Wednesday 19 January 2005
Newgate Bank, River Rye, Hawnby circuit
North York Moors
Map: OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors Western area at 1:25000

Easterside Hill from the view point at map ref. SE563890

Storm damaged tree below Newgate Bank

This morning four of us drove up to the car park at the top of Newgate Bank next to the viewpoint overlooking Bilsdale and Easterside Hill at map ref. 563890. We were later than usual today and did not start walking until around 10.45am. From the view point we dropped down onto the road and walked about 250m down the hill to map ref. SE 565892 where we turned off onto the footpath down to the field behind Fair Hill Farm. We turned left out of the field onto the farm road which we followed for about 1km to the road at map ref. SE 561883. Along the way we passed a very pretty thatched house called Broadway Foot. The snow still on the thatch seems to show it is a pretty good insulator. At the road we turned right over the bridge across the River Rye and turned right off the road onto the footpath up the hill, passed Bridge Farm, a pony treking centre. The path used to go through the farm yard but now it has been diverted around the farm- a much better arrangement!

Ponies on the hillside above Bridge Farm

We followed the path up a muddy track, passing a large group of treking ponies along the way, until we reached the top of the hill near the old barn at map ref. SE 559875. From the barn we took the path around the edge of the wood to the road at map ref. SE 538883. All the along our route so far there had been much damage to trees and roofs caused by the recent gales About 500m before we reached the road the path was completely blocked by a large ash tree blown over onto a large beech and the two of them had fallen across the track. We had to pick our way around them through the trees and brambles. We walked along the road for about 200m and turned right down the path to the farm called Dale Town at map ref. SE 535886 Where we were greeted by a very friendly pet donkey wandering around the farm yard. We followed the footpath from Dale Town to the road at map ref. SE 542890.	Storm damaged trees on an open hillside
I had sorted out today's route and my friends were quick to point out that we had just walked a fairly pointless loop. (They're a whinging lot!) I mentioned that the whole walk was a pointless loop if you start to analyse it and anyway its a very pretty loop. At the road we turned left to walk down the road for about 300m back across the River Rye to map ref. SE 542893. Here we turned off the road to follow the path across the fields to Easterside Farm.
Iron wheel embedded in an old ash tree	We had planned to walk round Easterside Hill up passed High Banniscue but the forecast bad weather seemed to be approaching fast so we continued along the road for about 500m to map ref. SE 557899. We turned right off the road to follow the footpath down the hill and across the river Seph (flowing out of Bilsdale) to return to Fair Hill Farm. From the field at the back of the farm we retraced our route up the hill back to the car park. The whole route had been about 10km and had taken us about three and a half hours to walk including a couple of stops. The route includes two climbs of about 140m and a couple of much smaller climbs. The rain started as we were leaving the car park and continued for the rest of the day. We stopped in Helmsley for a coffee in the market square and I was much aggrieved that the pay and display machine gobbled my change and would not give it back or issue a ticket to park.

Fallen trees blocking the path at map ref. SE 544886

Thatched house - Broadway Foot	Woodland path coming down to the River Rye
Bridge over the Rye at map ref. SE 560883	More trees uprooted by the storm
Easterside Hill and into Bilsdale	Old barn at map ref. SE 559874
Track on the edge of the woods at map ref. SE 554880	Easterside hill from the hillside near Dale Town
Looking over Dale Town to Hawnby Hill	Donkey in the farm yard at Dale Town
Hawnby village below Hawnby Hill	Another fallen tree at map ref. SE 557899