Yorkshire Walks

Looking back towards Welburn at the start of our walk

It was a peculiar grey overcast day to-day but the clouds were quite high and the sun broke though now and then. I met two friends in the village of Welburn on the edge of Castle Howard grounds at map ref. SE 721680 just before 9.30am. From the village street we set off roughly northwards along a track across the fields and up through some woods before dropping down to a tarmac farm road at map ref. SE 722692.

The woods on East Moor Banks near Welburn

The barley and wheat had all been harvested and some fields had already been ploughed.

We turned right to walk along the farm road with the Castle Howard Temple and Mausoleum across the fields to our left.

The Castle Howard Mausoleum across the stubble fields

The temple and ornamental bridge in the grounds of Castle Howard

A large tractor with a huge set of harrows was preparing the soil for sowing winter cereals as we continued along the farm road for just over a kilometre to Low Gaterley.

Preparing the soil for planting

Autumn fruits - rose hips

From there we took the bridleway across the fields for about 2.5km past Sawkill Farm to the A64 at map ref. SE 760697. The traffic on the main road was very heavy with a queue of over a kilometre behind three large tractors with trailers. We turned left to walk along the verge in the traffic fumes for about 150m before we turned off the road on to a path to the right. The fields were a mixture of pasture for cattle, paddocks for horses and more stubble after the harvest. We followed the path for just over a kilometre to the lane at map ref. SE 763687.

Heading for Huttons Ambo across the stubble fields

Heading for Huttons Ambo across the stubble fields

We walked along the lane for about 200m and turned left at map ref. SE 764685 on to a path beside the river Derwent.

Flock of geese by the river Derwent

Overgrown path by the river Derwent

In places the path was quite overgrown, particularly under the railway bridge, but we pushed our way through to emerge on to a little lane next to the railway at map ref. SE 764676.

Large herd of old English long horn cattle

The lane leads on to a blue painted pedestrian suspension bridge over the river Derwent, which we crossed to join the Centenary Way on the opposite bank. We followed the Centenary Way along the lane to map ref. SE 761665 where the route leaves the lane via a path across a field on the right to a small nature reserve called Jeffry Bog. We continued on the Centenary Way for another 2km through the hamlet of Firby, to the road above Kirkham at map ref. SE 742661.

The blue pedestrian suspension bridge at Huttons Ambo

The blue pedestrian suspension bridge at Huttons Ambo

Quiet angler's spot by the river Derwent

Autumn fruits - Sloes hanging like bunches of grapes

Entrance to Kirkham Abbey

We followed the road down the hill through Kirkham, past Kirkham Abbey and over the bridge across the river Derwent. Just beyond the river we crossed the railway on a level crossing and a few metres farther on we turned right off the road up a steep bank with a thick hedge and into the fields.

Inscription on the bridge at Kirkham

Kirkham Abbey

Autumn fruits - elderberries

Still on the Centenary Way we followed the path through the fields above the railway for about 1.5km to Crambeck. Here the route took us away from the river and the railway along the road of a small "executive" estate developed on the site of a former approved school, leading us up to the A64.

The Centenary Way between Kirkham and Crambeck

The Centenary Way between Kirkham and Crambeck

The Centenary Way between Kirkham and Crambeck

We crossed the road with a good deal of caution - there is a great deal of very fast traffic - and turned right to walk along the verge for about 100m to a path on the left. We were still on the Centenary Way route and we continued round to edge of a wood on an overgrown path full of nettles - not very pleasant in shorts. The route then crossed a huge field already ploughed and sowed with tiny seedlings coming through and no path reinstated across it. However there were two marker posts showing the line of the route which we used to guide us to a stile at the other side of the field. We were right to cross as we did but I still don't like to walk across a growing crop. At map ref. SE 728678 we turned left off the Centenary Way route to follow a path along the field boudary to the road on the edge of Wleburn village. We walked the last few hundred metres along the road back to the car near the pub in the middle of the village street. The whole route had been about 17km. and had taken us just over 5 hours to walk including a couple of refreshment stops.

A garden on the edge of Welburn