Here you can see the report from our latest walk and also some of the pictures that were taken.

Unless otherwise stated, report by Paul Coates and pictures by Keith Bilton.

Thursday 12th. February 2009

Bishop Wilton, Old Wood, Crow Wood. Bishop Wilton Wold, Deep Dale, The Bence, Millington Grange, Millington Heights, Millington Dale, Sylvan Dale, Warren Farm, Millington (The Gait Inn), The Balk, Little Givendale Farm, Great Givendale, Garths Ends Fields, Bishop Wilton (10 miles).

Cloudy & cold morning, heavy snow in afternoon.

John, Paul, Chris, Paul Craggs, Keith, Paul 'Sherlock' Holmes, Dudley, Ray, Jack, Bob.

Ray, Paul, Paul Craggs.

White out on the Wolds !

As we drove down Garrowby Hill towards Bishop Wilton the rising sun lit up the Vale of York and the distant snow covered Pennine Hills. It looked like it was going to be a nice crisp sunny winter's day. But then if you are going to be wrong you might as well be totally wrong.

We eventually got parked up in Bishop Wilton close to The Fleece pub. There was still plenty of frozen snow from earlier in the week and in places it was quite slippery underfoot. But at least the ground was hard and frozen otherwise we would have been up to our knees in mud.

Up by Old Wood, Bob got his rucksack tangled up in a bush. Chris came to the rescue to untangle the branches that had trapped 'Owd Bob. It's usually sheep we have to rescue from these situations. Everyone else gave a hand by either laughing or taking pictures while Bob just looked sheepish. Baaad boy Bobbo!

A little further up the track Paul received a phone call from Col who is holidaying in Spain. We reckon he rang just to boast about the lovely sunny weather he had to cope with. We asked him to text us some of that sunny weather in return for some of our snow but he didn't seem keen.

As we continued our climb up Bishop Wilton Wold Paul Craggs became the first to take a tumble. He slipped on some snow covered ice and landed with a dull thud, a sure sign his fall had been cushioned by landing on his wallet. Dudley was back marker and he said that although he didn't see Paul succumb to gravity he felt the ground shake. At 6.5 on the Richter scale that was no surprise.

A helping hand for Craggsy (note the resulting crater).

We walked through a field of Highland Cattle that looked quite at home in the snowy landscape.

Ray had been at the back at this point although it was noticeable that his pace quickened on spying these beasts with the oversize horns.

We have done this walk many times, but usually in the opposite direction. So the usual ups were now down, and in return the downs were now up. This includes the relentless slog out of the aptly named Deep Dale which became more of a struggle in the deep frozen snow. Then again going down it wouldn't have been any easier.

We had our morning break alongside the wood at the top of Deep Dale. Instead of enjoying the usual sounds of the countryside, sheep in the meadow, birdsong in the air, Keith swearing at his sat-nav, we were serenaded by the local farmer decimating the hedgerows with his droning tractor and noisy hedge cutter.

Later, as we climbed out of Millington Dale and along the track towards Warren Farm, we could see dark threatening clouds coming our way. The forecast had been for a cloudy morning with sunny periods during the afternoon.

There was certainly nothing sunny about the dark clouds making their way in our direction. And so as we passed Warren Farm snow began to fall.

Grub stop

The Gait Inn was a welcoming sight. Stuart, the landlord, had specially opened up just for us, and he'd even lit the fire. Top man we say, we shall have to make him an honorary member of the FAC. A few of our group tried a brew called Skinners Keel Over Bitter. The snow continued to fall outside as we enjoyed the company and the roaring fire inside. But eventually we reluctantly had to make a move and get ready to brave the elements outside.

We disappeared into the low cloud and swirling snow as we climbed out of the village on our way towards Great Givendale. Unknown to us the track that leads to St. Ethelburga's Church in Great Givendale had hidden sheets of ice covered with freshly fallen snow. Sherlock and Jack both slipped and fell as did Bob, twice in fact (just in case anyone had missed his first effort). It was certainly a dangerous place to be. All had fallen backwards, mostly scoring 8 out of 10 for technique, and had been saved from more than bruised pride by their rucksacks. In fact Jack went down with such a bang he crushed his lunchbox, fortunately the one with his sandwiches in. They should have avoided the Keel Over Bitter.

Not for the first time we had our break in St. Ethelburga's Church. To show our appreciation for this sanctuary from the snowy weather we left a donation, along with the puddles from the melted snow off our boots. Rather than ask Chancellor Craggs to put his hand in his pocket on our behalf, thus risking him blaspheming in the house of the Lord, we all chipped in with some money.

Between Great Givendale and Bishop Wilton it became quite hard going as the snow got deeper. The final downhill section to the village could be best described as 'interesting'. Apart from the occasional bout of slipping & sliding (and eff-ing & blinding) there was the added delight of hidden bogs. We had managed to keep our boots clean all day only to plough through deep bog less than half a mile from our finish.

Once back at the cars we discovered that going back home via Garrowby Hill was out of the question as a couple of villagers had told us it had been closed. They both recommended the lane to Pocklington as the best route out. Looking at the snow and ice covered lane the words 'recommended' and 'best' didn't immediately spring to mind.

But having no alternative we decided to give it a go. It was certainly icy but we eventually made it to Pocklington in one piece.

Intrepid explorers

Pocklington became the start of a long slow crawl back to Hull. The two Paul's and their passengers opted for the route via Arras Hill. Both spent at least a couple of hours either stationary or slowly crawling up this snow and ice covered incline along with many other homeward bound travellers. In driving snow there were jack-knifed lorries, abandoned cars, impatient 4x4 drivers, wayward police cars, snowploughs and even tractors lit up like Christmas trees to contend with. But eventually, with great relief, we got to the top. After that it was just a steady drive home through the snow and slush all arriving home sometime after 8 o'clock. Ray and his passengers chose the more challenging route via South Cliffe and South Cave before joining the car park that had earlier been the A63 into Hull.

A long day and certainly one to remember. And Col never did text us any of that sunshine he promised.

The start of the long drive home.