CASTLE BOLTON & NAPPA HALL WALK
1. Walk past the castle & through a gate onto the lane beside the car park
2. Go through the field gate & then veer off the lane towards the bottom end of the small copse.
3. Go through the wood to come out in a large field.
4. Head out past the wall & keep ahead across the field, aiming for a field gate in the far fence.
5. Walk across the next field aiming for a line of telegraph poles & follow these to a wall on the right.
6. Go through the stile & walk down into a gully to cross Beldon Beck by a small footbridge.
7. Walk up the far bank to a stile on the right.
8. Follow the wall ahead, aiming for the front of the farmhouse.
9. Go round the left-hand side of the arm & through the farmyard.
10. Just after the last building, turn right into the field & walk around the wood, West Bolton Plantation, to a gate.
11. Drop down the slope & cross the marshy stream using the remains of an old stone wall as stepping stones.
12. Turn right & follow the stream to a stile in the wall.
13. Walk ahead up the next two fields passing a barn on the way to a muddy track that becomes a lane leading down to East End Farm.
14. Just before the farm, turn left through a stile & over a muddy stream, & follow the wall to the road.
15. Turn right at the road & walk the short distance to the Wheatsheaf & on to the village green.
16. Take the street round to the right of the dated cross of 1647.
17. Follow the street past the old school & Weslyan chapel & then turn right at the far end of the village past West End Farm.
18. Go through two gates & then keep directly ahead through the farmyard & up the hill, climbing two yellow-painted stone stile on the way.
19. After the second stile, veer over to a stile on the left & turn right to follow the track up the hill past the barn.
20. Go through the gate at the very top of the field, turn right briefly, & then go left up another track, which leads into quarry workings of Ponderledge Scar.
21. Follow the track through a gate & round to the right following the far wall.
22. Where the way is blocked by a steep bank turn left through the gateway.
23. Cut up the bank on the right & head out into the middle of the field to join a wide green path, called Ox Close Road.
24. Turn left through the gate & continue across the moor on this pleasant green path, gradually dropping towards an old lead mine, under the shadow of Ivy Scar.
25. The path passes to the left of the old lead mine, where it becomes a gravel track.
26. Follow the track through a gate & through a stream, & up on the hillside.
27. Where the walled lane ends, turn left through a gateway & walk a short distance ahead to a signpost.
28. Turn right & follow the signs to Askrigg, up the hill passing through the gates & fields all the way to the right-hand edge of a small copse.
29. Go through the gate & keep the boundary wall an the left. Follow this wall along the hillside to a stone barn.
30. Go through the gate on the right & follow the walled lane to its junction with the narrow road.
31. Turn left & walk down the steep hill, Harr Gill. At the main road turn left.
32. Walk a short distance along the road, & cross over to go through the gate marked ‘Nappa Hall’
33. Walk down the farm track & through the farmyard buildings with Nappa Hall on the left.
34. At the bottom of the lane take the last gate on the right & walk out across the field aiming for a telegraph pole.
35. Continue into the next field & drop down towards the barn in the far corner.
36. Just before the barn go through the gate & turn left, as indicated by a sign to ‘Woodhall & Aysgarth’.
37. Walk along the bottom of two fields with the line of the old railway on the immediate right.
38. A stile soon leads up the bank onto the embankment on the right.
39. Follow this until a fence bars the way where a sign indicates a metal kissing gate on the right.
40. Go through the gate & turn left to follow the base of the embankment along the flood plain with the River Ure meandering along the lush valley over to the right.
41. The path now follows the river all the way back to Aysgarth, between the embankment on the left & the river on the right. Keep going straight on at all times.
42. At Woodhall Park the path is bounded by a high stone wall on the left.
43. Go straight ahead & stay by the river, eventually reaching a stile that leads out onto a lane.
44. Walk ahead for a short distance, & then turn right down the tarmac path that leads to the footbridge over the river.
45. Turn left at the road, & then take the footpath on the left to follow the riverbank through a field & into woods.
46. The path slowly begins to climb the banking & leads to a ladder stile that climbs out into a field.
47. Turn left & walk past the barn to a lane.
48. Turn right & walk all the way up into the village.
49. Turn left towards the village green.
50. Follow the road through the village & round the corner to the right, on which stands the George & Dragon public house.
51. Walk straight ahead & keep going up the side road, past the petrol station & garage, signed ‘Thoralby’.
52. Opposite the last house on the right, take the stile into the field on the left.
53. The path goes across the bottom of the field to another stile & then cuts the right-hand corner off the next field.
54. Go straight through the centre of the next field to the road.
55. Turn left for a short distance & take the stile on the right, signposted ‘Eshington Bridge’
56. Walk forward aiming for the lowest part of this field in the dip.
57. Drop down the green gulley & cross through the fence at the crossroad of footpaths.
58. Go up the opposite bank & then take the stile on the left through the wall.
59. Turn right & walk diagonally down the next field towards the bottom left-hand corner.
60. Go through the gate, turn right & walk all the way down the hill to the road.
61. Walk ahead down the road & over Eshington Bridge
62. Almost immediately, take the stile on the right, & turn left to follow the wall to another stile that leads back out onto the road.
63. Keep on the pavement & walk into West Burton.
64. Opposite the first house on the right, Grange Farm Cottage, turn left up the steps & over the narrow packhorse bridge over Walden Beck.
65. Follow the lane past Flanders Hall & up towards the farm.
66. The lane goes round the back of the farm & begins to climb up the hill.
67. Pass a sign to Temple Farm & look out for the footpath sign on the left to Templars’ Chapel.
68. Follow the contours of the hill as the path sweeps round the hillside with Morpeth Wood below & the crags of West Witton Moor above.
69. After climbing a number of gate-stiles & walking through several fields, the path reaches a lane, over which lie the remains of a preceptory of the Knights’ Templar.
70. Turn left & walk down the rocky lane into the wood.
71. Follow the path round to the right & down to the road beside Temple Farm.
72. Turn left & walk down the road over the bridge over Walden Beck.
73. As the road swings to the left, take the footpath on the right at the top of the drive to Hestholme Farm.
74. Walk diagonally across the field to a large beech tree beside the wooded riverbank & turn left.
75. Follow the river upstream through a number of gate-stiles.
76. After the third stile, the path leads up the bank on the left, still following the river, but now from atop the high bank, passing a marker post on the way.
77. Go through a gate-stile behind the large holly tree & then up the wooden steps.
78. Go over the brow of the hill beside the remains of an old stone wall.
79. Head for the left-hand side of the small copse.
80. Go through the wood & then head for the gate into the churchyard.
81. walk up past the church & turn right round the tower to a metal gate.
82. Walk down the steps to come out on the road beside the old mill.
83. Go straight ahead over the road bridge & follow the road round to the right.
84. Walk up the road to where it swings round to the left.
85. Take the footpath on the right into Freeholder’s Wood Nature Reserve & follow the path to the right, keeping ahead through the wood.
86. The path leads out into Riddings Filed, past a highly carved seat.
87. Just after the seat a sign on the left to Castle Bolton & Remire indicates where to leave the main path.
88. Walk across the grass on the left towards the fence, & then follow the fence along to the right.
89. Follow the path to a stile & climb out into a field.
90. Aim for a gate at the lower end of Hollins House Farm & follow the track into the farmyard.
91. walk past the house to follow the lane up the hill.
92. At the sign, turn right & go through the left-hand of two field gates. The path leads to a stile-gate into a large meadow.
93. Walk directly over the meadow, with High Toresby Farm in the foreground & the impressive ruins of Castle Bolton on the hillside beyond.
94. At the end of the field, turn right & follow the sign to Castle Bolton along the wall.
95. Climb a stile & go through a gate with a wall now on the right, until the signpost is reached . Follow the direction indicated to cut the corner of the field off, rejoining the boundary wall after a short distance.
96. Keep the wall on the immediate right to a gate. Climb the stile ahead & walk down the somewhat overgrown footpath (Thoresby Lane) all the way to Low Thoresby.
97. Walk past the farm to where the tarmac lane begins. Almost immediately, turn left up the bank & over the stile. Walk ahead through a broken down stone wall, & turn right.
98. Walk up the meadow to the far right-hand corner. Climb the stile & follow the path through another meadow to the road.
99. Cross the road & climb the hill up to Castle Bolton crossing the old railway line on the way.