Wheldrake

Distance: 6 miles / 9.6 km

Difficulty: Easy 
Walk Source: City of York Council’s ‘Walks in York’ number 6.

Today was finally a bright and sunny day, after another week of what seemed like endless rain. I wasn’t quite sure where to go, but I knew I wanted to get out of the city for some fresh air. I had recently found some new details of walks near York, and decided it would have to be one of those.

I set off for Wheldrake, which is just outside the city, so I was soon there. The start of the walk was easy to find, just follow the signs for the Village Hall near the school, then turn into Broad Highway and park where the houses end. It was quite a quiet area, so I had no problem parking. The first bit of the walk was along the road out of the village, but it was a very quiet road, so this was not a problem. I followed the road until I came to a cluster of houses on the left-hand side, where I followed a footpath sign leading to the left around the houses. There, I found a couple of stiles. After climbing these I found myself on a muddy path going through a small forest.

After a little while the path opened up to a field, where I turned right for a few steps before heading across it towards Sparrow Hall Farm. There was supposed to be a path though the field, but was somewhat of an overstatement. The only evidence of the path was the odd old footprint on the mud, it was rather overgrown. But I fought my way through and eventually I emerged at the farm. From there I followed a track towards Wheldrake Lane. Here I turned right and followed the lane for about 300 meters before turning right onto a path towards Gothic House Farm. Here I followed the path for quite a while, until reaching another farm, and turning right towards the direction of Benjy Lane. This took me out onto Wheldrake Lane again, a bit closer to Wheldrake than where I had joined it earlier.

Following Wheldrake Lane was not exactly the nicest part of the walk, there was quite a bit of traffic, and only a thin verge to walk on. Luckily I reached the village soon enough. The village of Wheldrake is lovely and charming, wonderfully well kept with little cottages along the main road. After a stroll through the village I was back by the car, just in time to avoid the rain which had decided to come back for another treat.