Sutton Bank Recce – 19th May 2019

To round off the International Nordic walking day weekend we decided to take a look at the Sutton Bank walk. Anyone who has been to North Yorkshire is likely to be aware of Sutton Bank. Maybe even have memories of the car struggling up the steep road. The lake around Sutton Bank offers much more than you would normally see from the road.

Under the White Horse

Anyway, our car had no problem getting up the bank and we found the road to the car park under the White Horse. We met Maggie there and set off. The first part winds down the woods from the car park. It was a very pleasant start to the walk.

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Checking directions

Gormire Lake

Eventually, the path enters a field and heads down to Hood Grange farm. The route crosses the A170 and heads off to Gormire Lake. This is one of the highlights of the walk. A very picturesque and hidden lake, just under Sutton Bank itself. We walked around the lake chatting to the others enjoying the lake.

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Gormire Lake

The Cleveland Way

From here, in the words of Yazz, the only way is up. We chose to take a path labelled as “The sloping path”, as it sounded interesting. This path turned out to be an old nature reserve, as we found out when we reached the Sutton Bank Visitors Centre. However, before that we had to tackle the path up to the Cleveland Way. It is narrow in places but took us to some interesting places and provided some great glimpses of the panoramic views to come.

We reached the Cleveland Way and rested while admiring the views. At just under 40 miles away, Whernside, in the Yorkshire Dales, is clearly visible from up here.

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The view from the Cleveland Way

The Visitors Centre was too inviting to avoid, even though we were less than two miles from the end. It was definitely worth a visit and the cake was delicious.

Back to the White Horse

We completed the walk by following the Cleveland Way to Roulston Scar, past the glider club, and onto the White Horse. The panoramic views at Roulston Scar are incredible.

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Above the Kilburn White Horse

On finishing, we had a discussion about where to go for refreshments. We chose Thirsk, as there was plenty of choice there and there was a chance to see the “Yarn Bombing”. Yarn Bombing is when the local folk knit covers for the bollards in the square. Each one is themed and usually supporting a charity. We went to Yorks of Thirsk and very nice it was too.

We hope to add this to the programme and hope you will join us.

Julie and Martin x


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