Alone Beneath The Sky: Yorkshire Wolds Way #3 - Londesborough to Fridaythorpe 26/05/16

14.2 miles, via Nunburnholme, Warren Dale, Sylvan Dale, Nettle Dale, Pasture Dale, Huggate, Horse Dale & Holm Dale.

National Trail means Selfies!
#3 at Londesborough

Wednesday brings the rain, as is predictable for May, and a rest day is spent with limited activity, like hitting the Woodmansey garden centre for many, many cups of tea, and taking a ride into Beverley to check out the new Flemingate shopping centre and to get in a cut price meal in Prezzo. Rest is good when faced with the glum day that follows, with no chance of the sunshine enjoyed on the first two days, and so the will is stiffened and a determined attitude is donned for a 9.30am start in Londesborough, picking up the path outside All Saints church once again, and determining this estate village as notably desirable in a brick built and Arts & Crafts sort of way, before pressing off north-ish along a lane which seems to lack a name and carries us to the very lowest edge of the Wolds Terrain. Naturally, with limited elevation and grey skies, it's here we find an interpretative board, to point out the sights of Vale of York which are largely hidden by the low-hanging cloud, only Church Hill at Holme on Spalding Moor is identifiable. It's an altogether inauspicious start to the days trail, with only Cleaving Coombe illustrating the scenery you'd expect of the Wolds, and once the next lane has been met and the yard of Partridge Hall has been traversed, we hit a field walk around the low edge of Burnby Wold and the long grass gives the trews a heavy soaking, meaning that spirits start to dip as we meet the rough growth and sketchy path down towards Nunburnholme. It's a village with a stream, and nuns, if the name is to be believed, but we won't be seeing much more of it than a few houses and the quaint church of St James (complete with organ rehearsal!) before landing on another field walk, with more long grass getting me we right up to my thighs, and spirits aren't good as we note that we have dropped well below the expected altitudes of the Wolds and the coming paths are going to feature a lot more uphill trekking.

At least the track up through Bratt Wood is hard surfaced, and not too testing as the rise begins again, pounding it out across a field of sheep on a pretty clear trod and whilst the going is pretty sticky, the wet grass is at a pleasing minimum, as the track evens out and leads behind a plantation that isn't on the map before sliding us through Wold Farm on a rough track. Hit the access road out towards the lane, but take a detour around the house that has the builders in to gain altitude and to look into the Vale and wonder where the town of Pocklington might be, hiding away in the mist down there somewhere. Cross the B1246, the only road of note in these parts, and pass around a field of docile cattle before meeting the much more even track on the hillside above Kilnwick Percy hall, seen hiding among the trees of its extensive parkland, and a Buddhist retreat these days because of course it is. Meet the 30 mile marker, and more interpretative boards, telling us about the Pilgrimage of Grace, the ultimately unsuccessful popular rising of 1536 against Henry VIII and the English Reformation, which had its origin in these parts. That's a small episode that I knew little about, and something to absorb as the terrain starts to feel more like the Wolds once again, following the path not recently walked on the way to the yard of Low Warrendale farm, and following the access road as it winds down into Warren Dale, and then out again up the other side, and despite the challenges of the ascents the track starts to feel fun again. The alternate route to Millington is disregarded, and the high path above Millington Dale is picked, hitting the track that takes a long rise of almost 80m alongside Warrendale plantation, and offering views of little more than a lot of young growth of crops in the fields, but view should be forthcoming once above 190m, and these come above the vast gouge of Millington Dale, with its eponymous village at the bottom and stretching far to the northeast, surely one of the largest and most dramatic in the whole district, and a most welcome change after the terrain of East Yorkshire had threatened to get uninteresting It's a good spot for an early lunch on one of those wonky benches before the path rides the high contour above the dale, even enjoying a few brief moments of sunshine along the way, and the pervasive glumness isn't enough to subtract the drama from the scene, especially when you know the challenging footfalls are coming soon, right around the next corner.

You want a test on a National Trail, and the high walking isn't the most engaging, and the coming Sylvan Dale is exactly what you want, a deep and dry gouge coming in from the east, swathed in gorse and rough grass, with a steady 90m descent on its southern edge to the bottom, where care needs to be taken on the slick grass and mud, and the route outwards appears to be straight up the other side for 50m, but thankfully a switchback has been cut in to prevent a crawl being the best way of ascending. Even then, it's a lung-burster, which requires a rest once at the top, and the rises and falls of the track starts to have me wondering what it might do for my projected timekeeping today, but there's easy progress to be made above the ancient earthworks on the edge of Cow Moor, at least until a par of bulls are found grazing on the track, and they seem reluctant to let me pass them, which is probably for the best as I'd rather chase them off the hillside than the other way round. The descent into Nettle Dale is clear of bovine influence, and is a little easier going than the previous one, but when a herd of bullocks gets sight of you descending and decides to come up to meet you, it's time for discretion to be the better part of valour, and I'll hop over a convenient fence to continue to the bottom as a dozen head of cattle is not something I fancy challenging. Back on track on the other side, grateful that the cows are happy to block the other path and to not chase me uphill, which would be a tough escape on this hill rising back up to 175m along the northern edge of the dale before safety is assured in Jessop's Plantation, where the only other walkers are met on the way, having their lunch before they have to have a duel with the cattle. Safer going for me as the upper arms of Millington Dale are met again, taking an eastward tack above Pasture Dale, an altogether more peaceful spot, despite the road at its base, seemingly little used, and the path keeps on along the high edge, and I press on pondering the total absence of sheep on the so-called Huggate Sheepwalk. Huggate feels like it should be the next destination, but the trail has better ideas, striking out from Pocklington Lane to the top of Huggate pasture to put a summit on the trail so far walked, over 205m up but on a flat plateau with no obvious views, and few features to pick out, in a landscape that I do not know, but here's the 35 mile marker too, arriving late in the day when I was convinced I'd actually missed it.

There's still some miles to go then, and I seem to have lost the time over those testing ascents and descents, so some level tracks, at relative altitude are useful to get the pace up a bit, passing over York Lane and hitting the access road to Glebe Farm, which offers a tempting view over to Horse Dale before swinging away, closer to the farm that doesn't want you in their yard, directing you down a side path before dropping you on the lane down towards Huggate. The spire of St Anne's peeks above the horizon, but the Way has you pulling away form the village at a shaded junction, but we need to see the village, as we've been away from human settlement for too long, and so a detour loop is made to catch the upper half of it, another lovely place, build in chalk and vernacular brick, with another good demonstration of the East Riding duckpond for good measure. Despite my scheduling going south, it's a place to pause for late lunch before returning to the lane that grazes the top of Cow Dale before apparently becoming the access road to Northfield House farm, line with blossoming trees that would have been a riot of colour a few weeks ago, departing to a rough path in the hope that the landscape might offer me something to orientate myself. Unfortunately, the Tatton Skyes monument is the only thing in these parts that I know about, and aren't even sure where it is exactly, so all focus has to be put on getting to the end of the day, and My Parents call to announce their arrival at Fridaythorpe when I haven't even started to descent into Horse Dale. It's another naturally impressive gouge, but by now I've started to get tired of the Wolds landscape as a walking environment, and pace my down to the bottom, knowing that the rising path out of Holm Dale is going to be an uphill grind, and moods are not enhanced by site of the herd of cows grazing high above at the dale's fringe as A stampede is not something I could outrun right now. Escape un-scathed as this cattle is not spooked, and the long slog through the grass has my legs wobbly for the first time this holiday, and the following track into Fridaythorpe is muddier than any I have met all day, but soon land on the A166 in the highest village on the trail, looking down at heel with the Farmers Arms closed down, but also burgeoning upscale with new developments growing around the village pond. Still this is the site of the Wolds Way halfway marker, and the place to break until late Summer, and My Parents can greet and collect me at 3.35pm, taking one last ride back to Woodmansey for a feed at the Warton Arms before our trails will lead us all homeward again.

5,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 2219.8 miles
2016 Total: 205.4 miles
Up Country Total: 2023.1 miles
Solo Total: 1989.7 miles