Cliffe

10:46am Saturday 15th December 2007

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CLIFFE is a village near Selby. We visited on the suggestion of Dick Ayre, of York, who kindly sent me a map of this route and pointed out its advantages as a winter walk with "lots of sky".

Cliffe was once on the banks of the River Ouse, probably in the early Middle Ages. A lot has happened since the river moved a mile, notably, and certainly visually, Drax power station. This, in the mid-distance with 12 cooling towers and all, is the main interruption to the day's flat horizons.

The first mile of walking is dead-end back road. One of the houses is called Hill Crest - an exaggeration - and though we do part of the Pennine Trail all is very, very flat. There's a line of suitable poplars. In ditches and elsewhere there are tall reeds. Generally, there is an empty feel, though somewhere there is a potato store, a grain store and a cold store.

It was cold, the wind pushed the plumes from Drax over to 45 degrees, but they could not much darken the sky. The promised rain came down. We pulled on waterproofs, got cosy and reached the Ouse at the brick of Turnham Hall.

The next two-and-a-half miles are along a wide, high grassy floodbank that is well kept, not muddy and nice walking. The river is about 50 yards away. It flows wider than 50 yards and, being tidal, zooms one way and the other at speed, while rising and falling up its steep banks. At Selby, with spring tides, eight knots is made.

Apart from the obvious - that a swim could be fatal - this walk should be a good blow out.

The water is navigable but we didn't see any boats. It was a bad day for flying, but we did see seasonally-nervous ducks. Moorhens flew directly across the river, skimming and touching the water. Herons picked up speed below the banks and then wheeled up and away over the empty fields. A goose came down like an airliner.

The only colour was in a single willow, a lingering spray of yellow. The rest were bare.

We left the river at Newhay, a house or two and some fishponds of carp, barbell, chub, roach and bream.

On one fishermen were under giant green basin-shaped parasols. Another pond holds "specimens" and was visited by swans, while another was netted against birds.

A track led across the fields. Halfway across was a bonfire of many wooden pallets ready to burn.

Then, nearly back, we crossed the old Ouse, a dribble of a beck and finally took an alley between a garden and the premises of Hearing Dogs For The Deaf. Did I mention the wind?

Fact file

Distance: Four miles.

General location: Near Selby.

Start: Cliffe.

Right of way: Public.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer 290 York, Selby and Tadcaster.

Dogs: Legal.

Date walked: December 2007.

Road route: A19 south from York.

Car parking: Roadside in Cliffe.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The New Inn, in Cliffe.

Tourist and public transport information: Selby TIC 01757 212181.

Terrain: Floodplain.

Points of interest: Hemingbrough, the village a mile away.

Difficulty: Easy.

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

Directions

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

1 From Main Street (Primary School), right at corner to Turnham Lane (signs Trans Pennine Trail, dead-end road), ignore a left, pass Private Road sign and gate, to avenue.

2 Left at River Ouse, stile to floodbank path, (fingerpost Trans Pennine Trail).

3 Opposite house, stile, 25 yards, stile/fieldgate (waymark), left into yard, 25 yards (pass Private sign), right to track (waymark). Track ends, kink to field-edge path with drainage ditch to your right. Footbridge over old course of River Ouse, path between gardens into village.

Map of the walk>>