Howl Dale, Scalla Moor and Newbridge

This week's walk was done whilst dog-sitting for a friend in North Yorkshire. The walk is 6.5 miles long and begins from Ruffa Lane in Pickering.

A gate at the end of Ruffa Lane leads onto a path which in turn gives access to Howl Dale Wood. The dog, Kia, brought me a stick with an interesting mushroom on it which could possibly be Scarlet Elf Cup:

 Sarcoscypha coccinea?

Not entirely sure, but nonetheless quite pretty. We walked through the wood, the path of which is set in a little valley with trees rising up each side to form a V. The path became rather muddy after a while and I gave up trying to avoid the worst bits as my trousers were already filthy. We eventually met a wall running down from our left and headed up alongside it to meet a stile.

Drystone wall

With my usual walking companion Sybil, stiles are no problem as she leaps over them. Kia however, is a Rottweiler so if she couldn't leap them I wouldn't be able to lift her either. Luckily it seems a lot of dog walkers use this route as all the stiles we encountered had holes in the fences next to them to allow dogs through. We headed up the side of the field towards Scalla Moor Plantation. A tree stump had been used as a table for a squirrel, it seemed, as it was littered with the remains of several pine cones:

Squirrel table

Another stile at the end of the plantation led to the Whitby Road where a sign indicated the boundary of the National Park.

Whitby Road

Another yomp along a field edge took us into Little Park Wood. A path led steeply down towards Pickering Beck, which we followed downstream through the wood until we came out into a long field. This was a particularly enjoyable part of the walk, with woods on one side and Pickering Beck on the other. Beyond Pickering Beck was the North York Moors railway, where we were just in time to see a steam train heading back to the station.

Little mushroom in the field

We joined a woodland path via a kissing gate which eventually brought us out into Newbridge. Crossing the railway line, we walked past several cottages and through another field, coming out near the railway station where the 2 o' clock train was just leaving. Walking through the town centre covered in mud, on a Saturday, was not something I'd like to repeat in a hurry!