Wykeham

Wykeham, one of a string of villages on the A170 near Scarborough, is the hub of Trail 7 in the Secrets in the Landscape series produced by North East Yorkshire Geology Trust.

As its walk looked more mentally than physically demanding we had a mid-morning cup of coffee at the Downe Arms where the landlord Neil Sands said we could leave our car in the hotel car park, he kindly extends this offer to you, if patrons. We pulled on our boots to the bustle of the Friday farmers' market - Greek olives, Dales cheese, flesh and Whitby fish.

Five minutes into the trail we stopped where the glacier once stopped, on a mound of moraine, a pile with "exotic pebbles". The viewbench angles towards the Wolds, over the Vale of Pickering where stone-aged man had to cross "small lakes, bogs and dense woods".

We wandered down and through parkland with specimen conifers, beech, willow, and snowdrops, heard a song thrush and saw a running hare.

You get another nice viewpoint back towards Wykeham, which is instructive on the glacier and meltwater, and then go back into the village. A sparrow was attending to a crevice next to the sundial on a 19th century house.

Now the trail takes in the Downe Arms again and the leaflet points out its limestone was formed in a "shallow tropical sea". In the time it takes to say "a gin and tonic" there's an 18th century ice house. This has been recently restored and is ace, a brick arch/dome the size of a double-decker bus half buried into an earth bank and underneath, continuing the brick, a deep "egg shaped chamber". The ice would have been collected from the pond or brought in by train after a mild winter, and then covered with straw.

The route crosses the old rail line on, in geology-speak, a kame terrace and passed a caravan site, a terminal moraine.

There were eight donkeys, a large horse and lovely long-necked llamas, the latter apparently "gentle intelligent creatures, the ideal walking companions".

Next, and still on the up, there's Revenge Wood, saplings to commemorate the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 and, according to Lord Downe on the Dawnay Estates website, "the first wood planted at Wykeham in many years, which is not for the moral and physical well-being of pheasants!"

The estate feel continued across a parkland pasture favoured by 100 fieldfares. Our boots got muddy by a pond with willows, I had missed the "shrimp burrows" but noted the Bahamas connection with the field rocks. Then a bit of back road brought us round, a skylark sang and a sparrowhawk beat us into the village of Ruston.

Here it's nice and only ten minutes back to Wykeham via a cutting of the disused railway or past hints of medieval fishponds. The farmers' market was packing up, we had a hearty lunch at the Downe Arms, and I'll close with thanks to Lord Downe and Defra for the permissive paths, and to the Geology Trust for the leaflet.

Directions

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

1. From the Downe Arms car park cross main road, up bank, right to path in verge trees 150 yards. Wall gap on left, view bench, path downhill through trees (fingerpost Abbots Meadow) to field-edge path between hedge and young trees.

2. Snickelgate on left and cross road (information boards, fingerposts and waymarks), gate to path. Left at concrete posts, right at gates, join road up through village, pavement.

3. Cross main road to road, 50 yards passing bell tower, track on right, 50 yards, ice house, steps down and right to path, 100 yards to disused railway line, ignore left turn, path up bank, above old station, through lower edge of caravan site.

4. Cross site road to path (public footpath sign) to left uphill by fence, diagonally up through new wood.

5. Join road, pavement 100 yards, stile on left (sign) after Hutton Buscel sign, 11 o'clock across pasture.

6. Stile in corner (waymark), footbridge, pass pond, 50 yards, wall gap (waymark), left 50 yards, right at field corner.

7. Right to road, 100 yards, path on left (signed), left to dead-end road. After corner into Ruston fieldgate on left (signed), angle up on to disused rail line embankment. Stile into trees, 100 yards, path on right (signed Fish Pond Wood) or stay in cutting.

Fact file:

Distance: Three and a half miles.

Time: Two hours.

General location: Near Scarborough.

Start: Wykeham.

Right of way: Part public. Part permissive paths that end September 2010.

Dogs: Legal.

Map: OS Explorer OL27 North York Moors eastern area.

Date walked: 17 February 2006.

Road Route: From York via the A64.

Car Parking: Roadside in village or, for patrons only, the Downe Arms.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The Downe Arms and the Wykeham Tea Room.

Tourist & Public Transport Information: Scarborough TIC 01723 373333. And www.neyorksgeologytrust.com, tel 01947 881000.

Terrain: Glaciated.

Points of interest: The Revenge was a battleship at Trafalgar captained by Robert Moorsom from Whitby, it had some Scarborough crew.

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: 09:00 Saturday, March 04, 2006