Hawnby Hill and Hazel Head from Hawnby

7 miles                                                 Fine and sunny

We arrived at Hawnby from the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley road via the Laskill turn off and parked at the roadside near the Inn at Hawnby.

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

The Inn at Hawnby

The village sits under Hawnby Hill (298m) whose twin Easterside Hill can be seen over towards the B1257.   These two hills, known as Corallian Outliers, once formed part of the Tabular Hills and have a very distinctive shape.    We left the road opposite the Inn and immediately started to climb across a field, then through bracken until we reached the top of Hawnby Hill. From here there is a good view in all directions, to the left down to Arden Hall and to the right Easterside Hill.  We walked along the long ridge identifying places we had passed on our previous walks.

Start of climb from Hawnby to the top of Hawnby Hill

Looking back at Hawnby from our climb

Nearing the top!

Looking over at Easterside Hill from Hawnby Hill

Looking the other way, down to Arden Hall among the trees

The ridge walk was exhilarating in the bright sunshine with fine views in all directions and soon we reached a precisely constructed limestone cairn at the highest point, so neatly built we suspect it to be the work of one person.  Carrying on we descended steeply off the end of the hill on a faint path and soon reached the Moor Gate.

Approaching the highest point and cairn

A very neat cairn at 978'

Exhilarating ridge walk

Steep descent to our green path to the Moor Gate, then the moor track of Sunley Slack

We passed through the Moor Gate and walked along the sandy path of Sunley Slack and after about a mile came to a fork in the road.  We took the left fork and followed the path, seemingly walking straight towards Bilsdale Mast.  To our right was Round Hill and Clive noticed a post with a direction arrow pointing towards it.  We knew we wanted to turn left away from Round Hill somewhere near here and when we looked on the other side of the post we saw the yellow waymark pointed straight across the moor, but we could see little sign of a path.  We walked a distance onto the heather and found a faint track which we joined, following it across Hawnby Moor towards Hazel Head Wood, with grouse butts to our right side.    

Looking back towards Hawnby Hill

Looking back to Hawnby Hill from Sunley Slack

Take the left fork!

Clive notices a waymark post

"Where's our path?"

We had been walking for some time and decided this would be a nice place to sit in the sun and have our coffee and scones. We sat looking towards the ruins of an old building which Tom Scott Burns tells us was once a Wesleyan Chapel.  The sun was very strong for October and I quickly replaced my hat as I found my bald head starting to burn.  Just before the old ruin we took a gate leading into Hazel Head Wood.  A faint green path led us past several ruined buildings (once Hazel Head Farm) and eventually our path disappeared among signs of recent tree felling.  We set off in the rough direction we wanted and came back onto the green path. The last time we walked this it had been set among conifers but these had all been cleared.

Faint moorland path towards Hazel Head Wood

Old Wesleyan Chapel near our coffee stop

Gate into Hazel Head Woods

Path through the woods

Our path , no longer enclosed by trees

The green path through the tree stumps led us down to the Osmotherly to Hawnby road which we joined for a couple of hundred yards before turning off into more woods. We walked along a wide path which quickly lost height and eventually led us to the River Rye, where forestry vehicles could obviously pass through a foot or so of water, but we searched for the footbridge mentioned by TSB.  We quickly found it and backtracked slightly on the forestry path to fight our way through the bracken and brambles to reach the bridge, which is obviously little used.

Leaving the road

Where's the path??

We find the bridge

We followed our path upwards alongside a beck and then the trees of Blueberry Wood before dropping down past St Agnes House and Half Moon Plantation and to a large arched footbridge over the River Rye.  Once again at this point we wondered why someone had gone to the expense of this unusual bridge at such a quiet spot.  Perhaps a danger of flooding requires an arched bridge?

Blueberry Wood

Expensive arched bridge

A short scramble uphill from the bridge led to a well defined track bearing right, where we were surprised to come upon a party of about a dozen hikers, the first people we had seen today.   Once again our path became very faint as we walked through several fields passing cattle and sheep before suddenly emerging onto the Hawnby road once more, conveniently near the Inn at Hawnby where we sampled their Timothy Taylor Landlord.

A faint path through fields

Clive strides purposefully towards the Inn at Hawnby

Cheers!

 Another two days in the Lakes

Day 1    Dove Crag from Brothers Water

Day 2    Loughrigg Fell from Rydal

Dove Crag Ahead!

                                 

                                                             MORE PHOTOS HERE!

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