Ebor Way Day 2 - Sheriff Hutton to York

A bit of a delay getting to Sheriff Hutton due to a very long diversion. The main road into the town was completely closed due to road works. We couldn't even get to the car park in Sheriff Hutton that we went to on Day 1 because of this.

But we got parked easily enough just along from the castle and we picked up our path quite easily.

I left my car at Poppleton, just outside of York. That would be easier (and much cheaper) than parking in York city centre. So all we needed to do was a 5mins train ride from York railway station (or finish point for today) to Poppleton and we could head home (via Sheriff Hutton of course to get Dav's car).

Walking past Sheriff Hutton castle for the second time on this Ebor Way, but it's certainly good to see again - Well what's left of it !

Leaving Sheriff Hutton behind us, we head through the fields towards West Lilling.

At Lilling Green we initially thought we were approaching a golf course in the middle of nowhere.

But soon we realised that this was high quality lawn turf, flat and green with lovely fine top soil. With the dry weather we are having at the moment it must be a hard job to keep it all in good condition.

We did notice that often the Ebor Way often merged with the Centenary Way - sometimes also other walks too, like the Foss Walk.

It was also apparent that this wouldn't be a day that clocked up significant amounts of ascent. It's very flat round here!

But there were plenty of deer sightings along this stretch of countryside.

We did accidentally continue along the Centenary Way as we neared Strensall. Initially we thought this wouldn't matter as both paths ran more or less parallel and joined back up slightly further ahead.

However, we reached this no go barrier. It was impassable and the fence alongside it had many warnings of "private land" and "guard dogs" Obviously we weren't wanted.

There was a diversion sign, but it pointed into the direction of another nettle bank and overgrown thorn-bushes (there was no way through). We had no option but to retrace our steps and find the Ebor Way junction.

As you will see later on we managed this okay, but what if we were walking the Centenary Way ? It couldn't be done. This is another example of disappointing North Yorkshire councils lack of effort in keeping footpaths open and well maintained.

Dav spotted a path by the River Foss and we soon re-joined the Ebor Way at the steel bridge.

Phew - we're back on track.

Arriving at Strensall - and time for a lunch stop.

Leaving Strensall after yet another navigational error (just a small one this time).

If we did these walks and didn't say a word to each other I'm sure we would get to our destination sooner as these errors would be eliminated. It would make for a pretty boring day mind !

I'll happily stick to the all day chattering and put up with the extra mileage.

Over the bridge and off the roadside - It's a case of following the River Foss all the way to York now.

Looking back towards Strensall Bridge.

Day 1 of the Ebor Way was a bit of a mud fest - No worries regarding that today, you could almost fall down some of the cracks.

Arriving at Haxby

Following the Foss past Earswick and then Huntington.

The paths are very established as you can see they are well walked. We start seeing folk out dog walking and just enjoying a stroll as the Foss meanders it's way through these populated areas.

Huntington Parish Church

We're in the suburbs of York now and although the Foss is eerily quiet, you can sometimes hear the hum drum of city life not far away.

This photo doesn't show it, but so many houses along this stretch have turned their back gardens and waterfront areas into impressive features - We enjoyed looking at them all as we strolled along the riverside.

There's no point in trying to follow the Ebor Way now - we just left the River Foss path and entered the city walls via Monkgate.

We know York pretty well and it was relatively easy to navigate our way across the city to the railway station.

York Minster.

I'm usually pretty drunk when I'm walking around this area when visiting for the day - So it was nice to see it sober for once.

Couldn't hang around for long though as we checked and there was a train to Poppleton leaving soon - So we put a fast pace on and started our journey home.