route: hovingham to sheriff hutton
Date: 16th may 2015
distance: 8.1 miles
ascent: 805 feet
time: 3 hrs 10 mins
walkers: andy, charlie, dave, graham, jacob, jane, joseph, marc, sarah & simon
With the first section of the Ebor Way being nothing but a total success we turned our attention to the next part of the route. This would see us venture from Hovingham to Sheriff Hutton where we would meet Leanne, Abigail and Freddie at the pub. Part of the planning when tackling linear routes is making sure we have enough cars at either the start or finish to ferry other drivers about and the responsibility of being today’s post walk taxi service was Grahams. He pulled up in the pub car park with Charlie and my good self in the car and we waited for Marc to pick us up. Over the road was a bakery and delicatessen, from which we bought three egg custards. These were supposedly a treat for later on, however the smell they were giving off was delicious and they were gone in no time. It has to be said, they were the nicest egg custards I have ever tasted and you could taste the naughtiness and full fat ingredients. With that walloped off and a short journey to the start completed we were ready for more Ebor Way. Today’s team shot included Badgers, dogs and even two bikes which was a first for us. We left Hovingham via the road to Sheriff Hutton which climbed out of the village until the fingerpost directed us towards Terrington and we were on our way.
The track we joined was nice and flat and a decent surface for both walker and cyclist meaning we progressed at a good early pace. The boys were shooting off into the distance then coming back towards us and I couldn’t help but think they needed to save some of their energy for a little later. I also hoped that the route was suitable for bikes all the way to the end otherwise we may be in a spot of bother. No doubt we would find out in time.
The conversation was flowing nicely and we were enjoying ourselves to such an extent I didn’t check my GPS which resulted in us slightly overshooting our intended path. Luckily we didn’t get too far off course and a slight re-calculation saw us re-join the route and descend a path to exit South Wood and skirt around the edge of Wath Wood.
As we approached then end of the plantation to our left we had our eyes peeled for a finger post confirming our route. Sure enough the finger post was there, but only pointing in the direction we had just come from! We weren’t too concerned as we could work out the route by other means but it did seem a bit weird. It was only as Andy got a little closer that he found the other piece nestled down in the grass at the base. With the assistance of Beaky they fixed the sign in no time and our work here was done!
From this point the route climbed gradually to Howthorpe Farm. By now we were about 2 miles in and already Jane was on bike pushing duty, as we skirted the edge of the farm yard, keeping left before picking up a lane lined with bright yellow rapeseed. I can’t recall seeing much if any on previous walks so it offered a pleasant change to the sea of green everywhere else.
A short distance down the aforementioned lane we had one of our customary stops to allow us to regroup but it wasn’t long before we were strung out once again. I found myself at the head of affairs with Andy and Beaky as we tried to keep up with the Joseph and Jacob as the freewheeled away from us as the path dropped away. In doing so we had put considerable distance between us and the others so once at the bottom we waited again and had a chat with the cows as we did so.
It was a good few minutes until Jane, Charlie, G and Sarah reached us but there was still no sign of Marc, but that is nothing new. He is often found deviating from the route to take snaps and try and capture things from a creative angle. It has to be said that the pictures he takes are much better than I could ever hope to do which is the main reason we tolerate the delay 😉 After giving him time to reappear we took heed of the sign post next to us and continued onwards towards Terrington. 
Not long after Marc caught us up we approached a field full of cows, or should I say a field in which the cows were all huddle into one corner, which just so happened to be where our gate was. We haven’t had much experience of the whole cow – dog stand off thing, but I made sure to inform everybody so they were aware that cows can go a bit mad when they see dogs. Fortunately they paid us little attention and certainly didn’t do anything other than keep us under close observation as we passed by.
By now we were had Terrington in our sights and we could hear lots of noise from up ahead. As we go nearer we found ourselves walking around the edge of a village sports day or something similar. The children seemed to be happy enough although the adults not so much judging by the reaction we received after politely asking for directions. It was clear whoever the guy we spoke to was he didn’t want any outsiders in the village and we cut through some houses then out onto a small road where Jane decided she had had enough pushing and jumped on instead.
As we continued forward we knew we had to veer off to the right but we couldn’t quite work out where. My GPS was suggesting we were almost on top of the path and we could see a path down through the plantation to our right but at the same time everything didn’t feel right. We hovered for ten minutes trying to work out where to go before taking the plunge and heading down… wrong! We hadn’t been going long when we decided to come back up towards the road and seek a different path.
By this point we could make out the ruins of the old castle at Sheriff Hutton so we could gauge how far we still had to go. I have found that being able to see the end point can work both ways mentally and I have experienced both side. Sometimes it is nice to know how much effort you have to give whilst at others it seems like there is still a long way to go. I guess that all comes down to the length of the walk and on a walk of this distance nobody felt flustered by the remaining couple of miles.
The boys were now back on the bikes as we encountered a relatively lengthy and steep descent on which they disappeared into the distance before waiting for everybody at the bottom. The route from here was a simple flat saunter along a clearly defined path that cut straight through the middle of yet more rapeseed.
By now my inner senses were dancing and telling me we were almost at the pub. Sure enough the path joined the road into the village and we followed it as it climbed and bent left and there in front of us was the sign to signify we had reached Sheriff Huttton. 
That wasn’t quite the end of the walk as we still had a few minutes walking through the village to get to the pub. As we arrived we were greeted by three big smiles and my day got that little bit better 🙂 It is always nice to see the smiley faces after a walk and it seems that little bit nicer for them to be waiting for me in the pub rather than at home. After the best part of an hour the others slowly began to sneak off, but we were in no rush. We decided to stay for lunch before having a leisurely ride on the way back, and in that moment I had gone from Sir Edmund Badger, leader, El Presidente and king of all Badgers, to dad. I like both 🙂
Sir Edmund
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