Alone Beneath The Sky: Selby to York 10/07/16

15.8 miles, via Barlby, Riccall, Naburn, Bishopthorpe, Knavesmire & The City Walls.

Saturday drops from the schedule as the weather looks gross and I'm really in need of a lie in, but I've still got a timetable to maintain so footfalls have to come on the Sunday, which requires some creative transport usage to get eastwards, and unlocking a travel achievement as we go, having now departed from all 17 of the platforms at Leeds station, checking off the elusive and rarely used #14 on this morning. So back to Selby for a 10.15am start, with a six hour walking window ahead of me and a day that looks distinctly changeable in the air, ready to burn another track to York as the last of the major railway paths in the locality is to be found out here, but there'll be a few miles to go before we get there, so early steps are made to Ousegate and on over the river to find a different, non-A19 track through New Barlby, rising onto the flood embankment around the backs of the council houses to see rather a lot of vegetation and little of the river itself. It's a theme that persists as the path takes us past the towering flour mills and eyes are cast to the river to take in what must be remnants of docks which once served them, a small crane being the most interesting relic seen atop the former landing stages. Pass around the back of the small council estate at the bottom edge of Barlby, but this supposed riverside walk isn't offering much that isn't vegetation, so steps are made across the field to York Road, arriving at about the point I left it when I passed through last year, to take a proper look at the village, the best course of action as picking up the railway route would involve pacing the side of the A19 bypass. It's an altogether odd place, with an old core around Barlby Hall, along with a spread of suburbia and council houses at both bottom and top, but lacking a pub and a church, and it's still growing too, a field being claimed for new developments when I'd figure that everyone should know the folly of wanting to live on the Selby Levels these days. Still onto the superseded main road on the path north, past Turnhead Farm and finally getting some railway relics with the crossing houses at Sand Lane and Newgrove farm, before the A19 is met, still sat on the alignment of the old ECML and with an independent cyclepath for us slow travellers, and it's an odd thought to ponder that 'Flying Scotsman', 'Mallard' and the Deltics all used to consider this line home.

I'd always assumed that the NER's 1871 line between Selby and York had been closed as its river bridges were unsuitable for electrification, but it seem that the 1983 diversion was opened as this line was considered at risk from subsidence from the Selby Coalfield (no longer extent) and was unsuitable for high speed operation, strange to think as the line progresses past Green Lane farm and on towards Riccall, almost arrow straight. Pass through Riccall village as the Trans Pennine Trail link takes you that way, where railway cottages endure at the southern edge and a water tower stands sentinel over the village like one of John Christopher's Tripods, and the days starts to warm through too, to show up a much better face than Barlby, with more facilities and certain uniformity of style too. It's nearly 2 hours into the day that the railway walk finally starts proper, beyond the York Road crossing house, as the A19 peels away and the cycleway has the trackbed to itself for the next 6.5 miles, and admittedly it's a line that lacks romance due to its particular vintage and its mainline status, but it's immediately rendered more interesting as it's home to the York Solar System, a scale model stretched between the A19 and the A64, constructed in 1999 and making this trip altogether more transcendent. So we start at Pluto, the size of a small pea and elevated above the main path, and it'll be a trek to get to the next planet, passing though a heavily shaded section, providing welcome cover for lunchtime and protection from sunshine that wasn't expected in quantity. Pass over Dam Dike and under Mount Bridge along the way before Neptune is met, 1.5 miles on and size of a clementine, on the edge of Heron Wood, and move off the track, oddly, on the way to Escrick bridge and it's lost station site, and on over Bridge Dike, through the edge of Moreby Far Wood and below Deighton Grange bridge, every point being noted in this extra flat farmland. Another 1.8 miles has passed as we meet Uranus and its rings, again clementine sized and hiding on the edge of Naburn Wood, and with almost half the track done, only two of the major planets have been met so far, but the track starts to feel a bit less remote as the view across the fields offer the village of Naburn on the horizon, passing under Moor Lane bridge and over Howden Lane bridge, and resisting the temptation of a detour for a break and watering at the Blacksmith's Arms.

Arrive at Naburn station, the major survival on the route, still in situ and oversized since closing in 1964, and home to an honesty café and cycling hostel these days, complete with a model of the Cassini- Huygens probe, and passage over the B1222 means we are back inside our experience field, having given it a new eastern border. Above the marina we meet Saturn, complete with rings, and about the size of a volleyball, 1.5 miles since our last planet, and just a way shy of Naburn Swing bridge, the line's major engineering feature, having nor swung in a while and home to an angling artwork nowadays, companion to much boating on the Ouse below and bringing on the glummest portion of this otherwise bright afternoon. My engineering fix satiated, it's onwards, over Acaster Lane bridge and down below the suburban outer edge of Bishopthorpe, where the local amblers start to appear among the many cyclists and Jupiter appears, in almost undue haste, only 1000m on and the size of a football, and from there the inner solar system awaits. First we must pass through the Suburban spread of Bishopthorpe, passing through a close of houses beyond Appleton Road bridge, and down a fenced path to find Mars in the countryside on the other side of the village, 950m distant, the size of a marble, and the path down to the end of the rail trail has the planets coming fast and thick. Only 140m to Earth and the size of a large marble, and with only 70m to travel to Venus, a similar size, and 90m to get to Mercury, another planet that is only the size of a pea, and from there it's only 100m to the Sun, on the other side of the A64 bypass bridge, elevated above the track and size of a small car. You'd never think walking a track could be so mind expanding, but it makes you appreciate the skill of the astronomers and physicists that have developed our understanding of the cosmos, as well as the realisation that we exist on a speck in a sea of nothing, and the model is only of the radius of the solar system, it's really twice as large and the planets are presented as close together as they could ever be, and that we've travelled at 2.5 times the speed of light in our traversal. So to the end of the railway path, almost forgotten in our journey through space, passing under the A1036 Tadcaster Road bridges before looping back up to the roadside, the last stretch down to Chaloner's Whin junction being inaccessible, and big applause is needed for Sustrans for the development of this path in 1987, their first, and now a very small portion of the National Cycle Network.

Attention can now go to another passage into the City of York, and adding more new edges to our experience field, and its arrival feels heralded by passing along Sim Balk Lane by York College, but this apparent southern edge is actually an illusion, and there's quite a lot of fields to traverse still, the TPT wending its way across the fields of Middlethorpe Common on its way to Knavesmire. This parkland is now home to York Racecourse, and the path goes over both of the long sprint straights before settling on a track in the direction of the Grandstands, and that's a new course added to my list, and I still ponder why we have never done a day at the races, either with friends or colleagues, in all my years. The other focal point is the Terry's chocolate factory, only out of use in the last decade and met up close once out on Bishopthorpe Road, and despite its residential redevelopment as The Residence, its old identity is sure to endure for a long time, and with that we can arrive properly in the city, the drag into the town offering more of York's singular face, even though it looks quite different from Fulford. My descriptive powers fail me, honestly, and I'm unsure whether these terraces are in Nunthorpe or Clementhorpe, but it's another attractive route into the town, with one parade full of busy cafés and dressed up to look extra patriotic when I can't think of any recent events worthy of celebration, and soon the inner city is met and paths must be twisted to complete the missing quarter of the city walls. Rise from Skeldergate to access the elevated path at Bailie Hill, looking into the city over some very pleasing terraces, and carry the realisation that York is going to require some heavy duty Pevsnering in the future as we pass along, with the minutes counting down, and thus Victor Street gate and Micklegate Bar don't get the attention they would deserve otherwise. Do take interest in the gaps in the wall, created to give access to the 1841 railway station within the walls, and the remnants below are fascinating little survivals, hidden off Queen Street, but it was only this year that I found that the station itself, closed in 1877 and finally out of use in 1965 is still extent, recently developed as City Council offices. So that's a revelation to get as we rise to get the classic city view over Lendal bridge and on to the Minster before the tourist path is left behind at the other wall breach at Station Rise, and Station Road is met again to complete my city circuit, and the final steps can be made to arrive on the platforms at 4.05pm, within my 6 hour window, and thus only an hour from home on a Sunday afternoon.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2334.8 miles
2016 Total: 320.4 miles
Up Country Total: 2138.1 miles
Solo Total: 2103.9 miles

The Flour Mills, New Barlby, even more visible than Selby Abbey.

Barlby, an old centre with suburban surroundings, but no pub or church,
and protected from the Ouse by walls of flood embankments.

Sand Lane crossing house, because we came this way for Railway Walking!

The A19, and the Old ECML on the way to Riccall,
which appears to have suffered an alien invasion!

Riccall, all kinds of lovely brick building in this corner of the county.

The York Solar System is a bonus feature to this railway walk,
making this old NER line into an interplanetary excursion.
Pluto stands raised above the trail, and it's 2.5km to Neptune!

The York & Selby line passes over Dam Dike, a major
and dynamic feature in this flatland landscape.

Neptune, on the edge of Heron Wood, nearly 3km to Uranus!

Escrick Bridge, which lacks Victorian era romance and style,
with its lost station site beyond, below the car park.

Uranus, on the edge of Naburn Wood, 2.5km to Saturn!

Howden Lane bridge, near Naburn, and it's worth going
off piste to get a different perspective on the underbridges

Saturn, just beyond Naburn station, and 950m to Jupiter!

Naburn Swing Bridge, no longer mobile, but now featuring
an Angling Man art installation, and many, many cyclists.

Jupiter, on the suburban edge of Bishopthorpe, only 1km to Mars.

Appleton Road bridge, just before surbarban overspill claims the alignment,
and trains ran through this corner of Bishopthorpe only 33 years ago!

Mars, Earth, Venus & Mercury, as The Inner Solar System piles up within 300m on the far
side of Bishopthorpe, making it feel small, or very large, depending on your perspective,