Yorkshire Wolds Way [Part 2]

Day 2: Brantingham to Goodmanham
15th May, 2022

So here we are, three days later, back at the little church (well, not so little really) that is just outside the village of Brantingham. The walk took me past the church on the country lane, where I finished the walk three days ago.

Shortly the path left the road, turning off to the left towards South Cave, taking a leafy path through the woods

I eventually emerged from the woods onto a plateau with some far-reaching views ahead

Shortly afterwards, the path began once again to descend into some trees 

Eventually, I found myself with trees on the left and wheatfields on the right. The path was clear, firm and easy to walk 

At the junction... 

...I played a short game of ‘hunt the signpost’, eventually finding it obscured among the trees

The way then took me through Mount Airy Farm 

and then onto a tarmac farm track leading downhill. 

From here, I could see the village of South Cave in the distance

At the point where the road turned sharply to the left, there was a convenient bench under a tree – an ideal spot to have a bite of lunch 

After eating my sandwiches, I continued downhill towards South Cave 

and out onto the main road 

I noticed wryly that the hill I had just descended was aptly called ‘Steep Hill’. They weren't wrong! 

To my left was the sign indicating I had arrived at my first way point 

Crossing the road that runs through the village, I found the footpath easily 

and followed it into some more woodland, called Little Wolds Plantation 

Bit of a rant coming up next, so skip this bit if rants make your blood pressure rise. There are three types of dog walkers in the world: responsible ones, irresponsible ones and the ‘others’. Responsible dog owners clean up after their dogs, take the little bags full of dog poop home or to the nearest bin, and dispose of them appropriately. Irresponsible dog walkers let their dogs poop wherever they want, then they leave the poop lying where it was deposited. Sometimes this is because the owner forgot to take a poop bag with them, or sometimes because they can’t be bothered to bend down to pick it up; yet others have no idea where their dog has pooped because the dog is running off-lead and so they don’t see where their little darling has deposited its ‘treasure’. Then there are the ‘others’ – well, there’s no real name for them, not polite ones anyway! They diligently carry a supply of poop bags when taking little Fido for his daily constitutional. They even take the trouble to collect the poop in the little bags. THEN THEY HANG THE BAG FROM THE TREES OR BUSHES! Honestly, WHY? Just WHY? Dog poop takes approximately three weeks to decompose; plastic poop bags (even the so-called bio-degradable ones), take between 10 and 1000 YEARS to biodegrade. If you are going to clean up after your dog, then TAKE IT AWAY and dispose of it properly. But please, DO NOT hang it in the bushes! I’d far rather it was left to degrade naturally than hung from a tree. It’s not decorative, it smells, and it doesn’t in any way make you a responsible dog owner; in fact, it makes you nothing more than an idiot! 

The YWW is well signposted, so really maps and guide books are not strictly necessary. However, I always carry at least a map; the guide book is more for little snippets of information, special items of interest to look out for, and hints about which way the path goes next. I like to know in advance that I am approaching a road and that the path goes right, left or straight across. There are many places where the path looks the same whichever direction you are travelling. Way markers and signs are helpful to ensure you are still on the right track – there is sometimes nothing more welcome than a way marker when you haven’t seen one for some considerable time, to reassure you that you are indeed still going the right way 

As I emerged from the woods, the fields opened out on my right hand side and to my surprise it (the field) was full of grape vines 

Who would have thought you’d find a vineyard in East Yorkshire?

The path traversed the hillside, coming down to the most enormous kissing gate I have ever seen 

It is in fact designed to let horses and their riders through. The gate is so long, it is balanced on a wheel at the opening end. It’s also very heavy! No idea how horse riders manage it. 

Once through the gate, I turned right and headed up the gentle slope through more trees 

and then much more steeply upwards through East Dale, emerging onto a field. It doesn't look very steep in the picture, but my legs told me otherwise!

Shortly after coming onto the field, I came across another one of these 

Across the field I could see a transmitting mast, letting me know I was not far from High Hunsley Beacon, just before emerging onto a small, but busy road. 

An appropriate warning sign is posted just as you exit the field onto the road 

The path crosses the road and then runs alongside the field opposite, so you don’t have to walk along the actual road, and you are shielded from it by a hedge 

Up ahead was High Hunsley Beacon. Actually the transmitting aerial is also called High Hunsley Beacon, but this is the more traditional sort.

At this point, the path turns left and heads off alongside a bright yellow field of rape 

At the junction of the path with a minor road I turned right...

...and followed the road...

...to a crossroads

Heading straight across, I continued along the road, noting the bluebells (now beginning to fade) along the road edge 

The landscape was now pretty flat, although I was quite high up; quite a contrast to the Cleveland Way (that I completed just two weeks ago), which although high up on the cliff top was anything but flat! 

After skirting around a field or two, I began the descent into Swin Dale 

The actual track lies at the bottom of a short but very steep bank – the kind that has you running even if you prefer to walk – which then means the path itself is very flat at the bottom of the dale. The bank I half ran, half walked down is to the left of the picture

In the distance there was a lovely tree, under which some sheep and lambs were sheltering from the warm early summer sun 

At the end of the dale I reached another minor road. I turned right here towards a farm and then left to reach Newbald Wold, then on past a few more fields to Hesleskew – wonderful place names, don’t you think?

Finally, there was another giant acorn (they seem to be spaced at about 5 miles intervals) 

and a sign post telling me I had covered 7½ miles from South Cave and had another 3½ to go to reach Goodmanham.

I followed the farm track to Arras Farm 

then past more fields to Weighton Wold 

The hawthorn was really spectacular here 

and the views were stunning 

Before long, I descended to a minor road. The sign for motorists pointed towards Goodmanham, but didn't say how far it was 

It was a small road with no traffic and my route led me along it 

At the corner, where the road swings right, I followed a sign off to the left, along what I think was a disused railway track 

However, this was not actually the path I needed. The YWW has two routes at this point. The official route goes to Goodmanham; the alternative route takes you to Market Weighton, for facilities like places to eat or to stay the night. As I was being picked up by OH and Dog at Goodmanham, I didn’t need to go to Market Weighton. The path I was now on was actually the Market Weighton path!

Thankfully, I realised my mistake after only a couple of hundred yards and retraced my steps back to the road. Was I tired? Or was that an excuse and really I wasn’t paying attention? You decide! But the sign at the corner clearly stated YWW Market Weighton

And the same sign also has a finger pointing to Goodmanham, pointing in the other direction 

Eventually I emerged onto another road – turning left would take me into the village of Goodmanham; turning right would take me a hundred yards or so along the road to where OH and Dog were waiting with the car 

It was a no-brainer really. I turned right.