Walking in North Yorkshire

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.

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.

Sutton Hall, now luxury apartments

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.

The sewerage farm

The stile is somewhat overgrown

Passing by the static caravan park

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.

The old bridge has been removed

.... and left against the hedge

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.

Leaving Balk

Turn off the road at Bagby

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.

"I'm so glad I cleaned my boots this morning.."

Arriving at Thirkleby

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.

House in Thirkleby

The long drive to All Saints Church at Thirkleby

All Saints

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.

Anything in there?

"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.

The rain stops as we look around All Saints

Towards the altar

St George

St Martin

Altar window

Clive is tempted

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.

The cow is eating fallen apples

Thirkelby to our left

Following Thirkelby Beck

We have to cross but a fallen log has blocked the stream

Clive frees the obstruction

It's shallow enough to cross

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.

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.

Low Osgoodby Grange

We are welcomed by a friendly collie

Fallow deer skulls at Low Osgoodby

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.

Mount Pleasant Farm

.. and its residents

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.