Brawby walk

Brawby is the birthplace of The Shed, the village hall of barely fifty seats, the place of famous gigs for the last decade. Otherwise the village is a small place on flat land.

We warmed up walking the pasture between Brawby and the hamlet of Butterwick, along the way meeting the River Rye and crossing Ings Sewer, a normal drainage ditch. Butterwick Bridge has a plaque reading 'strengthened in 1942', under it the river ran noisily.

Shotguns rang out, a right and left barrel, fingers on the triggers, figures running, shouts at dogs, pheasant or rabbit in a wood.

Otherwise it was very peaceful. Riverside hereabouts means walking on the floodbanks. Our less-than-early start meant the frost was burnt from the warm side of the bank, but it silvered the cold side all day. The low sun tracked above the Howardian Hills and caught the mesh of cobwebs threaded on the grass so that every step tore the silk.

Boynton Lane was lovely; crunchy with the season's iced puddles and quilted with red, yellow and orange leaves dropped straight from wind free hedges. A big fox ambled straight across a field scattering a few of the lapwings. There is a pond, perhaps here the river had run in the once marshy land. There was a snipe and there were fieldfares in a tree. We joined the Rye and floodbanks again then left them for a field side path that optimistically is a margin path in the making, but was claggy on the boots, the clay here does this, it sticks. A sign read Howardian Hills AONB.

But the messy bit was quick and we were on course and on track and pasture to a back road, only one car came by. There's Fleet Farm here with a nice geometry of buildings. The fields rolled out with big round bales, fresh growth was nitrate green, the stubble a soft tone almost gold.

This was enjoyable and, nearly back at Butterwick, we thought we'd like some more of the river so took a route signed bridleway to Slingsby. But after a short distance there was a huge field planted up and the bridleway erased. If on horse one would have gone carefully, in ploughed soil it's easy for them to pull a muscle. But on two legs, with attitude, we crossed and were rewarded with the most sinuous of curves in the river and its floodbank, a deep cut flowing in fast-eroding banks with willows broken and falling to wash down and grow again.

The sky was criss-crossed with vapour trails, and blue but for a dark slick that started from some high heather burning and had spread miles, a dirty line just above the horizon of the North York Moors.

Butterwick was re-entered under oaks, and the fields to Brawby redone in the cooling afternoon. These days The Shed is quiet, having encamped to nearby Hovingham, where that night we saw David Thomas and Two Pale Boys to ace a gorgeous backend day.

Directions:

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. Pass village hall and houses, 150 yards, stile/fieldgate on left (signed), 1 o'clock 150 yards, stile in fence, 11 o'clock, 150 yards, fieldgate to floodbank path.

2. Stile and left to road, bridge and left (dead-end sign), tarmac turns to track, swings right after fieldgate. Fieldgate (pond to left) and keep by hedge/ditch to right.

3. At gates/fences grassy path between floodbank and river, 150 yards, pair of fieldgates and join floodbank path (fingerpost).

4. Join stony track for 50 yards then immediately before fieldgate turn right (no sign, concrete posts), 25 yards, stile (waymark) to field-edge 'path' (hedge to your left).

5. Right to track (fingerpost), cattlegrid/gate. At left-hand bend, straight on across grass, gate (waymark), cross field, gate. Right of way is 1 o'clock across field, but we used track/margin to right and round corner, track on right through trees for 25 yards. Right to road.

6. Fieldgate on left (fingerpost), grassy track, fieldgate, 50 yards, fieldgate. Public right of way across field was not reinstated, so straight across, right at hedge/beck - used a path some of way to left of beck through trees. Fieldgate (waymarks) and join floodbank. Fence, footbridge, stile, fork right on bank for 50 yards to snickelgate and left to road to Butterwick then retrace steps to Brawby.

Fact file:

Distance: Five and a half miles.

Time: Three hours.

General Location: Ryedale.

Start: Brawby.

Right of Way: Public, with variation usage route to avoid ploughed land.

Map: Based on the new OS Explorer 300 Howardian Hills and Malton.

Date walked: Saturday 19 November 2005.

Road Route: Best via Great Barugh.

Car Parking: Roadside in Brawby.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: At nearby villages.

Tourist & Public Transport Information: Malton TIC 01653 600048.

Terrain: Flat farmland.

Points of interest: Territory described by The Shed as the 'Unknown Kingdom'.

Difficulty: Easy.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 16:44 Friday, December 09, 2005