Monday 7 July 2014

Sanctuary Way Walk

It is time to pick up with my Yorkshire travel log where I left off; we ended the 1st of June after our walk to Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal with a nice summery meal and an episode of "Lewis" on telly.
That walk was just one of many more we intended to go on, and so on the 2nd of June we were out again, well equipped with bottles of water, camera, brollies and a leaflet we had picked up at the Tourist Information. (The leaflet can be found here and viewed as a PDF on the website, or printed out if you intend to go on that walk yourself.)

The Sanctuary Way Walk is a circuit walk of 10 miles altogether, along what used to be the Sanctuary boundary of the settlement from the year 937 onwards. Whoever was looking for shelter - either because they were criminals or being persecuted for some other reason - was granted sanctuary overnight as long as they kept inside the boundary, marked by Sanctuary crosses. Originally, there were eight crosses; only one is still there. At the site of the other seven, replicas have been set up and information boards tell the story of the place and those bygone times.

Near Ripon canal basin.

Along the river.

Out of the woods and across fields:




Coming up towards Sharow:


This, Sharow Cross, is the only original part left of one of the eight Sanctuary crosses. Not something you'd stop to look at, if you didn't know it was there and what it once was.


The leaflet had promised "unique views of the cathedral". This is what we saw from Sharow:

If you look very carefully, you can just about make out the top of the cathedral to the right of the tree in the middle. Zooming in with my camera, I could confirm that it was indeed the cathedral:

Ours was what the leaflet describes as the "scenic route", of a mere 2 hours. I am not sure how long we actually walked, but I know we ended up with very muddy feet and rather hungry. Fortunately, nobody checked our shoes when we entered the "Warehouse Café" for a bite of lunch!

In spite of our wet feet, we had both very much liked this walk, which lead us to places where I'd not been before, and through a very peaceful, quiet and green landscape. Maybe next year I'll walk the entire circuit.

12 comments:

  1. This looks like a very green and peaceful walk. Perhaps when they put the sign up the trees were younger and more of the Cathedral was visible........Nothing stays the same.

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    1. I don't know when the leaflet was printed, but the walk itself was established in 2005. Yes, trees can grow quite a bit in 9 years. It still is quite a distance to the cathedral, though, and that has certainly not changed :-)
      The walk is scenic enough with the river and fields and copses and the village/small town of Sharow, we weren't really disappointed about the cathedral bit.

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  2. What a pretty place, it is a sanctuary now from a hectic world.

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  3. what a lush, green place to take a walk! Was " Lewis" Inspector Lewis? He is one of my favorites to watch on our local PBS.

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    1. Yes, that's the Lewis we like to watch, too!

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  4. Its seems almost in every picture there is a timeless quality; could easily be 100 years ago or more
    lovely all of it

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    1. Thank you, Julie! It certainly was all very picturesque.

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  5. Your walk (which I enjoyed vicariously as usual) reminded me that I have a young New Zealand friend (son of a less young friend!) coming to stay in August with, I suspect, lots of tramping (NZ for walking or hiking) expectations. It brought home to me how limiting no longer being able to do long walks is. That may change this winter.

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    1. Hopefully, your young friend will be able to do all the tramps/walks/hikes he expects to be doing, with favourable weather and not too many midges. And hopefully your own plans to increase your ability for longer walks again will work out.

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  6. I missed this post somehow! Thanks for letting me know about it this July! (2016!)
    Wishing you peace. xx

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