Tadyor one

Verified Slow Way

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I did this route in two stages over 2 separate days, the first from York to Copmanthorpe, then the second from Copmanthorpe to Tadcaster. The weather had been very dry previously, although I was unlucky enough to do the first part in torrential rain.

From York station, the route follows the historic walls. I think the official route joins the wall at Micklegate Bar, and then walks on the wall itself round to Skeldergate bridge. I stayed on the lower route along Nunnery Lane.

The route passes under Skeldergate Bridge, and then out along Terry Avenue, which is initially a road, but later turns into a mixed use cycle path and pedestrian route past Rowntree Park and under Millenium Bridge.

The route then continues along a grassy footpath alongside the river and passes under the A64 as it crosses the Ouse, before emerging in Bishopthorpe, passing along the main road road and then residential areas.

The route between Bishopthorpe and Companthorpe passes through several fields. Going was slow here due to tall grass. It then crosses the railway line just outside of Copmanthorpe. There's traffic lights and gates to ensure a safe crossing. It then winds through quiet residential streets.

From Copmanthorpe, the route follows the old Roman Road from York to Tadcaster (or Eboracum to Calcaria if you prefer). This starts out on a quiet, and very straight road, then passes through fields for a while, emerging at Bilbrough Top services.

The route then crosses the A64 via the road bridge, continues on the pedestrian/cycle path for a while before turning off to continue following the Roman Road. This starts off as a wide track, but then eventually narrows to a single path through denser grass, with some brambles and nettles.

I've done this part of the route several times before and always find it enjoyable, and it's amazing to think that you're following a route that was once marched along by the Legions, although you wouldn't know it now.

The route then joins the quiet road from Catterton, follows the A64 for a while along the cycleway, and then heads into Tadcaster along the road and over the bridge.

I did find this route quite heavy going, both because of the distance, and because the route was quite overgrown in places, with long grass and nettles in many places. The route along the river out of York adds a fair bit of distance, compared to the alternatives that I'm more familiar with.

You could shorten the route quite considerably by taking the cycle route that goes from Millenium Bridge to Askham Bar Park and Ride, alongside the racecourse, and then along the cycle path to Copmanthorpe. This would also make this part of the route much more accessible to wheelers. The Roman Road section is not very accessible, but an alternative route along the A64 cycle path would be possible, albeit nosier and less scenic.

An enjoyable walk all the same though.

The route was very easy to follow; the gpx file was accurate, and the route was fairly obvious to follow in most places.

There's places to get food and drink along the route. York, Bishopthorpe, Copmanthorpe and Tadcaster have shops and pubs, and Bilbrough Top services is also an option.

The walk starts off in the centre of Tadcaster following the main road heading towards York and briefly along the side of the A64 before heading off on a minor road and then very quickly on to an easy to find path that goes along between two fields. The path is easy to follow and as it was late June long grass meant slightly damp feet from the dew and eventually gives way to a track and then back to the side of the A64. Crossing the A64 over a bridge at Bilbrough services it is back on to the clearly signed Ebor way following another clear path on the edge of fields with again quite long grass in mid-summer but easy to navigate. After a while you join a country road leading to Copmanthorpe where you go directly through the centre of the village and then through a housing estate to the railway crossing and footpath through more fields to Bishopthorpe. After heading through the centre of Bishopthorpe (and a very good coffee stop) it was down to the Ouse which you follow all the way in to York. The final stretch is along the city walls ending up in the centre of York. The walk was very straight forward taking about 3 and half hours at a reasonably brisk pace with a brief stop to pick up coffee and another for lunch by Rowntree park.

This route follows the course of the 2000-year-old Roman Road from Calcaria to Eboracum. I walked it on a warm dry day in August.

Starting at the old brewery in Tadcaster, which still uses beautiful grey shire horses to pull the brewer's dray, the route proceeds to the lovely stone bridge over the river Wharfe, which partially collapsed in the floods of December 2015, but was rebuilt and reopened in February 2017 after the village had been divided in two for more than a year.

At the bridge the route meets the Ebor Way and then follows it all the way to York, with just one slight variation in Bishopthorpe village.

The first third of the route is quite close to the busy, noisy A64 dual carriageway, although part of this section pushes through a pleasant but fairly overgrown woodland pathway. After rejoining the A64 and then crossing it on a road bridge with views all round, the route follows field edges and country lanes. It winds through the large villages of Copmanthorpe and Bishopthorpe (crossing the East Coast main railway line on the level between the 2 villages - only cross when the light show green!) Once through Bishopthorpe, with views through the gatehouse to the impressive Bishopthorpe Palace, home of the Archbishops of York, the route follows the bank of the river Ouse all the way into York city centre, ducking under the A64 road bridge with its uplifting graffiti and passing the haunt of the rare, protected tansy beetle. At the time of writing, just after the Millennium Bridge there is a diversion for pedestrians away from the river due to flood alleviation works. You can follow the diversion as signed or you can continue on into Rowntree Park and then exit the park on the far side to head for the station.

At 12 miles this was quite a long route for me. I started in Tadcaster at 9am and arrived at York railway station at 3pm after moving a fairly leisurely pace all day. Route-finding was mostly easy, though signage in Copmanthorpe village was lacking and needed careful map-reading. There were several gates and stiles along the way.

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