An early start for a long and glum looking day, disembarking at Garforth at 8.45am, and after poking around the station, we set course east, passing through the council houses to finally get a close up look at St Mary's parish church, and we are soon into the unknown once across Ninelands Lane. Green Lane leads to East Garforth station and the only available footbridge across the railway, and once past the bus terminus, it's out of Garforth and onto a field walk shadowing the railway in its rough cutting and the driveway to the Sturton Grange distribution depot. Across the A656 Roman road, and onto a field causeway down to Micklefield, for only the briefest of visits before hitting the farm track that leads up to the bridge across the A1(M), and the changing quality of the soil becomes evident, less red and more chalky, as field track takes us down under the line to York and through the trees to the neat little valley of Newthorpe Beck, as this is a landscape where only small wrinkles make for a dramatic location. Onwards, out of West Yorkshire and into North, through the hamlet of Newthorpe, and along Gorse Lane before taking the shortcut via the foot-crossing over the line to Selby, and then across the fields to Whitecote Lane on a path that has recently been harrowed out of existence. Follow the lane to South Milford, with the distant and familiar trio of Power stations giving the location context, and the village looks both old-timey and commuter-ready, and seems a lot larger than I had expected.
Over the A162, and along Common Lane, passing into the flat expanse of the Vale of York, where the field stretch for miles and drains dictate passage across the landscape, crossing over the mess of railways lines that accumulate in the area and between the many riding schools before hitting the long walk around the wooded perimeter of the site of Gascoigne Wood colliery, another which has slipped from existence. Cross the railway again at the throat of the marshalling yard, and follow the track alongside Parish Croft Drain and Habholme Dike, all the way along the perimeter of the former opencast workings. Meet farm tracks at Melton Leys and these lead on to Rest Park farm, before a field walk, somewhere between two rights of way, leads me to Scalm Lane and the last ascent of the day, passing over the East Coast Main Line. Pass on through Bishop Wood, on a roadside where drivers enjoy a burn and I lack options of alternative routes, so awareness is kept at a peak as road walking is the rule for the remainder of the day. Continue on the long lanes and among the farmsteads littering Wistow and Selby Commons, along Sherburn Road and Flaxley Road before finally getting site of my destination, eventually gaining a pavement as the suburban edge is met. Scott Road leads to the main street, Gowthorpe, and up to Selby Abbey, and the sun finally comes out as I have time to make a circuit of the parish church and also to the banks of the Ouse, and the very edge of the West Riding. Contemplate future tracks to the East, and more trails in this new landscape, before making my way to the station, for a 3.25pm finish, having accidentally broken my all-time distance record, and before Winter has ended too!
5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 1467.7 miles
2015 Cumulative Total: 65.5 miles
Up Country Total: 1372.1 miles
Solo Total: 1240.7 miles
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| St Mary's, Garforth. A proud and compact bit of Victorian Gothic revivalism, visible for miles around, and finally encountered up close. |
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| Sturton Grange distribution depot. A farm certainly has a strange second life when it becomes a commercial hub for the likes of Costa Coffee. |
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| Micklefield. Blink and you might miss it, still modest in scale despite being on the old Great North Road, and the Blands Arms is hardly the most inspiring of names is it? |
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| Brookfield House, Newthorpe. Light stone dominates in this corner of the county, whilst this is as bold as the landscape gets before the Vale of York flattens everything for miles to come. |
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| Steeton Hall gatehouse. Maintained by English Heritage, and it does get you wondering how impressive the hall might have been in its day? |
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| South Milford. Ill served by buses, but convenient for the railway, it could easily be a fantasy retirement location, one of the most robustly attractive villages I have met so far. |
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| Common Lane, and the perimeter of Gascoigne Wood Colliery, now passed into history, and there's little else left in the landscape to suggest the existence of the Selby coalfield. |
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| Habholme Dike. Following the colliery perimeter, these ditches dominate the flat landscape, where they impede straightforward progress, by being to deep and wide to easily traverse, leading to a windy route in the most level of landscapes. |
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| Melton Leys. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, and blighted by years of coal mining, someone has clearly thought this farmstead deserves the Grand Designs treatment, so good luck to them, frankly. |
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| Bishop Wood. Ancient forest that is not for the faint of heart, taking your life in your hands as you cling to the verges away from the traffic. A useful lesson in road walking was learned today, there will always be more traffic than you expect. |
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| Selby Abbey from a distance. Flat landscapes can be as unyielding as hilly ones as the miles take so long to pass by, and sight of your destination lets you know that the day is going to end. |
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| Selby Abbey up close. Saved as the parish church after its dissolution in 1539, it's a majestic beast, one never seen on my childhood travels, somehow. |
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