WTC Ways Day 7: Scalby to Levisham

Distance: 22 miles
Ascent: 360m
Weather: misty

Leaving Scarborough, we got a bit lost in a nice, but huge, wooded cemetary complete with a little secret garden. Eventually we made it out on to the cycle track that leads to Scalby, where we saw two greenfinches and a lot of noisy starlings.

Joining the Tabular Hills Walk again in Scalby, we walked along the banks of the Sea Cut, a waterway built in the 18th century by Sir George Cayley to take floodwater out of the Vale of Pickering. Oddly, the water doesn't go out to the sea anywhere near here but turns back inland again, the water going out to sea 150 miles downstream at the Humber estuary. It looked quite brown and fast flowing today.

During the day we've seen primroses, bluebells, crosswort, lesser stitchwort (or perhaps mouse ear) buttercups, vetch, cranesbill, wild garlic, pale pink stuff took a photo of to identify later (ed - cuckoo flower, also known as lady's smock.)

Along the riverside we got swooped at by swallows, housemartins, goldfinches and met some dog walkers, there was a lone canada goose in a field and we had quite a kerfuffle with some sheep on the track (looked like badger faced and blue faced leicesters) and a mum cow and calf, finally managing to get past them and some peace and quiet.

There was some road walking, stopping for tea and cake and a scone at the Everley Countryhouse Cafe, followed by a bit more road walking, turning off the busy road up lane to Wrench Green. Climbing steadily upwards through the village into the forest and the clouds. We walked along misty forest roads and tracks, past some works where they are drilling for orange and through a tree nursery. We decided not to invest in a 15kg box of beef from Broadhead Farm today.

More forestry tracks in the mist, some quite muddy and one containing massive bouncy poodle. We stopped for sandwiches on a big log. There were lots of mountatinbikers. Later it turned a bit wetter and windier as we went past the viewpoint for Blakeley Topping, which was obscured by clouds, but a bit further on we did see a deer. Ot at least a deer's bottom.

The walk leads down Old Wife Lane and around the Hole of Horcum (mostly filled with clag) then up on t'moors. The path over the moors follows an iron age dike - it was a little wet but clear so there was no straying from the path in the mist. We didn't hear any wolves howling, just the tooting of the North Yorks moors railway. At the end of the day, there were lots of lambs and a bunny and we left the moors path down Limpsey Lane into Levisham and the Horseshoe Inn.