Welburn 11th July 2022 – Derek Chivers
A select group of walkers met outside the Crown and Cushion in Welburn for a Monday morning walk in lovely conditions. Heading uphill, towards the church, the walk passed through a crop field nearing readiness for harvest before rewarding our efforts with lovely views across towards Castle Howard. We walked, shaded now by trees, towards Bulmer, turning north again to cross the road to Welburn and heading into a shallow valley between Welburn and Castle Howard. A brief encounter with some cows brought us to the edge of Castle Howard’s ‘false’ fortifications, with good views not only of the main house, but also of the Pyramid nearby and the Mausoleum in the distance. A short stretch of road walking led us to a track, which in turn led to another great viewpoint – the bridge over one of the estate’s lakes, where the canine member of the party cooled off with aplomb. Returning to the main route, we passed through some delightful woodland, across a stream and back via paths to the village, where excellent refreshments were obtained at the ‘Dogh’ café.
Skipwith Common 21st June 2022 – Derek Chivers
On a very bright June morning seven human and one canine walker met at the edge of the common. The walk combined nature with human activity in that the common, now a nature reserve, was the site of RAF Riccall during WWII, and signs of that era are still evident. We began by heading towards the village, past an observation/fire tower before turning west along the northern boundary of the common. Skipwith’s trees are many and varied, but we did spot some lovely old Oaks, as well as many, many Silver birch.
The habitats on the common are varied, with the first part of our walk largely being through mixed woodland, while the later stages gave us glimpses of some of the more remote wetland areas. We reached another parking area, at King Rudding lane, where we turned south, picking up part of an old runway from the war to take us into the heart of the common. We had heard about Highland cows and wild ponies on the common, which we did not spot, but we did see some Hebridean sheep and a glimpse of a Heron.
A little way along our path we came to the ‘Bomb loop’, an elliptical path which led us past the remains of several Bomb bays, and also allowed us to see the monument to those who served at RAF Riccall, which is made from an aircraft propeller. At the point of the ellipse we took a boardwalk into the edge of the wetland area where we saw a rare King fern. Returning to the main path we crossed the common back to the car park, at the end of nearly five miles.
Nunnington 25th May -Derek Chivers
On May 25th a small group gathered at Nunnington village hall for a walk. The first part of our walk took us through Nunnington, leaving by a footpath at the western end of the village, just by a bridge over the River Rye. Following the river for a couple of miles, we passed a very ‘wonky’ footbridge, which was luckily not on our route, before turning away from the river and slightly uphill. We then followed field paths south, to Stonegrave. From Stonegrave we climbed again getting onto the ridge leading to Caukley’s bank and great views over the Vale of York. A short walk northwards took us back to Nunnington and the comforts of the Studio café, where refreshments were taken.
