Yorkshire Walks

Path through the trees by the A19 at Skelton

From the lay-by we walked towards York amongst the trees at the side of the A19 for about 150m to a lanr on the right hand side of the road. We turned down the lane towards the River Ouse and after about 100m turned left off the lane to follow the footpath/cycleway to the riverside.

This week our weather is being controlled by a large high pressure area sitting over us so this morning was another lovely spring day with lots of blue sky and sunshine. My friend, Jim, is still recouperating from a knee operation so we had planned a short flat walk for today. We drove to a lay-by on the A19 at Skelton near York, map ref. SE571554.

Sign post on the cycleway by the River Ouse

The footpath/cycleway to the R. Ouse near Skelton

Path from Clifton Ings to the allotments at Rawcliffe

We followed this road round to the left into Westholme Drive. At the end of the road we turned right into Easthome Drive. Just past the primary school on the left hand side of the road we turned left into a pedestrian pathway to the head of a cul-de-sac called Garburn Grove. From there we continued into Greystoke Road and walked along this road to the end where there is a pedestrian walkway which leads out to a large lake in the centre of the estate.

At the inlet sluices to the Clifton Ings we crossed the inlet to walk along the river floodbank for about 1.5km under the York by-pass to map ref. SE577539. Here we turned left off the floodbank to follow a track out through some allotments to the main road at map ref. SE581542. We crossed the road and entered the Rawcliffe housing estate along Loweswater Road. At the end we turned right into Patterdale Drive.

York by-pass from the R.Ouse floodbank

Path across the allotments at Rawcliffe

The lake is used to hold rainwater from the estate to help prevent flooding in this low lying area. We walked round the lake almost a complete circuit until we reached the path at map ref. SE585546.

Lake in the middle of the housing estate at Rawcliffe

Footway from the end of Caithness Close to the by-pass

We now had to cross the by-pass! We watched the continual stream of fast traffic in both directions for a long time. At last there seemed to be matching gaps approaching from both directions and we got ready to run. As the short break in the traffic arrived we scampered across as fast as our gammy knees would permit and made it to the otherside as the flow of fast traffic resumed. I did not notice anyone slowing down at all for us. Maybe at our age we're deemed to be expendable.

We followed the path round the edge of a playing field and through a long green space through the housing across Manor Lane to Hollyrood Road. Here we turned left to walk along the road for about 150m to Caithness Close on the right hand side. We walked down the close to the end and went though a pedestrian walkway between the gardens at the end of the cul-de-sac to emerge through the roadside shrubbery on the York northern by-pass, A1237, at map ref. SE580552.

Looking back to the by-pass from the safety of the field

At the footbridge the stream becomes Pennels Drain

Footpath by the stream heading for Skelton

It's a very pleasant tree-lined path beside the stream. We turned left to cross a little bridge over the stream and followed a track away from the stream into Skelton.

Anyway we climbed the stile and walked across the field away from the traffic to a footbridge over a stream called Burtree Dam at map ref. SE578555. From the footbridge the path followed the stream for about 1km to map ref. SE574564 on the edge of Skelton.

Footbridge over stream called Burtree Dam

Footpath by the stream heading for Skelton

The village green at Skelton

We followed the road through the village to the A19 at map ref. SE567563. We crossed the A19, easy compared to the York northern by-pass. We took the lane opposite heading for Overton. After about 300m we came to the crossing of a watercourse called Hurns Gutter. The normal flow is piped under the lane but in times of high flow it becomes a ford.

We followed the road through the housing to a lane at map ref. SE570565. Here we turned left to walk along the lane to the village green. We walked round the green to the church where I intended to take a couple of photos. As we approached we realised there was a funeral in progress so contunued quietly past the church.

The lane to Overton from Skelton

Sign post on the cycleway to the R.Ouse

Footpath/cycleway heading for the R.Ouse

We walked along the riverside for about 500m to map ref. SE571552 and then followed the track back to the A19 at map ref. SE572553.

Just beyond the watercouse we turned left off the lane to walk along a pretty footpath/cycleway following Hurns Gutter for about 600m to the River Ouse. At the river we passed a group of BTCV volunteers working in the woodland by the river.

Footbridge over Hurns Gutter

Some comfortable seats

Another interesting seat by the path

It had been a very pleasant morning in the Spring sunshine. We called at the garden centre cafe in Skelton for a coffee and a bacon roll just to round off our outing.

Here we turned left to retrace our steps through the trees by the A19 back to our starting point in the lay-by. The whole route had been about 8km and it had taken us two and a half hours.

Returning to the lay-by through the trees by the A19