Day 6 - Wharram-le-Street to West Heslerton, 9.1m

We set off early this morning with the idea of beating the forecast rain.  The path from Wharram-le-Street climbs steadily up a farm track and we were delighted to see a couple of hares frolicking ahead of us and even more delighted to be able to capture them on camera!  The top of the hill provided great views over the surrounding countryside.

Road walking, track walking and more track walking gradually brought us close to the village of Wintringham. June is a great time to walk the route with lots of wild flowers in the field boundaries predominantly white and pink with occasional splashes of red poppies. The difference today was that we were out of sheep and bull country; all the farmland is arable.

The path continues through a potato field towards Wintringham, where the path cunningly bypasses the village.  We enjoyed meeting the Wintringham pig, complete with tusks (he was very attentive and clearly expected to be fed), crossing the Wintringham prairie and seeing Wintringham Church.  The guide book describes the church's octagonal steeple as 'unusual' - we obviously don't take much notice of steeples!

After a typical Wolds long steady and not too taxing climb out of Wintringham we came to this unusual sign advertising a steep climb.  The guide book could usefully have described this as 'unusually steep' or possibly just hyperbolical - it gets steeper . . . and steeper . . . and steeper.  The book did describe it as 'steep but mercifully short'.  Hmmm, the photo does not do it justice!

At the top, we were rewarded with another Yorkshire art installation, called Enclosure Rights and great views over the Vale of Pickering.  We sat on one of the benches by the dew pond and had our sandwiches.

On the last leg back to the car we spotted an animal running round in circles on the path before popping back down its hole and re-appearing to do it all again.  Fortunately, we were downwind of it and it didn't seem at all bothered by us watching its antics.  Although we knew that you can weasily tell a stoat from a weasel because a stoat is stoatally different, we had to resort to Google to establish it was a stoat because its tail has a black tip.