A-Walking: Helmsley to Sutton Bank

Well, would you believe it! For the first time this year our coach was over-subscribed! Sadly, we had to turn away one of our valued members at the Acklam pick-up point.

On a much happier note, Jane Thompson (pictured below) successfully led a group of nine A-walkers on a sixteen-mile trek from Helmsley to Sutton Bank.



The walk started from the village square in Helmsley and finished at the visitor-centre at Sutton Bank. From Helmsley we followed the route of the Ebor Way (see note below) - along the bank of the River Ebor and then in a south-westerly direction towards Sproxton Hall. From the village of Sproxton we proceeded to Hag Lane where we encountered our first major climb - up to Pry Rigg Plantation via Holly Bower Farm. From here we descended to the village of Ampleforth. We had a short lunch-stop at 12:58 pm {SE 569 783} - in the fields just beyond Ampleforth.

Moving in a westerly direction, we made our way to Byland Abbey and from there we proceeded to Olstead Grange and the small village of Kilburn. As we approached the village there were some good views of the famous ‘White Horse’. From Kilburn we headed north along Carr Lane in the direction of the horse; this took us towards the second major climb (a hard one) up onto the Cleveland Way.

During our ascent, we stopped for a short tea-break at 15.04 pm in the car park beneath the 'horse' {SE 514 812}. Surprisingly, someone seemed to have laid on refreshments for us! After a welcome cup of coffee, we continued our ascent from the car park up onto the Cleveland Way. From here, we had a fairly easy, but brisk, trek along a good footpath which took us to Sutton Bank.

We set off at 10:18 am and arrived at our destination at 15:45 pm. We therefore covered our 16-mile route in approximately 5 hrs and 27 mins - just in time for a cup of tea in the cafe at the North York Moors visitor-centre.

Many thanks to Jane for organising such a great day out!

Some of the photos that we took during today's walking expedition can be seen by clicking on the pink button below:


Credits:
Many thanks to Jane Thompson and Phil Barker for taking the photographs.

Note:
The Ebor Way is a long-distance footpath (70 miles) that starts in Helmsley and finishes in Ilkley. Further details can be found here .

---