Castle Howard and Farndale

Friday 30^th July

Castle Howard

12.3 Km (7.9 miles)

The perils of plotting your own routes !  Sadly, this one went wrong when we were about a third of the way around when I found I had plotted a route down a private path.  Added to that the battery on the GPS went flat (forethought is a wonderful thing), so we had to resort to good old fashioned map reading !

 Our route started in Coneysthorpe, parking outside the Village Reading Rooms (GR: SE711733). As soon as we stepped outside the car we were greeted with wonderful views of Castle Howard but our route took us back towards the main road (incredibly busy for early on a Friday afternoon). Across it and on to a minor route before cutting across fields (and the only real climb of the day – although it can hardly be called that) and up through a delightful wooded pathway into the village of Ganthorpe.

Here we turned down the road and at a sharp bend expected to turn off and through woods to reach the obelisk at Castle Howard. Unfortunately, the route ahead was marked “Private” and, at the same time the GPS gave out, so it was good old map reading skills that took us past Brandrith Farm and through Brandrith Woods at just the right time as we had a downpour ! The detour brought us out just below the Gate House – our intented destination anyway.

From here the route is along road and track with views of Castle Howard, the Pyramid and the Mausoleum before joining the Centenary Way and dropping down to Bog Hall. Here, we were forced to take out second detour of the day as the planned pathway was completely overgrown with chest high nettles, even Gill and I aren’t brave enough for that !

However, the alternative was a well maintained track that dropped to the corner of the Great Lake and then climbed back to Coneysthorpe.

The area around Castle Howard is well maintained farming land and, despite the two setbacks, it was a rewarding, if slightly longer than planned walk.

Photos here

Saturday, 31^st July

Farndale

10.3 Km (6.5 miles) – 2hr 55mins

Thanks to our next door neighbours, Katie and Fraser, who allowed us to rent their cottage in the delightful North Yorkshire village of Gillamoor.  This was an alternative to our original planned route and owes a lot to Frank Wilkinson and his “Walking with Wilkinson” book.  Now, sadly, out of print Wilkinson’s Walks used to appear in the Yorkshire Evening Post and this book is a collection of some of the best.

Farndale is traditionally walked in spring when the valley is full of thousands of natural daffodils. By late July the daffodils have, obviously, gone but this route hit all the right buttons.

We parked at Low Mill (GR: SE 672952) next to the Village Hall and set off along the well maintained route up the valley of the River Dove heading firstly for High Mill and then Church Houses.  The path hugs the river and, in spring, is the main “thoroughfare” through daffodil country.

From Church Houses  (GR SE669975) we then climbed out of the hamlet on Daleside Road until we reached Hall Farm (GR SE665979).  Here, a marked path takes you through the farmyard itself and climbs up to Head House Farm.  Again the route is straightforward as you drop through a valley and then head for North Gill House (GR SE673980) The path eventually give out and we followed the road across to High Bragg House (GR : SE676970).

Here we turned off and headed straight up onto Blakey Moor. This is a fairly strenuous climb of some 140 metres of height in just over a kilometre.  The latter part is through heather and bracken which makes the going underfoot fairly tough. It has to be said that this is not a well trodden route either, so you do need to be able to navigate using either a compass or GPS. Eventually, the route reaches the road on top of Blakey Ridge, some magnificent long range views and a short stroll along the road takes you to a signpost pointing the way back down the moor.

This proved almost as tough as the ascent with first heather and bracken, followed by chest high ferns! We also witnessed that most wonderful of Dales sights – the rain rushing down the valley like a curtain being drawn across a window.  Time to get the waterproofs out !

The last section is straightforward as the path off the moor turns firstly into a track and then road which runs straight back into Low Mill.

A short, fairly strenuous,  but fantastic route which had everything, but was especially memorable for those long distance views.  Getting up there may be the hard part, the rewards are well worth it.

Then it was back to the cottage to celebrate our 29^th Wedding Anniversay.

Selection of photos here