Riding round Rievaulx

Horse Trails & Horse Tails

By an Equine Rambler!
Map: OS Explorer: OL26 (SE 570 850)

My friend Jen and I fancied a day or two riding with a change of scenery and not too far a journey from home. I decided that the Helmsley area, about 20 miles away, would be ideal. Consulting the OS map I could see there was a fabulous network of bridleways around the Rievaulx area and I found suitable accommodation in 'The Horse Riders Guide to the North York Moors' www.visitthemoors.co.uk a National Park publication on holidays with horses. Since Jen's horse, Merlin (Merl) was too big to go in my trailer she made arrangements to have him transported to our farm B&B in a horsebox. Merl was not an easy horse at the best of times and to be honest was totally unsuitable for Jen. Having said all that he was certainly handsome - no disputing that! But he was too young and too big and had far too many hangups for Jen to handle. For one thing, he hated getting his feet wet and he wasn't good in traffic either! So, was there a disaster waiting to happen?
Many of the Bridleways in the Rievaulx area cross streams, so we (perhaps foolishly) thought that we could spend time educating him to go through water over our three day stay.

Day 1.

We arrived at Griff Farm B&B and settled Jack, my 14.2 Welsh cob and Merlin Jen's handsome 16.2 into the stables and went into the cozy farmhouse to unpack. I had mapped out a ride to a pub at Hawnby since I had previously noticed a sign on the roadside which said 'Pub open all day'. We had a cup of tea and set off about 12.30 via a lovely forest track and minor road towards Rievaulx Abbey. The day was warm and pleasant yet, despite being August, thankfully there was hardly any traffic on the road. We found our planned route along a bridleway, but were disappointed to find that it was one and a half miles of tarmac drive to a farm. It was quite slippery too so we had to go carefully. Then we came to a junction of two or three more bridleways, all grassy tracks - fabulous! But so many paths and tracks that our planned route turned out quite difficult to find and we spent about an hour searching and getting lost and having to re-trace our steps numerous times. In those days my map reading was not particularly good and despite Jen being a teacher, map reading was certainly not in her curriculum! We enquired at a farm cottage for directions and were told to go through an unmarked new gate which, fortunately turned out to be correct. Now on the right route, the bridleway through fields and woods had spectacular views in all directions and we eventually arrived at Murton Grange where the whitewashed farm buildings, cottages and immaculately kept greens were most impressive! We continued to Peak Scar Top and followed a fairly steep Bridleway downhill over rough ground and into a valley where there was a large herd of herd of cows. They were all lying down as we approached and even though we skirted around the main group they all suddenly got up as we got closer. The hillside was steep and Merlin was un-nerved by this sudden movement. Fortunately, Jack took all this in his stride without batting an eyelid. Merl suddenly shot forward and sideways unseating Jen who landed in a large wet cow pooh! She wasn't hurt, initially, but then as she was struggling to her feet, Merl, who fortunately hadn't got away, stepped on her hand! Jen screamed, and this sent the cows (which turned out to be bullocks) running in all directions. Now I was trying to hang onto two very agitated horses! Luckily Jen had leather gloves on and the grass was thick and springy so she luckily survived the accident without any breakages - she was only covered in muck!

Now another cross roads of bridle paths and we followed a route through a farmyard where there was a donkey wandering around. (Fortunately Merl was quite happy with donkeys as there was one kept at his livery yard, or it might have been another story!). We followed a track down into the lovely valley ahead but the paths did not seem to go in the direction of our destination as shown on the map, but we did eventually find a route across some very overgrown pasture to a gate with a Bw sign. Great! We continued on across a field to where a tiny stream trickled across our path and we had no option to cross it to get out through the gate or go back. Jack happily plodded through the muddy water but there was no way that Merl would follow. After much shouting and messing about, like me going backwards and forwards to give more leads, as well as passing Jen my crop and giving (yelling!) instructions such as 'kick!' and 'give him a hard smack', none of this did any good. (Jen just wasn't ‘into' any sort of corporal punishment!) In the end, she finally 'gave in', dismounted and proceeded to lead Merl across, getting her feet soaking wet and mud up to her knees! (It worried me more than a bit that Merl might just suddenly decide to jump and knock her over but as luck would have it, he followed her like a lamb!) That little ‘water schooling session' had taken almost an hour! We followed a farm track now which I could see from my map led straight to a road - but involved yet another water crossing! This one was by the side of a cattle grid and involved negotiating a very narrow Bridleway gate immediately on the opposite side of a stream. Jack is an ‘old hand' at awkward places and water and we went across first to open the gate. Amazingly Merlin followed just like he did it every day!

We pressed on now up a steep hill into Hawnby, looking forward to a sandwich and a pint. B.....r ! The pub was closed despite a sign on the door saying 'OPEN'! Our only hope for some refreshment now was the village shop and post office we had passed at the bottom of the hill. It was now 4.30 and we hoped we could make it back there before they closed. Despite having to ride down a very steep tarmac road we made it and treated ourselves to bottles of pop and ice creams. There was a seat outside where we sat for a while enjoying the late afternoon sun chatting to the shop-keeper. It had been a very warm but frustrating day and we had only completed half our planned ride. At this rate it could be dark by the time we got back to Griff Farm.

We left the shop about 5.30 and went mostly by road back through Murton but then we encountered a ford near Caydale Mill. This was a really big ford, the river running for about 20 yards over and down the road. Still Merlin did not object to this and obediently plodded through the water by Jacks side without Jen having to get off to lead him and we thought we'd really cracked it! We pushed on to Old Byland and then down a bridleway at Hill Gill through the woods which I knew would bring us out at the fish ponds near Rievaulx where we had another encounter with water! It wasn't obvious from the map that we had to ride into and along the river bed to exit this wood about 30 yards down stream. Of course we hoped that Merl really was ‘cured'. I led the way as usual and Merl initially followed obediently. There was a bend in the river so I soon went out of Jen & Merl's sight but then encountered a problem myself. There was a fallen tree blocking the only exit from the river. Thankfully the branches were quite thin and bendy and Jack being Jack just pushed through them like a bulldozer and he hopped up the bank to a bridleway gate as though he knew exactly which way to go.

Just then I heard a blood curdling scream behind me and glanced back to see that Merlin had seized his opportunity to get out of the water. He had jumped up onto the narrow bank between the river and a fence and was forging ahead on the narrow river bank under the trees. The low branches swept poor Jen off backwards into the water! I couldn't easily go back to help, but I acted as quickly as I could, managed to dismount and tie Jack to the bridleway gate. By this time Merlin had gone back into the water, pushed through the fallen tree and was now standing behind me. I managed to get a lead rope on him and tied him up next to Jack. There was very little room to manouver 2 horses on this narrow river bank between the river and the gate. Jen was lying flat on her back in the water, but thankfully she was moving. After a few minutes she slowly struggled to her feet. I helped her through the water and the fallen tree branches. Not surprisingly, she then had to sit again for quite a while in order to recover as she was certainly shocked as well as wet and cold. Otherwise she seemed OK apart from a very painful shoulder from when she hit the stony river bed. Eventually she managed to summon enough energy to lead Merlin towards some large stones nearby which made an excellent mounting block, but having mounted discovered, as she rode onto the tarmac, that Merlin had lost a shoe! We were far too exhausted to go back to look for it. It was now 7.30pm so we walked slowly towards Rievaulx discussing the problem of finding a farrier who could sort the problem first thing the next morning.

Back at Griff Farm as luck would have it, our hostess had a farrier's tel. number and he obliged by agreeing to be at the farm the next morning for 8a.m! This was a stroke of luck since my friend, Vicky was coming over to join us for a ride the next day! By now we were starving with hunger so we quickly fed the horses, got bathed and changed before whizzing off to Helmsley for supper. The Pubs had all stopped taking food orders but we were lucky to get a Lasagne take away from the Italian restaurant which we took back to the farm and devoured it with a glass or two of red wine that Jen had brought from home.

Day2.

We were up early and got the horses fed and mucked out. The farrier arrived on time as promised. Our hostess cooked us a fabulous full English breakfast so we reckoned that would suffice for the day. Vicky joined us about 10.30 and by then I had planned our ride to Boltby Scar where I had ridden the previous year on a Pleasure Ride with a local Bridleways Group. We set off, after first having a laugh with Vicky about Merlin's escapades the previous day.

Our route was along a bridleway which ran through a wood and up a valley. The map didn't show any water crossings. However, despite the dry weather we encountered a huge puddle which totally covered the Bridleway track from one side to the other! On one side was a barbed wire fence and on the other was an acutely steep hillside which was thickly covered in big shrubs and trees. Merlin had no escape. Vicky and I continued through the water (hoping that Merl would follow). If he wanted to follow us he would have to get his feet wet! Well, he stopped dead, just as expected, and dithered from side to side. Well yes! he certainly wanted to follow us, so he took a sudden detour up the near vertical bank side and again Jen was unseated and deposited in the water! I was amazed that though she was soaking wet and muddy again she still got up laughing!. I would have thought that it would have been 'the last straw' and she would have ‘given up' and wanted to go home. She, lead him through the water, getting her feet soaked again. Then climbing on a gate she managed to get on his back and we set off again. The track petered out eventually and the rest of the route turned out to be totally overgrown. It was like fighting our way through a jungle but we eventually made it without further incident to the fabulous "Hambleton Drove Road", a wonderful bridleway across "Hambleton Down". The views from the edge of the escarpment were absolutely fabulous. York to the south and Thirsk and Richmond (Herriot Country) to the west! The only thing that Vicky and I were disappointed about was the fact that Jen wasn't up to cantering and galloping along these wonderful wide open grassland areas which were just crying out to be galloped on! We found our way back to Griff Farm without any problems and Vicky and I vowed to ride there again sometime soon.

Last day.

Jen was full of aches and pains and she also sported a few large bruises so we just had a short ride after breakfast around the nearby woods and fields. There was the remains of some cross country jumps around the fields and I plucked up courage to jump some of the smaller logs and even have a go at the small ‘drop' fence into the water, Jen opted to stay on the safe side and watch!

It was market day in Helmsley so we had decided to have a spot of retail therapy before her Horsebox came to pick her up at 4pm. We enjoyed exploring the market stalls as well as window shopping in the up-market gift shops and boutiques. However, (being really good) we couldn't resist buying bacon, cooked meats and pork pies from a lovely deli in the market square which we knew would please our men folk back at home!. Then back to the farm to get packed up.

Back at Griff Farm there had been a bit of a drama as Merlin had managed to break down his stable door! (It was a bit wonky anyway!). Since there was nowhere else to put him whilst we packed up, Jen tethered him to a fence with a haynet to hopefully keep him happy. I finished packing up first so I helped carry all her gear and stacked it all by the garden gate so it would be handy when the horse box arrived! On top of her luggage she piled up her shopping as well. Jen decided to turn Merlin out in a paddock by the stables whilst I loaded Jack into my trailer. Since I had to leave before Jen's her transport arrived, I missed out on what happened next but I heard about it when Jen phoned me later.

Apparently, Merlin escaped from the paddock by smashing down the fence and whilst Jen was busy trying to catch him the three farm dogs ate all her bacon and pork pies!

Footnote:

It took 2 more years and numerous falls and dramas for Jen to make a decision to part with Merlin. Now she's bought a 14.2 Irish cob who is everything that Merlin wasn't!

Looking for a Horse Riding Holiday in North Wales?

If you're thinking of a horse riding holiday why not visit Horse Riding Holidays in North Wales