Malton to Stamford Bridge: 16 April 2011
- Distance
- 17 miles
- Difficulty
- Hard
- Location
- Malton … Map of start point
- Leader
- Emma
No chance of a Saturday morning lie-in for this one! On such a beautiful day as this was, who would have wanted one anyway? The weather was just perfect for a 17 mile ramble along the banks of the River Derwent! The walk itself started in Malton, but not before we had met up at the finishing point of the walk! There's method in the madness … Initially, we made our way to the car park in Stamford Bridge to be briefed by Emma at 08:45 sharp! Andy and Mark then drove us all to Malton, where we were joined by a further 3 members who had opted to use public transport.
We left Malton along the Centenary Way, and we were soon river-side. The sunshine and gentle breeze conjoined to create some stunning reflections. We left the river bank at Coldwell Plantation, passed through the small hamlet of Firby and on into Kirkham. Beyond the bridge, Emma found a lovely spot looking back across the river towards the priory. More superb reflections. We had our first lunch stop here! We all concurred that it was a little early (about midday) to have a full lunch, but after the relatively early start and having walked about 6 miles to this point, we were feeling a bit peckish!
From Kirkham we continued along the river bank, needing to tread carefully along the narrow muddy sections. If not negotiated correctly, one may well have found themselves slipping into the river! After our second lunch at around 14:00 we pressed on towards Scrayingham, stopping briefly to admire the church and (cherry?) blossom by the gate.
The final leg was not without incident. Firstly, we had to cross a ditch with the bridge out! The more adventurous amongst us opted to clamber down the bank and up the other side. The others, perhaps more sensibly, crossed somewhere further up. We then had to navigate our way through a field of horses. Sounds simple enough, but not when one of them is intent on causing GBH! Just ask Andy, who suffered a bite to his arm!
Once back in Stamford bridge, Kate kindly volunteered to drive Mark and Andy back to Malton to collect their cars. The rest of us relaxed with a drink in The Swordsman Inn, where the others later joined us. To Mark's disappointment they were not serving food, so he had to make do without his usual post-walk 3 course meal!
Photos by Emma and Jonny. Write-up by Jonny.