Camping in Yorkshire - second day.

Hello. After a good nights sleep, and a mug of apple pie coffee, I was ready to get off for another walk. I made a packup of various snacky type foods, enough to see me through the day. I had a route in mind, to go in the opposite direction to the day before. I walked out of the camp site at the back of the equestrian centre. This is the first time I have seen a horse in an exercise machine. It was like a carousel, with partitions in it and as it went round, the horse walked. It briefly looked at me as I went past it. 

Once on the road I looked for the sign opposite to go down a footpath. There was no sign so I worked it out which gap in the hedge I had to go through. This brought me into a field with chin high broad bean plants. According to the map the path went through the edge of the crop. All well and good to start with, the farmer had left a wide path through. It might have been obvious at the time of planting the seeds, but by the time they were this high the gap closed up. Nothing for it but to walk along the edge of the crop through waist high wet grass and thistles. 

I reached the road at Menethorpe and took a right. Follow the sign. Two signposts on the same corner. 

 I left the road and went down a track along the River Derwent. which is called Jeffry Bog Plantation. I made a video here because it was very overgrown in a nice way. For a moment I thought I was walking through a jungle. I wanted to put the video in here, but I still can't embed the code into this post. I Have had to put it into another post which follows on from this one. 

The Centenary Way goes through Firby, a pretty little village, and on I went to Kirkham. The Priory is an English Heritage site, and has an entrance fee to pay. As with all these visitor attractions you have to book in advance. There were a lot of cars parked close to it and on the road alongside. Here is a bit of information should you wish to explore further. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirkham_Priory

The river runs alongside the Priory, I sat on the parapet for a while, people watching from a distance. I was amazed to see a man appear from under the bridge in the middle of the river. Not that unusual I suppose as it was a hot day. He appeared to be floating rather than swimming, and holding his arm up high he had a camera in his hand. He was looking up at the bridge as he floated along. Strange I thought. If you wanted to film under the bridge surely you would sit in a boat to do that. 

It was decision time. Do I have enough time to follow the river down to Howsham where there was a bridge to cross back over, or should I stay on the right side of it and make a shorter walk back to the camp site. I decided to go for it, a nice two and a half mile walk along a river bank was very appealing. It was a lovely day and I didn't need to hurry back. A weir at Kirkham.....

...and a weir at Howsham. Easy peasy. A lovely walk. There were two people ahead of me who kept stopping to admire the flora and fauna, and I was catching them up. When they stopped I had to stop. When I caught them up I politely asked if they could step aside and let me pass. They were ok about it. 

From Howsham I followed the road to Westow. 

I like the look of this impressive Westow Hall. I would love to have a mooch inside. The green fence and gate are in need of repair, the paint is peeling off the wood. I don't suppose they can do much with it as it's a listed building. 

By this time it was getting a bit late so I thought I had better press on. I saw on the map that I could pick up a footpath at the back of the church, which was down a long dead end road. It went to the church and nowhere else. It is tucked away right off the beaten track. 

I got back on the road again, close to Jeffrys Bog, then stayed on the road towards Eddlethorpe Hall, and  back to the camp site. It was a smashing day. Checking the distance on bikehike.co.uk, I did 13.5 miles. Tired but happy. I'm going to post the Bog video now following this.

Thanks for popping in. More to come. Another walk on day three. Toodle pip.  ilona