Walk: 9:45am to 2:45pm - 9.3 miles and 1050ft of ascent
After a great night's sleep our batteries were fully charged and we were raring to go; well at least that's what we tell ourselves. That said, with the beautiful weather that had been served up for us today you couldn't fail to feel full of energy. So to our first full day of the holiday.
As most tourist spots are likely to be busy on a sunny Sunday we'd decided on a walk for day one, and one starting in Helmsley so that we didn't have to move the car and then face the fight to get parked again. I'd brought a good selection of printed off maps so we had a few to choose from (backed up with an OS map in my rucksack of course) and the one on the menu today included a walk out of the village, up Riccal Dale and then back down Ash Dale. A route of around 8 miles.
We left the cottage at exactly 9:45am and headed through the town, noticing that quite a few bikers were already in the square; a sign of a busy day to come for the town no doubt. The first leg of our walk took us out of the town and across some fields in the direction of Reagarth Farm. We had to take a small detour as the path through the farm is no longer a right of way, this took us along the top of the farm where the picked up the track heading north.
The track was our guide for the next mile or so as we passed what looked like a derelict farm, one of those places that if money was no object you would really love to convert into a palatial home. That said, one that wouldn't be that easy to get to on a winters day!
At the next right turn we headed down into the dale, then picked up the main track that runs along the bottom of the dale close to the winding River Riccal. At the point where we had planned to turn west and head uphill along the Tabular Hills Walk we found a bench, the first one we'd seen today. As the bench was the first place we'd seen to take a seat, we decided that we might be better to have our lunch at this spot. So, we unpacked our two mediterranean rolls and poured out our home-made leek and potato soup and replenished our batteries.
At this point we had a change of plan and decided to head back down the dale all the way to the bottom where it meets the A170 and see if we could make a short visit to the remains of a Roman villa that we'd seen highlighted on the map, then pick up a dismantled railway back to Helmsley. The walk back down the dale was close to 3 miles but the ground underfoot was good so the walk wouldn't exactly be a difficult one particularly on a dry day like today.
What did amaze us half way down the dale was that the River Riccal just dried up at a specific point with the riverbed continuing down to the bottom of the dale; a sure sign of a dry winter I believe as the volume of water is no longer enough to feed the flow. Well when we reached the road and crossed to the other side we were very disappointed, there was no path to allow us to visit the remains of the Roman villa, and no path to take us to the dismantled railway. Just padlocked gates which were a clear sign not to go across the fields. And with no other footpaths nearby we had no choice but to head back up the dale and take the path up the hill and westwards over to Reagarth Farm.
There was another detour to keep us from walking through the farm, we then picked up the path back to the town which we had walked up around 4hrs earlier. As we walked through the town it had become very busy with people sat outside the pubs and cafe's and even more bikers sat in and around the town square. A great day for trade in the town.
After arriving back at the cottage the first thing we did was jump in the shower to freshen up before starting cooking our dinner; I so love a shower at the end of a walk. And as we were both aching from the walk, it was unlikely that we would leave the cottage again today so the door was locked shut. We took advantage of the weather and ate our dinner on the patio in the sunshine, ok we both had to wear a thin fleece as it was a little cool with the slight breeze but then again we are still quite a way from summer so it's a nice bonus. And now relax...
After a great night's sleep our batteries were fully charged and we were raring to go; well at least that's what we tell ourselves. That said, with the beautiful weather that had been served up for us today you couldn't fail to feel full of energy. So to our first full day of the holiday.
As most tourist spots are likely to be busy on a sunny Sunday we'd decided on a walk for day one, and one starting in Helmsley so that we didn't have to move the car and then face the fight to get parked again. I'd brought a good selection of printed off maps so we had a few to choose from (backed up with an OS map in my rucksack of course) and the one on the menu today included a walk out of the village, up Riccal Dale and then back down Ash Dale. A route of around 8 miles.
We left the cottage at exactly 9:45am and headed through the town, noticing that quite a few bikers were already in the square; a sign of a busy day to come for the town no doubt. The first leg of our walk took us out of the town and across some fields in the direction of Reagarth Farm. We had to take a small detour as the path through the farm is no longer a right of way, this took us along the top of the farm where the picked up the track heading north.
At this point we had a change of plan and decided to head back down the dale all the way to the bottom where it meets the A170 and see if we could make a short visit to the remains of a Roman villa that we'd seen highlighted on the map, then pick up a dismantled railway back to Helmsley. The walk back down the dale was close to 3 miles but the ground underfoot was good so the walk wouldn't exactly be a difficult one particularly on a dry day like today.
There was another detour to keep us from walking through the farm, we then picked up the path back to the town which we had walked up around 4hrs earlier. As we walked through the town it had become very busy with people sat outside the pubs and cafe's and even more bikers sat in and around the town square. A great day for trade in the town.
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