K 02 - Thixendale to Hanging Grimston

map and directions

Route K 02 Thixendale to Hanging Grimston and Water Dale

A circular walk of about 6 miles starting and finishing at Thixendale (OS Explorer map 300, Howardian Hills and Malton, ref SE842611). Undulating wolds scenery (wide, grassy valleys), a long gentle gradient in the first half of the walk and extensive views through Deep Dale. More Wolds scenery towards the end.

Start from Thixendale, outside the Church, where the road is wide enough for parking.

Walk directions

1.   From the car parking place (map ref. 842611), head west along the village street from the Church, past the Village Hall and for 400 metres to where the road bends to the right and a bridleway (Chalkland Way) is waymarked through a gate to the left. [400m]

2.   (838612) Go through the gate and follow the bottom of the valley that bends slightly left. Continue for about 1300m, gradually uphill through Thixen Dale to where the valley divides. Keep right through a gate and continue up through Milham Dale to a gate onto the drive to Thixendale Grange Farm. [Total 2050m]. 

3.   (818609) Turn left onto this track and follow it for 750m until it meets a public road. Turn right onto the road (* see short cut to point 6 at end of directions) and after 400m turn left at a junction onto a road signed to Hanging Grimston. Follow this road for 850m, passing Wold Farm, to where the road turns left at a wooden signpost. [Total 2000m]

4.   (800609) Turn right (Chalkland Way) and continue alongside the hedgerow on your left for about 250m then left through a gate and right so that the hedgerow is now on your right. Continue along the top of Deep Dale, crossing a pair of stiles on the way, with views down Deep Dale to the distant flat land beyond. After 900m, reach a gate onto a road. [Total 1150m].

5.   (800620) Turn left onto the road and almost immediately turn right through a gate on a public footpath leading downhill for 150m through a field, near to its left boundary. At the bottom of the valley, go through a gate, turn right along the bottom of a valley and continue for 1150m to a gate onto a road. [Total 1300m]. 

6.   (812620) Turn right onto the road, passing a gate on the left and a small lake on the right. Beyond the next field boundary on the right, go through a gate on the right onto a rather marshy field (access land), initially keeping to the left near to the road, later crossing the wet area and *continuing parallel to the road to a gate straight ahead with a gate to the road on the left. [Total 700m]

7.   (818617) Go through the gate on the left and turn right onto the road. Continue past a wood (Dimple Hole) on the left, then go through a gate on the left and initially follow the fence on the left as it climbs the side of the valley. Good views along Water Dale. Continue above gorse bushes and below a thicket of hawthorns then for 600m without losing height, eventually meeting the fence where it comes slightly downhill to meet a wire fence climbing the valley side from the road. At this point there is a gate through the valley-side fence. [Total 650m]

8.   (824616) Go through the gate and follow the fence near the top of this valley side, eventually towards a large barn. [Total 1300m]

9.   (837615) Before reaching the barn, there is a farm track. Turn right onto this track (Yorkshire Wolds Way) and follow it downhill to meet the road into Thixendale village. Turn left onto the road and return through the village to the Church.  [Total 700m]

*Short cut from 3 to 6 – after 300m along the road, turn right along the hedgerow (Queen Dike, 400m) and through a gate into access land, following the bottom of the valley for 600m to a gate to a road. Turn right before the gate along the valley, avoiding marshy ground. Rejoin at 6, where marked *.