Difficulty: Easy
Walk Source: Walk 7 in the 'Vale of York and the Yorkshire Wolds' Jarrold pathfinder guide
Drive about half an hour north of York on the A64, and you come to Kirkham Priory. The priory itself is quite small, and not much of it remains. If you want to enter the grounds you'll have to pay admission tickets, but you can park for free outside, although on warm summer days the car-park can be quite full and you may struggle to find space.
The walk starts by taking you across the river and the railway line. Then it quickly turns left into the forest and up a steep, but thankfully short, hill. At the top you turn left again, and follow the yellow way-markers across a small field, through the wood, and along another field until you are at the bottom of the hill and join a gravel road. This road soon ends on a tarmacked lane, and you turn left to follow this lane for quite a while.
The tarmacked lane takes you across the railway line again, and past a little row of charming small houses. The stations both here and at Kirkham are closed now, but the old station masters' cottages are still here.
Soon after you have passed the houses you come to a Public Footpath sign pointing left straight across a field. There are little wooden pegs to help you keep to the path as you cross. At the end of the field is my least favourite part of this walk; a sump-like area where I always end up with wet feet no matter how waterproof my shoes are. Sprinting across this sump takes you to the banks of the river Derwent, and you turn left to follow it as it meanders across country.
From here the walk is quite easy, as it follows the riverbank back to the priory. There are little footbridges to cross here and there, and in spring the sides of the path are lined with wild garlic that can be picked along the way. There are also some lovely views of the priory across the river as you get nearer the end of the walk.
The scenery on this walk is perhaps not the most impressive ever, but it is a comfortable walk, at least I think so. It's close to the city, but it really has the countryside quiet that I some times long for. And it does have a bit of variation, with a wooded area, fields, and riverbank.
The walk took me nearly a couple of hours, but that included lots of stops for photos, and also foraging for wild garlic.
