly overgrown and thick with nettles and gradually descended to Ashberry Pasture, a wild-flower sanctuary maintained by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.  The path through the woods and pastures was little used and wet, even though we have been enjoying dry weather, and after a couple of miles emerged onto the road where we walked past Ashberry Farm.

"Where's the path?!"

Faint path through the nettles

Ashberry Pastures

Ashberry Farm and duck pond

We stayed on the tarmac road as it flanked Ashberry Farm and crossed a bridge before passing Hagg Hall where we saw a handsome bull in the field.

Bull near Hagg Hall

Our route turned left off the road into a woodland track which wandered through Nettle Dale, past several large lakes which seemed to run into one another.  We have never seen so many ducks, the lake and ground nearby was covered in them.

The track through Nettle Dale forms part of the Cleveland Way

Beautiful stretches of water through Nettle Dale

We leave Nettle Dale

Our path headed uphill through Spring Wood and emerged on the road leading to Scawton.  We past the Church of St Mary without calling in, as time was passing and we were ready for our break.  In the centre of the village we found a wooden bench and settled down to enjoy our coffee and scones, but this was soon interrupted by a couple of handsome pigs who left the comfort of an old barn to come and stand behind and make their presence felt.  It was apparent what they were after and Clive fed them a couple of Rich Tea Biscuits, which they loved. I stood next to him to take a photograph and the big ginger pig sneezed over us both, leaving spots on our trousers that dried to an unpleasant greenish colour. 

Church of St Mary, Scawton

Biscuits?

Me too!

While we enjoyed our coffee a local stopped to chat and pointed out to us that our path out of the village was to our rear, hidden behind the telephone box.  We went back through the gate he had shown us and into fields which led down through another wooded valley to skirt the village of Cold Kirby.

Our gate is behind the phone box

Little used track

Through Flasson Dale

      
Eventually our path once again approached Nettle Dale and its lakes.  A large shooting party passed us in several Jeeps, waving to us as they went by.  We left the path here to double back and climb through Callister Wood.  As we emerged at the top we saw the field to our right had beaters with red flags.  We stood and watched as they moved slowly forward driving pheasants and partridges in front of them.  We moved on again as the guns in Nettle Dale began to sound.

Pheasants and feeding stations near Flasson Dale

Bridge into Callister Wood

Beaters above Callister Wood

Our faint path led us across several fields and after crossing through the nettles of Low Gill entered Old Byland at the other end to our starting point.  We were amused by an accommodation sign on a holiday let, did it apply to the property or the landlady? 

Old Byland appears in the distance

Low Gill

Spacious accommodation?

We walked back through the village to our car.  Today's walk was very enjoyable but we agreed it should only be a dry weather walk.

Two days in the Lakes

Day 1 Helvellyn via Striding Edge
 

Carole on Striding Edge

Day 2  Ambleside to Troutbeck via Wansfell 

Jenkins Crag overlooking Windermere

.......... and Badgers!

Badgers at Rydal

Click HERE for photos