Coomb Hill and Dale Town from Hawnby

5.5 miles  Wet, grey and misty

We intended to park by the church at Hawnby, but turning left at Hawnby Bridge came upon an accident between a 4x4 and a van which had blocked the road.  No-one was hurt but we took the female 4x4 driver to her brother's farm near Hawnby and situated on the road we would now need to take to reach the church.  She told us her brother would clear the road with his tractor so we left her at the farm and continued to the church where we found the ground too wet to park.  We decided to return to the Methodist Hall car park in the village and walk from there.

 

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

 

We walked down from the village towards the River Rye and All Saints Church which we decided to look around before our walk, while we were still clean.  The church was open and we went inside to find a very well kept church.  The most interesting feature for me was the beautiful stained glass window in memorial to the German aircrew that had been killed when their plane crashed at nearby Pepper Hill, the site of which we passed a couple of weeks ago when walking Easterside Hill.  Another very attractive window showed the parable of the seeds falling on stony ground and another side window showed St George and St Stephen.  

 

All Saints in the mist

Memorial to German aircrew

Some fell on stony ground...

 

Leaving the church we rejoined the road and crossed Church Bridge before turning right into fields at a signpost marked Arden Hall.  Although the path climbed through a field of cattle we bravely marched onwards before noticing the bull.  Now taking a more circuitous route we passed to the side of some cows and calves before leaving the field and heading towards the woods at Coomb Hill.

 

 

Church Bridge

Leaving the road

Climbing towards Coomb Hill

Our presence is noticed

 

Our indistinct footpath skirted the woods of Coomb Hill, eventually doubling back on itself and depositing us at a tarmac road where we turned left towards the gates of Arden Hall.  We could just see the building through the mist.

 

 

Climbing towards Coomb Hill

We enter the woods

Arden Hall

 

Once we had passed the Hall gates the road became little more than a farm track, although an old but newly painted Yorks North Riding road sign pointed along it indicating Kepwick.  Immediately in front of the road sign was another saying 'Unsuitable for motor vehicles'.  We now began a steep climb of nearly a mile until we reached the site of an old quarry.  Here we found a large boulder by the side of the road which made an ideal seat, so we adjourned for coffee and scones.

 

To Kepwick, but...

Our road becomes a track

 

A long climb...

 

Setting off once more we turned left off the track almost immediately and climbed a track onto Dale Common.  It now started to rain in earnest and looking back we saw nothing but mist,  in sharp contrast to the last time we walked here in the summer of 2013, when we had fine views down to the lake behind Arden Hall.

 

Today's view

Summer 2013 from almost the same point

These are the views you should get as you climb onto Dale Common

 

Our view became poorer as the mist descended but we knew we had to continue across Dale Common until we came to an old water tank, where we turned left.  Our faint path took us across several fields until we reached an old building used as a shelter by cattle and shown on the map as Old Barn.  Our path near the building had been turned into a sea of mud so we decided to skirt the building to the left, our route bringing us back to the path beyond the building and near to some tumuli.  Tom Scott Burns tells us these are a group of bronze age tumuli, one of which was excavated in the 1850s and found to contain the skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon lady of rank.  She wore a leather girdle round her waist with a gold clasp inlaid with a cross of garnets and her hair was secured with gold and silver.  

 

On Dale Common

Turn right at the old water tank

Towards Old Barn

We emerge near tumuli

Looking back across tumuli to Old Barn

 

We walked on towards Sunny Bank Farm and noticed a sign pointing sharp left which said, "View Point" and "Clean path for dog-walkers."  We remembered from last time that this was the path we should have taken when we instead walked on to the road beyond Hawnby.  This badly signed path actually leads to Hawnby Church so we set off across the fields going steeply downhill.

 

 

Hawnby Hill comes into view through the mist

Faint path downhill

A yellow waymark keeps us right

Looking down to Church Bridge

 

Church Bridge came into view but Hawnby Church remained stubbornly hidden amongst the trees.  As we reached the bottom of our descent we saw an ancient tractor parked outside a hut and going down for a better look discovered another inside the hut.  We reckoned they must be from the 1950s and would be well worth renovating. 

 

 

Fordson Major Diesel

 

One more gate to negotiate and it was a muddy one, then across the River Rye on a footbridge and we joined the road to walk back to our car.  A very short drive took us to the Inn at Hawnby where we enjoyed a pint of Timothy Taylor Landlord and were able to supply the bar staff with all the details they required about this morning's accident.

 

 

Negotiating the mud

Footbridge near church

Hawnby

 

 

A Birthday Weekend in the Lakes

   Day 1              Dove Crag  and The Priest Hole

 Day 2                          Gowbarrow Fell             

Birthday party in the Priest Hole!

Photos Here

The Drove Road and Windygill Ridge from Boltby

7 miles                           Grey with heavy showers

We left the A19 at the Knayton turn-off and drove through Boltby village and up the steep hill at the east side of the village to a small car park at the side of the road.

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

Leaving the car we continued east for 100 yards before bearing left to follow the farm path to Lunshaw House Farm.  Before reaching the farm we crossed a stile to follow a field path signposted Low Paradise.    Sheep had used our small path and made it very muddy pushing us onto the sloping wet grass and we slipped and slid our way down to Lunshaw Beck.

Lunshaw House farm track

Looking over the Vale of Mowbray towards Low Paradise

We leave the farm track

Crossing Lunshaw Beck

Our field track now climbed steeply, first to Low Paradise Farm and then on to High Paradise Farm.  The last time we walked this path, a little over a year ago, we were beset by hounds as we approached a bungalow above Low Paradise and we wondered if they were still around.  They were and seeing us approach began howling and barking but fortunately from the other side of a fence.  The owner peered out of the window and shouted at the dogs to no avail and they continued to bark as we climbed towards High Paradise Farm.  We were impressed by both neat and tidy farms.  

Below Low Paradise Farm

Low Paradise Farm

Who let the dogs out?!

Approaching High Paradise

Tom Scott Burns describes the climb to High Paradise Farm as 'muscular' and we wouldn't argue with that description.  Finally on level ground we walked past the farm buildings and shortly came to the Old Drove Road at Sneck Gate, where we turned left to follow the green drove road, which is also a stretch of the Cleveland Way.  After about a mile on the old highway we came to Steeple Cross, or what's left of it, where we got down behind a stone wall and enjoyed our coffee and scones.  Steeple Cross was mentioned in 1246 but it is now just a 2 feet high piece of stone.  We sat for 15 minutes and in that time a cyclist and two sets of walkers passed by, all stopping to chat.  A busy spot considering we never saw anyone else throughout the whole walk.   As we finished the last of our coffee the heavens opened and I quickly donned my waterproofs while Clive unfurled his umbrella.   We turned left off the Drove Road through a gate and walked along a forestry path.

Old Drove Road, Boltby Moor to the left and Dale Town Common to the right

Leaving the Drove Road

Walking towards Gallow Hill

We walked through the forestry plantation and emerged at Gallow Hill, which in better weather would give us a nice view towards Cowesby village.  We turned left at Gallow Hill and followed the broad path to Windygill Ridge, all the time rain falling like stair rods.  To the left of our path was a forestry plantation and ahead a fine vista across the Vale of Mowbray and to the right Black Hambleton and the hummock of Seta Pike.  Suddenly the sky brightened and we looked down on a double rainbow, the nearest appearing very bright.

Lashing down!

Rainbow at Windygill Ridge

Just after passing Seta Pike our path turned left down a steep forestry path.  The track was very faint and also very boggy; the steep descents proved very slippery and progress was slow.   The path levelled out and we picked our way through Gurtof Wood, looking down on Gurtof Beck which ran below us.  Eventually we reached a gate leading out of the trees into wet meadows.

Steep descent!

Gurtof Wood

Totally unnecessary bridge

Out of the woods at last!

Our faint path crossed several meadows, all made very boggy by the rain until we came to a wide track through fields of maize, standing a good 7' tall.  We were surprised to see this growing here as a crop and wondered when it would be harvested and whether it would be animal feed or sold for human consumption.   The rooftops of Boltby now appeared below and the track led us alongside a field containing two rams, one of which must have been a pet as it came over to be fussed.  Clive can never resist feeding animals and the ram was treated first to an apple and then a rich tea biscuit, which it appeared to find more enjoyable.

Maize

Large fields of maize

'The Sheep Whisperer'

Apple's OK...

But biscuit's better...!

Our path exited at the west end of Boltby village and we turned left to walk along the road.  Set back from the road is Holy Trinity Church and finding it unlocked we entered for a look around.  The church is in very good repair and as TSB says that the church was first erected in 1409 and was continuously in use until it was rebuilt in 1859 we were surprised to see that the churchyard only seemed to contain fairly recent graves.  A further look at our guidebook The Walker's Guide to the Hambleton Hills explained why: apparently it was the custom until Victorian times to carry the dead from Boltby for burial at Felixkirk, "swathed in linen and uncoffined."  Unfortunately the book does not say why this happened!

Holy Trinity Church, Boltby

Altar windows, Holy Trinity Church

We continued to walk along the main street past the old stone footbridge over Gurton Beck before climbing steeply out of the village to the hard standing where we had left the car.

Old packhorse bridge over Gurton Beck

Boltby

Looking down to Hesketh Hall from our car park