Horse Dale

Horse Dale

Route: Horse Dale

Area: East Yorkshire

Date of walk: 11th February 2022

Walkers: Andrew and Gilly

Distance: 5.9 miles

Ascent: 600 feet

Weather: Sunny and cold

The starting point for today’s walk was the village of Huggate, which lies in a hollow, but is nevertheless the highest village on the Yorkshire Wolds at around 558 feet above sea level. Several paths radiate out of the village including two long distance paths which have featured here on previous occasions – the Yorkshire Wolds Way and the Chalkland Way

We parked on the roadside near the Wolds Inn, a perfect place for thirsty and hungry walkers to return to at the end of the walk. We followed the ‘no through road’ into the village, and left it via a path on the left, just beyond grade I listed St Mary’s Church. We walked along the path, part of the Yorkshire Wolds Way, past Glebe Farm as far as the upper edge of Horse Dale. This is one of the classic dry chalk valleys in the area which were shaped by glaciers. We ignored a higher path and passed through a gate to join a wide grassy path which runs along the upper rim of the valley. Near a junction of Horse Dale, Harper Dale and Holm Dale we passed by the Huggate Bench, one of the wonderful carved poetry benches which feature along the Wolds Way

We descended into Horse Dale and entered briefly into Harper Dale before climbing up and walking across North Field at the top of the wold. An easy descent took us down into another dry valley, Rabbit Dale, followed by the final valley of the route, Cow Dale. We followed the Chalkland Way along the valley and as it petered out we climbed up to join the lane back into Huggate to end our walk

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)

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