Forge Valley (From York Press)

Forge Valley

8:10am Saturday 9th May 2009 in Walks By George Wilkinson

FORGE Valley near Scarborough is a lovely place for woodland spring flowers. It is a rich 6,000-year old nature reserve woodland.

My navigator demanded the visit on account of the wild garlic; for some it might be the honeysuckle.

We parked at Seavegate Gill. Immediately there was the info board option of a geology trail that we were to touch on and a face of limestone that caught the sun.

Indeed, after a look at the marigolds by the River Derwent, we found ourselves at another long-disused quarry where pale sausage congealed on an abandoned metal barbeque trolley and the swine had strewn cans and throwaway paper plates to compete with the primroses and contaminate the wild strawberries.

We left the low zone and took a higher path, level through the dappled sunlight and the lovely and mostly delicate flowers.

My top ten might be: the green of the twayblade; the purple of another orchid and the spike of the lords and ladies; the pink of the campion and geranium; the dirty pastel of the parasitic toothwort; and the whites of woodruff, wood sorrel and wood anemone; plus violets and not to forget pale blue forget-me-not and of course there was some garlic.

A sharp climb exhausted my botany, we’d reached the top of the valley side, the top of the woods and followed this line for a good three miles of delightful and comfortable path.

So lift your head from the ground and look out for a few things. There is a bench giving views far up the Derwent’s valley, a rare lookout that way, and people have snapped off the rowan twigs that threaten to curtain it.

Search for the sea view, diminishing by the day as leaves multiply. Of buildings, there are the remnants of Wilkinson’s Shed, a mystery to me, but of ancient landscaping there is more, notably Skell Dikes, a double ditch that comes in, wooded at right angles.

This top route certainly leaves the bustle of the riverside car parks; we met five walkers all day up here. The birds were quiet and, at a skirt around another geology trail cliff, so too were the Highland cattle, nonchalant as one might be with such magnificent horns, but safely behind a fence.

We curved towards the coast. So far the land to the right had been an easy-on-the-eye mix of close range pasture and sown grain with a longer glimpse or two to the Carrs and Wolds.

But that changed with the 30ft diameter eye-spy dishes that I guess are part of the GCHQ Scarborough station. The dishes seem to cast a spell on the surroundings, or maybe add to the chill air and history. The wooded hillock of Seamer Beacon was once a Roman signal station, but is inaccessible from this side.

Farmyards show rust, the few locals live, windswept, more in caravans and wooden chalets than houses, a letter box is addressed ‘The Mud Hut’.

Burial sites are adorned with gorse or worn-out tyre, and the double dike slices across the big fields. A tumulus is named Hagworm Hill as in adders.

Then we found a good ditched track, here, with fertiliser run off, the vegetation was rich but ranker.

Finally, the path funnelled into a gorge of thin layered limestone, cut by melting glacier and, for my navigator, a grand finale: a solid garlic gully, with the scent to top all nature’s perfumes trapped warmed and concentrated. In a week, around mid-May, the buds will all have opened to their bright spangled white, so forget the facemask.

Directions

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. From Seavegate Gill car park, path to left of info board and through quarry, 100 yards, fence gap, cross road and right to pavement, 200 yards.

2. Cross road to info board and turning area (footpath sign) good path uphill, 100 yards, main path on left and pass large quarry to your right, ignore a right fork after the quarry.

3. At junction with four steps, sharp right uphill.

4. A top, left to wood edge path. Pass buildings, 200 yards then keep on path up by wall (white arrow), but fork left 20 yards downhill here for valley view and bench only. Steep drops.

5. Old fieldgate, 50 yards through trees (white arrow on orange), field-edge path.

6. At buildings and antennae, track on right.

7. At junction with road, track on right (bridleway sign).

8. At wood corner wide field-edge path on left downhill (no sign). Straight on at field corner to sunken path.

9. At double gates on right and at track, path to right of gulley (no sign), ignore fork after 50 yards into field, path soon widens, steep drops.

Fact file

Distance: Five-and-a-half miles.

General location: Near Scarborough.

Start: Seavegate Gill car park.

Right of way: Public paths and Scarborough Council open access woods.

Dogs: Legal.

Date walked: May, 2009.

Road route: Via A170, Forge Valley signed.

Car parking: Free, Seavegate Gill car park with info board.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Inns.

Tourist and public transport information: Scarborough TIC 01723 373333.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer OL27 North York Moors east.

Terrain: Valley.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.