A little over 5 miles. Mostly easy but with a steep, muddy climb for around ½ mile and a similarly steep descent.
It was such a lovely day on Sunday the 19th that after we’d finished some chores Lizzie & I decide to go for a walk. One of our favourite places is Sutton Bank and along the Cleveland Way in the North York Moors National Park. This time we decided to do something a little different involving the Cleveland Way. So we set out by car from Easingwold and drove up the A19 towards Thirsk, and then on to the A170 towards Sutton Bank but turned off after just under ½ mile. Two miles further on we reached the pretty village of Felixkirk and our destination, Boltby, was just another 2½ miles on the same road.
Boltby is a picturesque place, a tiny village with a very attractive little church which looks as if it ought to be a lot older than it actually is – Holy Trinity Church only dates back to the mid-19th century.
Boltby is set in the Cleveland Hills and when a nearby reservoir was constructed in the 19th century, the buildings of the village were given title to “free water in perpetuity”, which was a rather nice thing to do.
We parked our car along the main street near the church and wandered twenty or thirty yards further along until we came to the old humpback bridge on the right hand side. The bridge, not wide enough to carry two people abreast, crosses a small stream called Gurtof Beck, and it was from here that our walk started.
To the right of the bridge and alongside the Beck there’s a footpath which led us to a farm gate after around 15 yards. Waiting to greet us was a herd of sheep, and remarkably friendly ones they were too.
The path carried on through several more gates, across a wooden footbridge and over a number of stiles.
The views all around were stunning. The Cleveland Way runs along the cliff top of Boltby Scar to the east. Boltby Scar is one of two ancient sites where there were once Iron Age forts – the other is very close at Raulston Scar, above the White Horse of Kilburn.
With the Beck on our left, we reached a point where the fence which had been on the other side of the Beck ended. We crossed the Beck here via an open bridge, and turned right to head to a gated stone bridge about 30 yards away.
Keeping the hedge on our left, we headed up a gentle hill and went over several more stiles and through a couple of gates and carried on past a freshly steaming dung heap until we reached a farm track leading to a farm. Turning left we passed the farm buildings and crossed a field diagonally as it went up a gentle slope. Through a wooden gate at the top and forward for another 100 yards with a wire fence on our right before descending towards a gate on to a well-travelled path. To the left was Southwoods Hall, and to the right a small lake. We soon reached the end of this field and going through the gate besides the entrance to the Hall we came to a metalled road. We crossed this and went straight ahead up a hill on a lane which had a canopy of trees.
At the end of the lane we came to Southwoods Lodge, a small cottage, where there were a number of cars parked. We turned left here and entered some woods and soon came to a sign pointing us in the direction of Thirlby Bank. The path gets quite steep – and at the bottom it was muddy too (nearer the top, and in the more shaded parts, the ground was frozen, which was helpful).This path goes all the way up to the Cleveland Way, on the top of the escarpment.
The Yorkshire Gliding Club is based on the plateau behind the Cleveland Way about a mile to the south of where our path joined it, and we saw many gliders and tow planes throughout the day.
We turned north (left) to join the Cleveland Way, where the views are simply stunning – the Vales of York and Mowbray are laid out like gently puckered green carpets.
We walked north along the top for about a mile until we came to a signpost on our left marked Boltby. The trail led down for around half-a-mile through the trees – or what remained of them as many had been cut down on either side, so not the prettiest of landscapes. At the end of the forest the view ahead was much nicer; a foresters’ road crossed from right to left and on the other side of the road a lane led to a field with horses in. Beyond the field the green rolling hills of lush farmland stretched out to meet the skyline.
We were now in an area called Little Moor. We went down the lane to enter the field with the horses and kept to the left hand side of the field and then followed the fence at the end round until we came to a gate with a trail arrow on it but no other sign or name.
This led down through a very pleasant wooded bridleway for around ¼ mile. We hadn’t seen a “Boltby sign” for a while so we were reassured when we came across one as the sun was now sinking fast. Behind the signpost the view was superb.
The bridleway soon turned into a farm track and looking back we could see Boltby Scar behind us, As we entered Boltby we had a final treat. In some tall trees by the road I heard and then was able to see a bullfinch, collecting material for a nest.
As we prepared to leave Boltby after a very pleasant afternoon’s walk, we looked back to see the hills above the village bathed in a warm golden light and above them a flock of crows flying home to roost.
On the way back to Thirsk we decided to stop off at the Carpenter’s Arms, Felixkirk and had a very enjoyable meal in comfortable surroundings and with excellent service. A fitting end to a marvellous day.
A further selection of photographs can be found below:
