Yorkshire Walks

Millington Church

Walking through Millington village

We started walking at about 10.00am through the village on the road towards the Buddhist Centre at Kilnwick Percy Hall. The road took us across Millington Beck and up the far side of Millington Dale.

This morning my mate, Jim, and I drove to Millington on the Yorkshire Wolds near Pocklington to meet our friend John, who lives nearby. We parked on a little gravel lay-by next to the church at map ref. SE830518.

Leaving the lay-by at the church

The lane from Millington to Kilnwick Percy

A chance meeting at the junction

Wolds Way climbing up to Warrendale plantation

Autumn muck spreading in progress

It turned out that they were walking a shorter version of our route that had been published in the 'Dalesman' magazine this month. From the junction we all followed the Wolds Way route climbing up along the edge of Warrendale Plantation.

After 1.5km we came to a junction at map ref. SE829506. At the junction there is a sign post to "The World Peace Cafe", a quirky little place at the Buddhist Centre. Three men of our vintage arrived at the junction from the direction of the cafe at the same time as us.

Sign at the junction

Wolds Way along the edge of Warrendale Plantation

The Wolds Way opposite Millington village

A red-legged or French Partridge in the stubble by the path

We continued along the Wolds Way (it's also the Minster Way and the Chalklands Way at this point!) to a steep sided little valley called Sylvan Dale.

Just before Warren Farm the three gentlemen that we had met turned down the hillside to Millington.

The Wolds Way opposite Millington village

Poetic seat on the Wolds Way

Starting to descend into Sylvan Dale

Signpost on the Wolds Way in Sylvan Dale

Footbridge over Millington Beck

Fortunately our route left the Wolds Way in the valley bottom and continued to follow the little valley out to the road at map ref. SE842531. At this point the old course of a Roman Road (from Beverley to Malton) comes down the valley to cross the road.

As we started to descend into Sylvan Dale, John pointed out a permissive path that runs around the contour of the valley side back to Millington and we duly noted it for future reference. It was good to have John with us for his local knowledge (and his company). We followed the path down into Sylvan Dale and on the opposite side of the valley was a flight of steps taking the Wolds Way straight up the steep valley side.

Steps on the Wolds Way climbing out of Sylvan Dale

Pond on Millington Beck

Road along Millington Dale towards Millington Wood

Track along the valley bottom

We followed the track for about 350m to a point where there is a charcoal burner by the track and just before it there are paths off the track to both sides of the valley.

At the road we turned left and walked along the road to the entrance to Millington Wood at map ref. SE838530. The wood fills the sides of a little valley with a track along the bottom.

The entrance to Millington Wood

A charcoal burner by the track

Approaching the view point

Looking out from the view point

The path climbed up the valley side and we worked our way around towards the head of the valley. There is a steep scramble up part of the way but at last we reached a raised seat at the viewpoint at the head of the valley. We sat there for our lunch with a pleasant view through the tree tops to the far side of Millington Dale where we had walked earlier in the day.

The better track is off to the right but today this has closure notices displayed and yellow tape blocking the access. It seems that the path itself is OK but the hand rail and its supports are rotten, broken and unusable. The path off to the left has no handrails and is open so we took that.

The seat at the view point

Working our way along the valley side

Dropping down the valley side, a lot easier than scrambling up

Approaching the car park in Millington Wood

Track from Millington wood

Here there are a series of oak columns on the road side, each with a large metal ring attached. All the land here used to be common grazing land and apparently wooden posts of this kind were used to tether cattle. The posts here now are a sculptural reminiscence of this bygone age.

After our break we retraced our steps back to the track in the valley bottom and form there made our way out of the valley to the road. At the road we turned right to climb up a short stretch of track that cut off a hairpin bend in the road. We rejoined the road at the top of the hairpin bend at map ref. SE838529.

Dropping back down to the track in the valley bottom

Leaving Millington Wood

Oak sculpture posts by the road side

Looking back up Millington Dale

Looking across Millington Dale from the road back into Millington village

The road back to Millington village

The whole route had been about 10km and it had taken us three hours to walk including our lunch stop.

We walked along the road for about a kilometer back into Millington and the end of our walk.

The road back to Millington village

'World Peace Cafe' at Kilnwick Percy

We had a coffee (no hot snacks available) to finish off the walk and there we met the three walkers we had encountered near the start of our walk.

From Millington we drove about 1.5km to the 'World Peace Cafe' at the Kilnwick Percy Buddhist Centre.

Kilnwick Percy chapel