Day 6

Hawnby to Helmsley

16 miles

At last, a dry and bright day was in prospect with nothing more than a shower expected.  An excellent breakfast was provided at the Inn at Hawnby and we set off in high spirits.

We retraced our steps from the previous day, repeating the long steep ascent past Arden Hall to Dale Town Common, but it seemed a different world to yesterday's walk in snow.

We crossed Dale House Common, this time turning right away from High Buildings and followed narrow boggy paths through the heather.  Some of the going was awkward but we made good progress and reached and crossed the old drovers' road of Hambleton Street.

We left the moor and soon reached High Paradise Farm, where there is a very nice tea room, and we stopped to enjoy coffee and fruit scones and cream.

Leaving Hawnby

Inn Way sign at Church Bridge, Hawnby

Everyone looks happier in the morning sunshine

Climbing through the woods at Coomb Hill

The rooftops of Arden Hall and Guinea fowl

Arden Hall from the road

Climbing to Dale Town Common, Hawnby Hill and Easterside Hill in the distance

On Dale Town Common

Crossing Hambleton Street

Delicious scones at High Paradise Farm

High Paradise Farm

We now joined the Cleveland Way path for a while and climbed gently through woodland until we reached the road at Sneck Yate.  After that we walked along the edge of the escarpment for a couple of miles with fabulous views, agreeing that this was one of the nicest stretches of the whole walk.

Walking along the escarpment

Ancient High Barn

Quarries and the remains of a hill fort

We passed by High Barn and continued along the ridge to an old quarry and then Boltby Scar cliffs, beyond which we could see the remains of a hill fort below us.

Another 1.25 miles brought us to a bench at a turn off signposted Dialstone Farm.  We sat on the bench admiring the view below of Gormire Lake and Whitestone Cliff.

Whitestone Cliff and Gormire Lake below

Sign on our bench

What a view!

We turned away from the edge towards Dialstone Farm, which had once been a drovers' inn, and put our hoods up for a brief shower of stinging hail.

Dialstone Farm, once a drovers' inn

We dropped through a couple of fields to reach the village of Cold Kirby where we followed the Inn Way sign to Scawton.  By this time we were ready for another break and sat on a bench near the green at Scawton.  As we enjoyed our flask of coffee we heard a loud snuffling from behind and saw we were being watched by two pigs.  Carole couldn't resist feeding them biscuits.

Flassen Dale, between Cold Kirby and Scawton

Yummy, biscuits!

The church at Scawton

Weather vane on house opposite the church - its tree on the wrong side but otherwise super!

Leaving Scawton by the road we looked out for the sharp bend and chevron after 0.5 mile, where our path headed to Stocking House Farm before turning right (before reaching the farm) to Spring Wood.  We dropped down to see the large man made lakes of Nettle Dale.

Spring Wood

Nettle Dale

Duck sign at Nettle Dale

We pressed on following yellow way-marks through the fields and reached Bow Bridge which had an old iron YNR (Yorkshire North Riding) sign,

Crossing Bow Bridge

Leave the road near Bow Bridge

Just after Bow Bridge we saw another Inn Way signpost, pointing us away from the road to Rievaulx.  We followed field paths and Rievaulx Abbey, in its beautiful setting, appeared in the distance.

Rievaulx appears in the distance

Rievaulx Abbey

We walked along the road in front of the abbey admiring it from every angle and after half a mile came to Rievaulx Bridge, where we turned left, signed Helmsley.

Rievaulx Bridge

We walked along the road giving us a different view of the abbey and after a short distance saw a track to our right, signposted 'Cleveland Way, Helmsley 2.25 miles', which we took.

The Abbey from near Rievaulx Bridge

We leave the road to climb to Quarry Bank Wood

We are escorted at Quarry Bank

Climbing Whinney Bank

The walk was now very straightforward along the top of Whinney Bank, with fields to the left and trees to the right.  Soon, Helmsley Castle appeared in the distance.  In no time we were walking into the pretty market town of Helmsley and to our accommodation for the night, The Feathers Hotel.

The last mile

Helmsley appears through the trees

Helmsley

Helmsley Castle

Helmsley Square

The view from our hotel room

After a hot shower and change of clothes we celebrated in style, enjoying real ale in the bijou bar of Helmsley Brewery before returning to The Feathers for an excellent dinner.  A fine end to a fine walk.

We had enjoyed walking the Inn Way to the North York Moors.  On reflection it may have been better walking later in the season but both the week before and the week after we did it were fine and dry.  

Whatever the weather we had a great time and we would certainly recommend this walk.  We used 'Brigantes' to book our accommodation and move our luggage and the service they provided was excellent.  We followed the directions in Mark Reid's book 'The Inn Way to the North York Moors'.

Drop me a line  (huwfoster@yahoo.co.uk)  if you want my GPS track, I'll be happy to send it.

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