Warter Wold

Starting point  and OS Grid reference: Free car park in Warter Village (SE 869502)		Ordnance Survey Map OS Explorer 294 – Market Weighton and Yorkshire Wolds Central. Buy this map from List of OS Maps
Distance: 11 miles	Date of Walk: 17 October 2014
Traffic light rating: (For explanation see My Walks page)
For advice on .gpx files see         My Walks page	Click the PDF logo above to give a printable version of this walk without the photos.

To view route as a dynamic Ordnance Survey map click here.

Introduction: This walk round Warter Wold gives you views of no fewer than seven of the classic Yorkshire Wold Dales, with their sinuous lines. It lies to the north of the village of Warter, where the walk starts.

Warter is a small but picturesque village with a classic village green and Celtic cross and a pretty row of thatched cottages. One unusual aspect of the village is that it is an “estate” village, under the control of one owner. The church is now the Wolds Heritage Centre. David Hockney’s famous giant painting, Bigger Trees Near Warter, was inspired by the trees around this village (some now felled).

Warter Wold is on the western edge of the Yorkshire Wolds with good views over the Vale of York in some places.

There is a village shop in Warter which sells sandwiches but apart from that, there are no refreshment opportunities en route.

To create a circular route, there is some road walking. However, the roads are very quiet and there are wide verges. The majority is at the end of the walk and involves the last two and a quarter miles to Warter, along the course of a Roman road. Do not despair as it is all gently downhill and there are lovely views along the way.

There are fingerposts for both the Minster Way and Wolds Way, at different places, along this route.

Overall, it is an easy walk, with just a couple of moderately steep but short ascents/descents (Millington Dale and Sylvan Dale).

The walk starts from a large free car park next to the school in the village of Warter. Please note that it gets very busy at school start/finish times. To get there, take the B1246 from Pocklington, signposted for Driffield. Warter is just over four miles from Pocklington centre. The car park is signposted once you get to the village.

Start: Turn left out of the car park (SE 869502) and at the road junction in the village centre, turn right along the B1246. At the next junction (SE 873504), turn left for Huggate 3½ and Wetwang 7½ miles.

Walk up this road for just under a mile, ignoring a junction on the right after a quarter of a mile. As the road bends left, turn right off the road (SE 878513), in effect keeping straight ahead on a track, to follow the “Public Bridleway” fingerpost.

When the track reaches the end of the field, turn left to follow the left hand boundary of the field beyond. In the corner of the field you come to a three-way fingerpost. Turn right continuing to follow the public bridleway sign.

At the end of the field, the path turns right then immediately left to follow the line of the trees. When you get to a corner of the trees, keep straight ahead, following the blue bridleway arrow (SE 886524).

The path descends into Lavender Dale.

From the bottom of the Dale, keep straight ahead up the other side to another fingerpost and follow it left.

Keep following the obvious path along the top of Lavender Dale then Brig Dale, following the fence on the right. As the dale peters out, you reach a broad stony track. Turn right following the blue arrow (SE 893535).

The track becomes almost a narrow field between two hedges.  After going through a gateway, look out for a walkers' gate on the left, marked with a blue arrow. Go through this to follow the line of the trees on the left. After passing a large barn, at a three-way fingerpost, turn left on the concrete drive following the sign for “Minster Way” (SE 898535). At the road, turn left.

Walk along the road for about a third of a mile and turn left through a walkers’ gate to follow the “Minster Way” sign (SE 897545).

Follow the clear track along the right hand boundary and after a mile and a quarter, go straight across the road (SE 877541), continuing to follow the Minster way.

After another mile and a quarter, cross another road (SE 858537), to follow a clear track running parallel with power lines. At the end of the field, go through a walkers’ gate by the trees. The path drops down slightly, to follow the left flank of Nettle Dale.

You meet a three-way fingerpost, not quite at the valley bottom (SE 850540). Turn left to follow the fingerpost for “Wolds Way Public Footpath”.

Climb the hill and you are above Millington Dale. Go through the walkers’ gate and follow the track along the top of Millington Dale. There is a bench with a spectacular view above this dale at SE 846532 (see sketch map).

Shortly after the bench, at a fingerpost, turn left to follow the “Wolds way” sign. Note that here, the OS map shows the route as straight down the steep slope. However, the path signposted has introduced a zig-zag to smooth out the descent. I recommend taking it!

Descend into Sylvan Dale (SE 845530) and follow the obvious track up the other side, following the Wolds Way fingerpost.

At the top of the dale, go through a walkers’ gate and turn left. Follow the path round the edge of the field, coming out on a broad track by a farm (Warren Farm). Turn left to the road.

Walk along the road and at the ‘T’ junction, turn right to Warter.

If you need to buy any hiking equipment/clothing before your trip see the Hiking Store

All information on this site is given in good faith and no liability is accepted in respect of any damage, loss or injury which might result from acting on it.