Cawyor one

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Great walk in Autumn. Route goes across some fields of arable crops, so in mid summer could be difficult to cross. A flat walk with a mixture of countryside, villages, and riverside walking. Some stretches alongside a road, but felt OK, road not too busy and a verge to jump on when cars do come by. Several campsites mid way (would be a good walk to do over a couple of days, although easily doable in a day - allow 6 hours with stops). Enjoyed a meal in the Marina cafe - about 8 miles in going from Cawood to York.

This is a well thought out route that is easy to follow using a walking app. There is a small section walking alongside the road but the majority is pathed via cycle tracks or across fields and farmland. There is probably a more direct route but this would involve more roadside walking and would be less scenic. It would be challenging to wheel this route due to the terrain and gateways. As this is quite a long walk we made use of the facilities along the way, stopping for some refreshments in Naburn.

I walked this on a warm dry March day from Cawood northwards to York. The route follows a mix of river bank/flood defence, farm tracks, country lanes, a B road and tarmac cycle routes. There is at least one kissing gate along the way. I enjoyed the riverside and farmland stretches and the section of disused railway line, but there was over a mile of road walking on the B1222 which was less pleasant with rough verges and no pavement.

Although the route is fairly flat, it still allows for some distant views across farmland, and there are lots of points of interest along the way. These include Cawood swing bridge which dates from 1872, Kelfield village with its Viking boat bench, the delightful village green at Stillingfleet, the York-Selby cycle track (formerly railway line) with its scale-model solar system, Bishopthorpe Palace (home of the Archbishops of York), York racecourse, the former Terry's chocolate factory and York's Millennium Bridge.

The route detours a couple of times from the straightest possible route, first to visit the village of Naburn and second to take in the whole length of Bishopthorpe's main street; both these detours allow access to places to eat and drink, and useful bus stops. However, as this is quite a long route to start with, some people who don't need these facilities might choose to skip these bits and take the more direct route in each location.

At the time of writing I was able to follow the route easily as the signage is pretty clear and the crops in the fields were still very small. As of March/April 2022 there are rolling closures on parts of the York-Selby cycle track for improvements, so do check on the Sustrans website before setting off. There is also a path closure in York along Terry Avenue for flood defence works, so (walking north) you'll need to leave the route at the Millennium Bridge and make your way to York railway station along Bishopthorpe Road and Nunnery Lane, a less pleasant if slightly shorter way than staying by the riverside.

Once the work is finished and Terry Avenue is open again, there is a small error in the route map to watch out for, with regard to how you get up onto the city wall for the final stretch to the railway station. Directions when walking north: instead of bearing left away from the river at the point shown on the route map, keep alongside the river until you have passed under the first road bridge (Skeldergate Bridge) then turn immediately left up the steps onto the bridge, cross the minor road on your right and head towards a tower containing steps. Climb these to reach the top of the city wall, which you then follow round in a clockwise direction to reach the railway station.

A bit difficult to navigate in some places because of wheat planted over the public right of way leaving quite a narrow path, and quite poor waymarking at other points. However, it is manageable, and it would be difficult to find a substantially better route between Cawood and York.

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