York Walks: Sheriff Hutton and Mowthorpe Hill

Distance: 7 miles / 11.3 km
Difficulty: Medium
Walk Source: Walk 19 in the Jarrold Pathfinder Guide book: 'Vale of York and the Yorkshire Wolds'

I had decided to go for a walk yesterday, so was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn't raining (had woken up during the night to find rain thundering on the window). So after preparing a packed lunch and a flask of tea I set off to pick my friend up before heading out of town. There was quite a bit of traffic, but it wasn't moving too slowly, so after about 45 minutes we arrived at Sheriff Hutton. The book said to park in the village centre, and there were lots of places to park a car, so after some dithering we left it in a residential street.

Following the directions in the guide book, we set off in the direction of the church, and were soon in a field, surrounded by yellow rape flowers. We carried on for a while from one field to another, across a few streams, until the path bore uphill. The book was a little confusing at this point; I think some stiles and fences must have been moved since the book was published, so not all the directions made sense. But after ditching the written directions and trusting the map alone it all went better, and we were soon on the right track again.

I have to admit I found the hill by Primrose Farm quite steep, and my friend and I were both soon out of breath. It seemed to go on forever, but once at the top we looked back, and decided the climb was well worth the effort; there was a fantastic view of the vale of York. There was, however, also a bitter wind at the top of the hill, so we were soon on our way again.

After walking into a small valley we found a sheltered spot and sat down for lunch near Mowthorpe Bridge. This was our longest (and steepest) walk yet this season, so a break was very welcome at this point. We gout out our sitting-mats and refreshments, and suddenly - bliss. There was a sign warning of a bull in the field, but we didn't see it, so felt quite safe after all.

The rest of the walk was very pleasant, not too steep, and mostly sheltered from the wind. The path was rather muddy though, and we were happy to be wearing our walking boots rather than just trainers.