Sutton Bank & The White Horse Walk
To celebrate my 30th birthday, my husband and I decided to tick something off our Yorkshire to-do list: Go for a walk up Sutton Bank.
Despite being able to see Sutton Bank and the white horse from the village I grew up in, I’ve never actually been up there for a rake about. My husband and I have discussed going up there many times but it took my thirtieth birthday to actually get us there. We got up nice and early to beat the rush which was a wonderful idea as we were greeted by cold blue skies, a soft winter sun and the grass and hills were sparkling with frost.
My husband and I parked up at the Sutton Bank national park centre car park (in cold temperatures be very careful as it was rather icy), paying £2.70 for two hours worth of parking. There are a couple of walks you can do up there but we opted for the 2.7km Sutton Bank and White Horse walk (Please note, this is not a circular walk).
To start on this walk you have to cross over the road - again, here’s another warning to be careful as people fly round the bend after the slog of crawling up Sutton Bank itself. The start of the walk is easy to find and as you can see from the photo below, the start/finish is clearly marked on the floor.
The beautiful views start from here and let me tell you, on a clear day you can see for miles. As you enter the clearing where the walk starts, there is actually a plinth bearing a plaque that shows you exactly what you are looking at. When we visited it was so cold it had frosted over so we couldn’t actually make anything out but it made for a nice Bruce photo (see featured image).
The walk itself is very easy to follow and it’s very accessible too - We saw a couple of buggies and even a wheelchair which shows just how wide, smooth and well compacted the path is. The path gradient never goes over 1 metre either so don’t be put off over fears it could be a hilly walk. Kudos to whoever made this walk as accessible as possible for all who want to enjoy the beauty of the moors.
Whilst walking along the path there are a couple of off shoots to other walks you can do (they are clearly marked/sign-posted but I don’t think the paths were as accessible) but to get to the white horse you want to follow the main path.
To the left of you you will eventually come to an airfield where gliders take off and land - Under no circumstances are you to go on to the airfield as the planes/gliders are regularly taking off and landing and pose a real risk to anyone who goes on there. On the upside this means there are plenty of opportunities for you to watch the planers and gliders take off (I would say one leaves every 15-20 minutes or so) and there are benches along the path so you can sit and wait for them.
As you follow the path take in the rolling hills, the miles of fields and the dense woodland. There are plenty of opportunities to take some excellent photos (as you can see) and make sure you keep your eyes peeled for deer (we saw one dart across the airfield).
Eventually the path widens and you are at the top of the white horse. Unfortunately you won’t be able to make the shape out as you are literally on top of it but there are some excellent views. Here you will come across the below marker telling you how far you have walked and that it’s time to turn back - You can continue on a littleways over a bridge and through a bit of scrub but it will only bring you to a different car park so I wouldn’t bother.
As we had started our walk so early we barely crossed paths with anyone on the way to the white horse but the walk back to the car was very different as the world had woken up. Despite there being numerous signs advising people to keep dogs on leads, not many people were paying attention to this rule. As we have a reactive dog we were well prepared and had brought his muzzle with us, making sure he had it on on the return journey (on the way there we only put it on if we saw a dog coming due to it being so quiet) and it’s a good job we did as there were a few dogs that came bounding over to Bruce, despite being called back by their owners.
If you have a dog and it doesn’t have perfect recall, it shouldn’t be off it’s lead and it’s as simple as that. If we were morons and didn’t have our dog muzzled (he was obviously on a lead too), there could have been some real trouble with those other dogs and it would have ruined our day and theirs.
(Sorry for ranting, it’s something that really boils my blood!).
Other than a few dog owners letting the side down, we had a wonderful day. We both enjoyed breathing in the cold, crisp air and it was the perfect way to spend the first day of my thirties - It has set the bar pretty high for the rest of the year let me tell you. Our walk has really inspired me to put together a Yorkshire bucket list (which I will probably share here once it’s compiled) and I hope to get outdoors of a hell of a lot more throughout 2022.
Every single time I venture in to the Yorkshire countryside I’m reminded of why I live here and how lucky I am that I get to call this place home. I genuinely don’t think I could live anywhere else.
