Fridaythorpe

Fridaythorpe was our start for a new walk, a look at Horse Dale, one of a handful of Wolds dry valleys that have just been freed up under the CROW Act.

We dressed for action by a mucky duck pond, more layers than so far this season, the butchers useful for a pasty.

After half-a-mile of rain and track and smiles of sympathy with dog walkers we saw down Holm Dale, spurned it for the moment and carried on over high open fields of chalky soil greening up with autumn sowings. Until a copse on the horizon became a shelterbelt of trees around the most spick and span of farmyards, concrete and brick watched over a by a statue of a farmer.

Then berried hedges and tractor-wide verges took us to the start of Horse Dale. We've seen this dale from either end before, but it runs a mile or more, long and sinuous and we had never viewed or trod the whole length.

At first we took a high path on the edge, to where there is land shaped as in ancient earthworks and larch are bent for sandwich and shelter.

Then we split, my navigator kept to the heights, I dropped down angling 45 degrees diagonally on the slopes that are that angle too and 200ft in height. The valley profile is similar wherever, and has uniform vegetation, not that nature was in evidence, some blown fast across the sky, some sleeping in the turf, winter shutdown on a day of wind and incessant rain. But this is a good walk for a bad day, simple, quick, and it's nearly always sound underfoot in these lands that drain through chalk so well that they have been farmed since Neolithic times.

So I was treading along the bottom of Horse Dale, on a green track, she was dropping down to connect via the Wolds Way. We met and aimed up at the southern end of Holm Dale which was just as stylish and with a gentle gradient to take us up, by the quick rabbits and slow sheep, and in a land of few trees some fallen leaves like giant orange four-fingered hands.

The track took us back to Fridaythorpe and the duck pond and the adjacent bus shelter that was useful for disrobing.

directions

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

From pond to main road, right (pavement), road on left at bend (Wolds Way sign), becomes track

Right fork, 20 yards, fieldgate on left and immediately right over grass, stile/fieldgate to track that swings left then right

Into farmyard between buildings, left turn in yard, right at statue to drive, 200 yards

Field-edge path on left (waymark, hedge to your left), fieldgate into field, path down gully into valley 100 yards, swing left, small gate at bottom

Path at 11 o'clock up valley side, left along top of valley, pass trees, contour or drop to valley bottom. If contouring, join clear path angling downhill to junction of valleys

At valley junction stile/fieldgate on left at corner of fences, into Holm Dale. Either path along bottom or angle up sides for open access. Rejoin outward track

fact file

Distance: Five miles

Time: Two or three hours

General location: The Wolds.

Start: Fridaythorpe

Access: Public right of way and open access land

Date walked: Friday, November 4, 2005

Road Route: A166 from York

Car Parking: Roadside

Lavatories: None

Refreshments: Inn and caf.

Tourist & Public Transport Information: Beverley TIC 01482 867430

Map: Based on 2000 edition of OS Explorer 294 Market Weighton and Yorkshire Wolds Central. New edition, with CROW Act access areas marked, out by end of November 2005. Data on www.countryside.gov.uk

Terrain: Dry valleys and tops

Points of interest: Long ago child slaves from the Wolds were sent to Rome, Pope Gregory thought them "angels"

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

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 16:38 Friday, November 11, 2005