Kirkham Priory & The River Derwent

Distance: 5 miles (8km)
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.

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. 

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.

The last bit took us back to the village of Sheriff Hutton, a very idyllic place, with ruins of a castle dating back to the late 14th century.