What is this life, if so full of care,
we have no time to stand and stare
Path beside Eavestone Lake in a rocky wooded ravine
Route map from Ordnance Survey Open Space service.
Map: OS Explorer 298 Nidderdale at 1:25000
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We walked Southwards along the road through the village for about 250m from the church to a junction at map ref. SE249674. Here we turned right into a lane and then immediately left off the lane to climb a stile and follow a footpath across the fields to Lacon Hall. As we approached the hall the old path had been diverted to the right to pass behind the hall, a far better arrangement than everyone walking up the drive past the house. |
The weather forecast for today was good. One fine sunny day sandwiched between wet and windy days, so this morning my friend, Jim, & I drove to the village of Sawley in Nidderdale. We parked by the church in the village street about a kilometer off the B6265 at map ref. SE249677. There was a good deal of high cloud as we set off but by midday the sky had cleared completely.
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We did not enter the wood, instead we followed the path diagonally across the field to pass the remains of Lacon Cross on an old trade route to Fountains Abbey. |
From the field behind the hall the path followed the wall up to the corner of a wood at map ref. SE244667.
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 The track called Green Lane by the Manor Allotment wood |
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We entered the wood through a pedestrian gate and followed the marked path down the hillside and across a track to an ancient stone bridge called Butterton Bridge at map ref. SE237664. The bridge is overgrown but the stone arch can still be seen beneath the hanging vegetation. |
At the edge of the field we emerged onto a track called Green Lane at the corner of a wood called Manor Allotment. We turned right to follow the track and climbed a stile into a field. Once in the field we headed Southwest across the field and down a slope to the edge of some woodland about 250m away.
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 Climbing up from Butterton Bridge towards Warsill Hall farm |
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After about 400m we came to the edge of a forestry plantation named High Moor on the map. We walked along a long straight forest track for about 1.5km to the B6265 at map ref. SE225673. We crossed the main road and walked along a minor road towards the village of Eavestone. |
We continued along the path up to the edge of the wood and then followed the path up, across the grass fields to Warsill Hall farm. Behind the farm at map ref. SE234659, we crossed a large ladder stile and turned right to follow a track along the edge of the field.
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I tried to take a photo, but the contrast between the sunny rock face and the dark water and woodland was too much for my 'point and click' camera to handle. We crossed a footbridge over the narrow neck in the lake and followed the path along the Northern shore of the lake. |
After about 400m we came to a 'T'-junction where we turned right and after another 200m we followed the road round a 90 degree left-hand bend. Just round this bend we took a path into the woods from the right hand side of the road. This was a narrow footpath through the trees, but at the road was an inexplicable hand written sign on a yellow disc warning of "HGV's 24/7". The path began to descend some wide steps to the start of Eavestone Lake, and we could see the lake below us with a high, sheer rocky cliff in the sunlight opposite.
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We came to a large old beech tree by the path which I though was worth recording for the "Ancient Tree Hunt". We measured it, recorded it's position with my gps gadget and took some photos. |
It was an idyllic place in the autumn sunshine with the lake, the cliffs and rocky outcrops and the autumn colours on the wooded side of the rocky ravine.
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We did not see another person and yet this path is part of the Ripon Rowel Route. |
A little further on we found a spot to sit on the edge of the lake for our lunch. It was so beautiful and it was so quiet.
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 The wooded path alongside Eavestone Lake |
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From there we followed the path up through the woods and across the fields to Hollin Hill Farm. |
After our break we continued around the lake to a stone arch footbridge over the outlet from the lake at map ref. SE229681.
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 Stone arch bridge over the outlet from Eavestone Lake |
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Just past the farm the ground was very wet and boggy and there was a stream of animal slurry running along part of the path. |
The path was obstructed with debris on the approach to the farm.
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We entered the village along the side of the green by the village hall and walked back along the road to our car by the church. The whole walk had been about 9km and I'm afraid to say that it took us almost four hours to walk including a lingering lunch stop by the lake. I'm getting slower and slower! On the way home we stopped at the Fountains Abbey Visitor Centre for a coffee to round off our day. |
We continued along the wet path to Gowbusk Farm and from there we continued along the Ripon Rowel Route along a farm track to the B6265 at map ref. SE240680. We crossed the road and took the footpath opposite and a few metres to the left. This path is the continuation of the Ripon Rowel Route which we followed back to Sawley about 1km away.
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© 2010 Frank M Firth
Original
design by Andreas
Viklund
