Yorkshire Walks

Snowdrops & yellow aconites at Great Givendale church

At Meltonby we walked along the road for about half a kilometre back towards Bishop Wilton. We left the road on a sharp left hand bend to climb up the escarpment of the wolds to the road leading into Great Givendale. The church there is in a very pretty setting with a series of small lakes maintained for wildlife and the bank above the church covered with snowdrops and yellow aconites - a real breath of spring in the sunshine.

This morning four of us met in the village of Bishop Wilton on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds at about 10 o'clock. The bishop part of the name refers to the site of the Archbiship of York's palace that was here many centuries ago before the a palace was built in York.We set off down the village street and at the edge of the village we turned left onto a path following Bishop Wilton Beck downstream for about 2km. here we turned away from the beck to follow a path across the fields to Meltonby.

Great Givendale church

Great Givendale church

Evergreen oak in Great Givendale February 2003

We left the village following the Minster Way along the edge of the wolds escarpment with lovely views over towards York.

We passed a large evergreen oak tree in the village, also called a Holm Oak - not a common sight at all in this part of the world.

Hibernating snails February 2003

Descending the track into Kirby Underdale

We crossed the main road to join a path on the other side which led us over the fields to the Minster Way about 1km before it reaches Youlthorpe. From here we followed the Minster Way back into Bishop Wilton. The whole route was about 21km and took us six hours to walk including a couple of refeshment stops. It's quite a long walk and could easily be split into two nice strolls based on Bishop Wilton doing either the loop to the south or the loop to the north. P.S. There is excellent B&B accommodation at Beckside Cottage in Bishop Wilton

We passed Bishop Wilton below us at the foot of the wolds and about 2km beyond Bishop Wilton we came to the main road (A166) at the top of Garrowby Hill. We crossed the main road and continued down a permissive path along a track to Kirby Underdale. We took the path west from the village to join the road towards Bugthorpe and after about 1km on the road turned left on to a path passed Longhower Plantation and continued across the fields to Barf Lane. We walked along the lane to the main road (A166).

Look towards Bishop Wilton from the edge of the wolds escarpment

A new sapling planted in the dead bowl of an ancient elm

Tethered horses near Bishop Wilton