Another light day today before the trek to York tomorrow. Despite this, we have reached two milestones. Firstly, this is now the longest walk we have ever done. We’ve also reached a quarter of our estimated distance.
It’s a perfect, sunny, breezy day and we head off up a slope crossing another abandoned medieval village: Towthorpe, also known as Towthorpe in the Thistles. Nothing remains to show that it was ever inhabited and no population has been recorded here since 1367. This is one of several such settlements that we have encountered on this journey.
More excitingly, we go past a gatehouse that is now a holiday cottage and discover a derelict Palladian bridge that clearly once led to a stately home. A further gate leads into a woodland but there in no evidence of any structure beyond. Just at this point, Richard is rung by a government official and asked to complete a survey about the impact of Brexit on his business. It’s quite a surreal moment.
We arrive in the village of Londesborough and an information board by the church explains what happened to Londesborough Hall. In its heyday, James II conducted hunting parties here (the arches under the bridge were deer shelters) but in 1819, it was inherited by the Duke of Devonshire. The duke had a surfeit of grand houses (who doesn’t?), including Chatsworth House, and thus he had Londesborough Hall demolished and a hunting box was built elsewhere on the estate. Eventually, it was sold to the ‘Railway King’ George Hudson, who built himself a personal railway station, Londesborough Park, on the site. He too went bankrupt and sold the property on and a Victorian house then replaced the hunting box.
Londesborough village itself dates from Norman times and the buildings are all very picturesque. It sits on the summit of the hill and we stop on a bench for a mid-morning break. A local man out walking his two English Setters stops to talk to us and we discover that the estate and the village still belong to one person and all the property and land there is rented. This explains why it almost looks as if it is preserved in aspic. It would make a fantastic film location, but neither of us would like to live there.
We carry on along a road frequented by lorries servicing a nearby quarry and stop to examine a viewpoint board. We don’t need the dominant feature of Drax power station pointed out but I am amazed to find that the dark hill we can see far in the distance is Saddleworth Moor, over70 miles away. It also shows us that the indistinct towers we can see belong to York Minster. It looks both big and far away. We then descend through a field of sheep (some of whom have escaped into the farmyard) to enter the village of Nunburnholme, site of some ancient fish ponds that we can’t identify and two commonwealth war graves, commemorating local men who lost their lives in World War One.
We climb the wolds again and pass a pig farm. Like another farm we saw yesterday, the pigs are kept in large sheds, rather than roaming free range as is so common in Norfolk. I feel sorry that these clever animals are all cooped up, but at least they have air-conditioning so would have been protected during the heatwave. We go down along a path into a field with buzzards riding the thermals overhead and stop for lunch bought from Cooplands, a local bakery chain that we have seen in every town from Boston onwards. They were recently taken over by the owners of Asda, but the food remains excellent. As we settle down for a rest, a pair of red kites fly close above us. They seem to be checking to see if we are carrion. At first, they think not but dive over a few more times just to be sure.
We keep going down the hill and finally leave the Yorkshire Wolds Way for the last time. The route now takes us over a golf course, reminding me yet again of the downland paths of my childhood. We arrive at Pocklington, a lovely little town, and stop for coffee and a cake at Whisk before checking in at The Feathers. The hotel appears very unassuming from the outside, but our room is really impressive and, as a bonus, has air-conditioning, just like the pigs!
Total distance so far: 202 miles