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North Yorkshire - Richmond (6.6 miles)

 Wednesday, 4th November 2020


I booked today off on annual leave for a pre-lockdown walk.  What absolutely glorious weather!

I got parked up on the roadside near the tennis courts at Hurgill as the couple of little parking areas were full.

A quick peek at the view, looking back over Richmond from West Field:


Looking back down the lane (bridleway):


The road, turned into a lane, which turned into a a rutted, cobbled track
:

...before finally entering Whitecliffe Wood:


Lovely.  There were squirrels and loads of goldfinch in here all foraging amongst the leaf-litter.

Once out of the woods I bounced along a grassy trod, with Whitcliffe Scar becoming more and more prominent:



Quick look down the other way to the River Swale:


"Down there" was my return route and, with hindsight, I should have done this walk the other way round to make the most of the sunshine which had been glinting off the river earlier.

Whitcliffe Scar looking very noticeable now:


I may return another day to explore the paths higher up the scar and maybe go looking for the fort.

So far, the walk had been very easy, with no steep gradients and no scary drops.  A quick look back at my route.  Apparently I'm on the Coast to Coast route:


Another look down to the river with the autumnal trees basking in the sunshine:


Arty-farty pic:


Curious building built into the walls:


After a bit of a navigational mis-judgement and the local knowledge of a very kind lady who appeared at just the right time and pointed me in the right direction, I headed steeply downhill.

A bit of scrumpying, it had to be done:


And, if anyone knows the owners of High Applegarth Farm, please let them know their apple was the most delicious one I've ever scrumped!

Eventually I reached the valley floor and, what turned out to be a very short walk along the Swale:


Most of the path next to the river had been washed away and marker posts were diverting you away from the washed away river banks.  So I took a pic of the sunshine on the trees seeing as I couldn't get near the river:

Apart from to get this pic:


Eventually the not really very riverside path nudged me back into the woodland again:


This seemed to be an oak and beech woodland and the colours were spectacular:



I really did pick the right time of year to do this walk!

Almost out of the woodland now and I came across a little memorial.  It was for a lady, from her dogs:


There followed a less than interesting bit of farm track walking, hemmed in between high hedges, before spitting me out onto the main road.  Luckily I only needed to cross the road to get back into some woodland, and another short stretch along the Swale:


From there, I popped out in a static caravan/holiday home park and may have sneaked through a gap in the wall and onto the main road again.  But, shhhh, don't tell.

Plodging on up the road was a shock to the system with all the traffic, but I did spot this quirky curiosity:


From here, it was a sharp left turn at the butchers and back to the car, with a short detour into West Field (a minature Beverley Westwood, with steep bits) to sit on a bench and have my cuppa that I'd not drunk.  I missed the best of the sunset but, not to worry, a nice sit with a cuppa and biscuit and a lovely view was just the ticket before my drive home.

This would be a fantastic snowy winter walk too.

A lovely pre-lockdown walk to tide me over for a while.  

Thanks for reading.