George Wilkinson enjoys the 'cult of the English Picturesque' in a walk from Rievaulx to Old Byland.
Rievaulx Abbey -'its surrounding hills and glades came to embody the cult of the English Picturesque' writes Simon Jenkins in his new bestselling guide called England's Thousand Best Houses.
Certainly it is most worthy of a picture, though the 13th century ruins are tricky to photograph.
Also tricky is the car parking. Be wary of coming to Rievaulx on a day that's sunny, summer, or Sunday thinking you can park, park period, never mind for free. Start instead at Old Byland.
We left the abbey on a chilly, winter weekday and followed the cold clear trouty water of the River Rye, bridged the river, traced a tributary around Ashberry Hill and slipped into some woods by a nature reserve. My late dog killed a reserved duck here.
Guilt was replaced by the pleasure of the path, the coppiced hazel, the fallen silver birch rotting in their bark and fuelling the ecology, the willows, sedges and the bulbs about to burst. The air was quiet apart from distant gunshots.
The valley runs narrow for a mile and then widens and here the treetops were lit by the sunshine. The beck seeped out at a spring.
A freshly felled ash tree was a picture of the woodsman's craft - a neat sawn stump, a carpet of sawdust and an exactly graded log pile. This is a lovely valley, intensely seasonal.
A wall signalled change, we overshot our climb to Old Byland and had to do some backtracking.
At the village we met a party out from York way who were following a walk written by David Swabey.
They of course were bang on route, and also informed that if you needed liquid or a slug of caffeine the church was on hand. In the porch there is coffee, teabags, milk and sugar and, inside, a kettle and a donations box.
We left the green and its old houses and found ourselves on a flat plateau of pastureland with sheep, seagulls, fieldfares and long views over Bilsdale to the east.
But the most sublime and beautiful picture was to come, of a wooded valley funnelling down to a strip of green grass flood-plain and on this the River Rye meandering to the abbey.
The descent was on a good track, past a nice farmstead, then a path through tufted grasses and a precipitous stretch right by the river that's made easy by very well engineered duckboards.
There were white geese by the water, there's a pale scar of limestone if you look back, no snow but snowdrops, and then Rievaulx.
directions:
From Abbey, road south, right at junction, bridge, first right (signed Old Byland), bridge.
Ignore gate to nature reserve. Path on left through trees before gradient on road steepens (bridleway sign).
Fork right uphill (waymarked post), left to track back downhill.
Concrete track over stream and immediately right to muddy track (no sign) and keep to path in centre of valley.
Wall gap, steel trough on left, 150 yards, narrow path on right (no sign) angling up through wood then right after wall to grassy bank to fieldgate.
Right to road through Old Byland, green, right-hand bend out (Helmsley sign). After barns on left, ladderstile on left (sign), gateway in field corner, straight on.
Right at field corner (fingerpost), four successive stiles.
Stile at head of wooded valley and immediately left to track, pass barns on your left, track downhill (two fieldgates).
Right to metalled farm drive, over stream and immediately fieldgate on left (waymark), grassy track/path through valley, duckboarding by river, steps, stile to path.
Fieldgate and left to track, bridge. Right into Rievaulx.
fact file:
Distance: Five and a half miles.
Time: Three hours.
General location: The North York Moors National Park.
Start: Rievaulx or Old Byland.
Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.
Date walked: Friday January 21, 2005.
Road route: From York to Rievaulx, via Helmsley (Moorsbus in season). For Old Byland, to top of Sutton Bank, immediately left after National Park's Visitor Centre, then via Cold Kirby.
Car parking: At Rievaulx Abbey limited roadside, otherwise charges as for abbey, English Heritage will advise. At Old Byland, roadside.
Lavatories: Rievaulx Abbey.
Refreshments: Helmsley.
Tourist and public transport information: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173.
Map: Based on OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western area.
Terrain: Valley and plateau.
Points of interest: Rievaulx Abbey.
Difficulty: Moderate.
Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.
Updated: 09:35 Saturday, February 12, 2005
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