Hawnby, Easterside Hill and Shaken Bridge

7.5 miles                     Dry and Bright   

We approached Hawnby from the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley Road which we left at the Laskill turn-off.  We drove through the top village and continued down to the houses of Hawnby Bridge. Tom Scott Burns explains that the village is so divided because in the 1750s a zealous landlord turned out all the Methodists from their houses, they had lived in what we now think of as the top village.  They moved a short distance away where they built some small houses and a Wesleyan Chapel, completed in 1770.  We parked behind this Chapel where parking is free for about a dozen cars.

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

Walking through Lower Hawnby

On leaving the car park we turned right into Hawnby Bridge, crossed the road at the junction and passed through the gate into a field following the way-marks and a faint trail in the grass.   We crossed several meadows to Ladhill Beck after which we had a long but gentle climb to Ellers Wood before exiting on a road near to Easterside Farm.  We followed the road for a short time in the shadow of Easterside Hill, before leaving it to follow a farm track to High Banniscue Farm.

Looking back to Hawnby

Suffolk sheep watch us pass by

We followed a faint track left from the farm, keeping Pepper Hill and Easterside Hill to our right, across fields to a gate leading onto the moor.  Passing through the gate we immediately joined a track heading right which would take us back round the other side of Pepper Hill and Easterside Hill.  On this eastern side of Pepper Hill we saw a damaged wall and impact crater made by a German Dornier in the last war when it crashed on 17th December 1942.  In last week's blog I describe visiting Hawnby Church and inspecting a memorial window to the four German airmen killed in the crash.

Crossing Ladhill Beck

Looking across at Hawnby Hill

We join a moor path to circumnavigate Pepper Hill

Site of the WW2 plane crash

Memorial to the German airman at Hawnby Church

Our path descended to the Laskill - Hawnby road that we had  driven along earlier from the B1257.  We joined the road for a hundred yards then entered a field at a footpath sign to descend further, across meadows, to the ruins of Grimes Holme.  We were ready for a little something by this time so sheltered from the breeze at Grimes Holme to enjoy our coffee and scones.  Chatting away we didn't notice that we had been approached by four curious horses and several cattle, who we had seen earlier and thought were safely on the other side of a fence.  A horse sneezed and we looked behind us in surprise.  Fortunately we had finished our scones and hastily packed our bags and moved off to reach a wooden gated bridge where we crossed the River Rye.  

Leaving the Hawnby Road to enter fields

Our walk today was very muddy

Grimes Holme coffee stop

These horses know a way out of their field and joined us at Grimes Holme

Crossing the River Rye

Walking across another couple of fields brought us to a gate where cattle had made the way completely impassable because of mud.  We had to climb over a barbed wire fence and leave the track for a field's length, before joining it again at Fair Hill Farm, which TSB described as a pig rearing farm, although we saw no sign of pigs today.

The mud was six inches deep so....

...we left the path for a while

Fair Hill Farm

We walked down the farm track passing Broadway Foot Farm.  When we passed by here last year the farm building was a ruin having suffered a fire and today workmen were busy laying the foundations for a new building, the old one having been demolished.

Sign at Fair Hill Farm

Sheep at Fair Hill Farm

Easterside Hill to our right

Approaching Broadway Foot Farm

Dog and bull weathervane at Broadway Foot Farm

The ruined farmhouse last November

Same spot today

We followed the lane past Broadway Foot Farm and turned right through a gate into woods and a nice track through the trees led us to the Hawnby to Helmsley road and Shaken Bridge. TSB tells us that its name derives from the Old English 'sceacre' or robber;  ie Robber's Bridge.  We crossed the bridge and after walking on the road for a hundred yards we turned sharp left and followed a farm road uphill until we came to East Ley Wood.  Bearing right up the track an old barn came into view, a building we recognised as one we have approached from other directions on other walks.  We walked through a gate into East Ley Wood.

Leaving Broadway Foot farm track to enter woods

Approaching Shaken Bridge

Looking upstream from the bridge

Walking uphill to East Ley Wood

We were amused to see a homemade sign on gates in this area depicting a cheerful hiker. We wondered who had gone to the trouble to make the signs and what was their purpose?

What does this sign mean?

Our track now meandered next to a dry stone wall for about 1.5 miles, the woods always to our right, eventually ending at Murton Bank top.

The old barn

A nice walk alongside East Ley Wood

We turned right onto the road at Murton Bank top and descended Murton Bank, all the time enjoying fine views to our left.  The twin settlements of Hawnby grew more distinct with Hawnby Hill behind.

Descending Murton Bank

Upper and lower Hawnby from the road

We crossed Hawnby Bridge and walked into the village to reach our car.  A short drive uphill took us to the Inn at Hawnby and a welcoming pint of Black Sheep while we discussed the day's walk.

Hawnby Bridge

Walk's end!

Coomb Hill and Dale Town from Hawnby

 

6.5 miles  Wet, grey and misty

 

I approached Hawnby by turning off the B1257 Stokesley to Helmsley road at the Laskill turnoff.  Tom Scott Burns suggests parking on the grass near the church but the weather was so wet I thought it would be safer to park in Hawnby where parking is permissible behind the Village Hall.  This added a mile in total to TSB's walk due to walking along the road to the church which is the official start of the walk.  

 

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

The Village Hall and Car Park

I walked down from the village towards the River Rye and All Saints Church, which I decided to look around.  The church was open and I 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.  

A misty day for walking

Autumnal colours

All Saints Church

Altar Window

Window at front of church

Memorial window

Leaving the church I rejoined the road and just after crossing Church Bridge I turned sharp left into fields at an Inn Way signpost marked Arden Hall. Steadily uphill now all the way to Dale Town Common.  I passed some cows before leaving the fields and heading up to the woods at Coomb Hill.

 

Church Bridge

The River Rye from Church Bridge

Follow that sign

Climbing towards Coomb Hill

Through the gate and into the woods below Coomb Hill

After skirting Coomb Hill the path doubles back on itself before turning left at a metalled road and passing the entrance to Arden Hall.  From this point the road becomes a steep climb passing by an old quarry. 

 

A useful sign points me uphill off the main track

I climb through the woods....

.... before joining a metalled road

James Herriot would have done it in his old Standard 10 but now the road to Kepwick is 'unsuitable' for motors

Arden Hall in the mist

At this point I saw a large boulder at the side of the track which looked ideal for a refreshment break.  I sat and ate my scone while a brave pheasant gradually approached me over a period of ten minutes.  

 

Blue rhymes with Huw - I'd better stop for coffee!

Scone in the Mist

I realise I am being crept up on

He decides to give me a berth

Old quarry

I walked a little farther along this track before coming to a sharp left turn which took me straight uphill onto Dale Town Common.  By this time the mist was quite dense and as there is no path across Dale Town Common, everything soon looked the same and I was glad of my GPS to keep me on track.  A two mile walk across the common brought me to an old barn, barely discernable in the mist.  There was a large herd of cattle here and they had made the whole area a swamp.  There was nothing for it but to get very muddy, plough through and whistle bravely as I passed through cattle, who were also nervous because of the poor visibility.

On Dale Town Common

Which way is up?!

The old water tank is a familiar landmark

Too cold and wet for adders

The old barn... I think

I passed by a cultivated field and noticed a bird scarer, the first time I've been able to examine one of these things.  I had heard it bang a few minutes earlier.  Gas! I'd always thought they fired blank cartridges!  I turned to walk away and the thing went off, sending me and some pheasants squawking high into the air.  I should have expected it.

So that's how they work

My route brought me past the building and near to some tumuli, barely visible today.  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.  As I walked down towards Sunny Bank Farm I saw a DEFRA notice about these tumuli.

 

Tumuli

The tumuli, and me at this point, are in the upper blue shape of the map

Just before reaching Sunny Bank Farm a wooden sign points across untrodden fields.  It used to say Clean Path for Dog Walkers, which always amuses me, but has now become almost illegible.  This is my path back to Hawnby, if I missed this, and Clive and I have fallen into this trap before, I would have another couple of miles to walk.  Following the sign takes me across fields and downhill, eventually joining an indistinct trail where I turned left and came out into a field with a couple of old tractors.  They haven't moved in the year since I last did this walk and the sight of them never fails to sadden me.  They are still worth renovating, it's such a shame!

 

Walk across the fields in the direction of the sign

Eventually I come to a yellow waymark

Straight across these fields

Cross this stile

Fordson Tractor

A bit of wire wool....

Ferguson Tractor

Move the nettles before sitting down

 

Opposite the tractors is a bridge across the River Rye and, almost hidden in the trees, the All Saints Church.  I crossed the bridge which brought me to the start of TSB's walk, turned right and followed the road to the Village Hall and my car.

The Bridge over the River Rye

Keeping an eye on me but still eating

Autumn colours from the road

Back to Hawnby and my car