Tuesday 8 September 2015

A Walk of Contrasts

In my last post, I showed you the Kilburn White Horse as seen from the village, and from the car park where the foot path starts that leads up to the top of Sutton Bank.

The climb up there is steep, but not so much that anyone of normal walking fitness can't make it. The path is well maintained and has good steps. Also, it offers some interesting views of the horse; from the path, you wouldn't guess that the whiteish area (it is not as white as it appears from afar) has the shape of a horse.
How the horse was made and what happened with it during WWII is described here on wikipedia.


Once you're up, you have a combination of great views and wide open spaces. It is said to be one of the finest views in England.
While I agree that the views from there really are great, I feel there are other views around Yorkshire much dearer to my heart. For instance, there aren't the dry stone walls and typical barns dotted across the hills which I so like and associate with Yorkshire. Still, I was duly impressed and took more pictures than you'll ever want to see.


Sutton Bank is the perfect location for gliding, and so it is not surprising that the Yorkshire Gliding Club is based on the top plateau. On the day of our visit, there was always at least one glider and one plane in the air above us.

To get back down to the car park, we chose a different path than the one we had climbed on the way up. It was such a contrast: From the windswept open spaces into a green tunnel of branches and leaves. That woodland was certainly enchanted and enchanting!
It was a walk I won't forget, but the day was not yet over.


Our next stop was Helmsley, where I'd been only once before, more than 10 years ago with Steve.

12 comments:

  1. Love those wide views of the countryside! And the woodland walk back down looks wonderful. I need to catch up on your last few posts.

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    1. Welcome back, Aisling, and happy catching up - I hope you won't be too bored by so many Yorkshire-themed posts.

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  2. Wonderful! Enjoying your Yorkshire adventures. Looking forward to Helmsley - fabulous little place and a great castle.

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    1. Thank you, Mike! I hope you won't be disappointed - we were in Helmsley only for a brief visit, and I didn't take all that many pictures.

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  3. Although I have passed through the area I don't really know it so I am pleased to be reading about Kilburn and The White Horse. Yorkshire is so big it's like Texas!

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    1. Glad to be showing you something of your home county you don't know all that well, Neil.

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  4. Such a beautiful walk of contrasts, of places where you can see for miles under a wide sky and places where the woods seems almost too close. I wonder what part of Yorkshire gives the views that you love best?

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    1. There's several I can think of, and some are dotted across my blog, too: For instance, looking back at Fountains Abbey when one is walking towards Studley Royal; the views from Brimham Rocks; the views from St. Nicholas Church in High Bradfield; the view towards Ripon from the road leading up to St. Mary's in Studley Royal...

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  5. The views of Yorkshire that you describe remind me of the books by James Herriot. I am surprised at how much I feel as if I have been there just from reading his books.
    I wonder how they were able to hide the White Horse, they didn't explain how they did that unless I missed it.

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    1. They put blankets on it, Kay, blankets and dark tarpaulin, anything that would cover up the white.
      Yes, it is that kind of view I have in mind when I think of Yorkshire. There are other beautiful views, I have listed a few of my favourites in my reply to Kristi.

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  6. Love the 4th view in particular!

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    1. Thank you, Monica. I really liked the contrast of the flowers in the foreground and the wide green view.

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