Yorkshire Walks

Sancton village church

We parked off the main road on a wide grass verge at map ref. SE898396 in front of a large empty farm building. We walked down the hill into Sancton with the village church on our right.

Bank Holiday Monday and for once it was fine and bright with a strong blustery wind. My wife and I drove to the village of Sancton on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, about 2.5km from the Market Weighton by-pass, on the A1034.

'Dale Road' heading out of Sancton to the Wolds Way

Fallen ash tree by the Dale Road

This led up a narrow leafy valley for about 3km to the Wolds Way at map ref. SE926410.

Just beyond the church at map ref. SE900394 we turned left off the main road onto a track called Dale Road.

Path up a little valley from Sancton to the Wolds Way

Endless field of oil seed rape

After about 1km the lane makes a sharp right hand turn and the Wolds way continues straight on along a track across the fields.

Here we turned right on to a narrow road called Hesslekew Lane which the Wolds Way route passes along.

Route of the Wolds Way along Hesslekew Lane

The Wolds Way heading south

Just before we reached the road there was a memorial seat to 'John Lister' with a good view south west out from the edge of the wolds where we stopped for our lunch.

We followed the Wolds Way along this track for about 2km to a road at map ref. SE928380.

Trig point beside the Wolds Way

Following the road into North Newbald

The village had a pretty green in the centre with a wide range of housing types and several small factories, workshops. and depots.

We followed the road for about 2km into the village of North Newbald.

North Newbald

Path through Houghton Wood

We followed the road for about 1.7km to the edge of the wood. We continued along the track into the wood for another 400m and turned off the track onto a path heading roughly north east through the woods.

We walked though the village to the main road (A1034) at map ref. SE907367. We crossed the main road and took the lane opposite heading for Houghton Wood.

Path through Houghton Wood

Observation platform by the path through the wood

I had intended to follow a path to the edge of the wood at map ref. SE891383, but I must have taken a wrong path somewhere in the woods!

We walked through some very pleasant woodland for about 2km to the edge of the wood at map ref. SE894386.

An impressive beech tree by the path

Village pond in Sancton

The whole route had been around 15km (both the route I had planned and the actual route we walked) and it had taken us just over four hours to walk including our lunch stop. On the way home we stopped at a garden centre (on bank holiday too!) and had a coffee in their cafe. My wife bought some plants for the garden - a very pleasant day out.

We walked along a farm track for about 200m to a road and turned right to follow the road for about 1km back into Sancton. I had planned to take the path from map ref. SE892388 around the edge of the grounds of Houghton Hall to map ref. SE890394 and then to follow the track up the edge of the fields back to the main road at map ref, SE898397, close to where we had parked the car.

Ground Ivy in Houghton wood