Ugthorpe

10:35am Saturday 22nd March 2008

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UGTHORPE is a place we have never started a walk from, can't think why because looking at the Ordnance Survey map there seem to be a few routes out from the place. So we took the road towards Whitby and turned off to the village.

A bench was handy for booting up and then we were off on dead-end Tarmac that soon turned to stony track deemed "unsuitable for motors" but fine for us being easy going and undulating, with now and then a beck. There is pasture and ploughed clay soils either side, sea views, then a bit of moor, more yellow gorse than heather and then a road to cross.

Now the sight ahead was of valleys, Esk Dale, Glaisdale and Great Fryup Dale they'd be, and on Lealholm Moor a solid plume of smoke rose from burning heather.

The name goes back to Ughetorp in the Domesday Book and Ug meaning oak. It would be nice to report no ugh factor hereabouts, but that's not the case.

The ughs are a result of the farming, not all the farms by any means, this walk connects many and there's much pleasure in the detail of their sandstone buildings and so on. But there are a few that are less than pleasing.

Lots of gates were awkward to open, so we climbed them. A bonfire site coagulated on the grass. We saw a tumulus garnished with agricultural rubbish, a pond had been filled up to leave but a puddle for the frogspawn.

Visually the main unpleasantness is the agri-plastic, sheets of it torn and frayed blown and caught on fences and hedges, bad cases of rural blindness. The urban equivalent would be black bin bags snagged on railings and lampposts. One blackspot had a Farm Assured Land' sign on a gate. According to the National Dairy Farm Assured Scheme such a place should have a "waste management plan". I guess we were off the beaten track, the busy, picture postcard seaside and the classic North York Moors at a distance.

On the plus side, there was the call of curlew, the flight of lapwings and, best of all, six snipe. These were in a bit of open access moor, common land, but keep to the route, don't go wandering about and disturb them when nesting.

With a mile to go a sign read Travellers Rest Farm, where one sheepdog was up for a cuddle while the other stood standoffish on watch, doubtless thinking "someone has to do the guarding". And from here the sea views were best with two portions of blue separated by a rise of land and in front of this Ugthorpe.

To start or finish off, one walks the village. At one end is the Black Bull pub, at the other pews a plenty where two churches compete. Between these attractions the houses range from tiny cottage to sombre vicarage type, plus Pump Farm that looks good.

Directions

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

1 Right from pub and through village, road on right after church (bench, no sign). Right to track at farm (unsuitable for motors sign). Becomes metalled again.

2 Fieldgate on right opposite Biggin House (no sign), uphill with hedge to your left. Fieldgate to moor and track ahead, keep within 50 yards of fence to your left. Fieldgate, path and leave fence on bend, 50 yards, cross main road.

3 Tiny footbridge and gate into large field (bridleway sign). Head across field, roughly 1 o'clock and aim to right of dip in horizon, gate' to fenced grass track and downhill.

4 At gateway to dirt track, fieldgate on left to grassy track with wall/fence to your right, left at corner. Gate and right to road. Pass first footpath sign.

5 Fieldgate and track on right (footpath sign/Southgate Cottage), stile by stone stables (waymark), hedged path downhill, few trees, stile (waymark), cross track, stile and 25 yards diagonal to stile and right to track below farm.

6 Through farmyard, fieldgate out and 11 o'clock to fieldgate in corner (waymark), downhill with hedge to your right for 50 yards, fieldgate on right (waymark), keep fence to your right, gate and footbridge and 50 yards diagonally right uphill then left before fieldgate so hedge to your right, 100 yards, stile/fieldgate, 100 yards, fieldgates then hedge to your left.

7 Fieldgate and right to track, fieldgate, stile and footbridge after corner and right to approximately follow right of way, fieldgate, moorland track by wall to your right, 100 yards, fieldgate.

8 From wall bend, angle east on faint path to stile in fence, 50 yards across field, stile. Cross main road, metalled drive (Travellers' Rest Farm), becomes track after the farm, fieldgates.

Fact file

Distance: Five miles.

General location: North York Moors.

Start: Ugthorpe.

Right of way: Public.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer OL 27 North York Moors eastern area.

Dogs: Legal.

Date walked: March 2008.

Road route: Ugthorpe signed from the AI71.

Car parking: Roadside in village.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The Black Bull.

Tourist and public transport information: Whitby TIC 01723 383636.

Terrain: Some moor.

Points of interest: Google Common Land North Yorkshire' and you should get info on the 500 of them.

Difficulty: Intricate navigation.

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

Map of the walk>>