Tabular Hills Walk - Lockton to Pickering (★★★☆☆)

Today is the second day in a row spent walking the Tabular Hills Walk, having spent the previous day walking from Helmsley to Pickering. 

After a longer previous day, the plan is for a shorter day today - walking from Levisham back to Pickering, and then heading home via the regular bus service that runs from Pickering to York.

This will leave things setup nicely, for me to come back and walk from Pickering to Scarborough at a later date.

But for now, I find myself arriving by bus into Lockton - and from here it is a short walk through the village before I can meet up with the Tabular Hills Walk, just to the south of Levisham.

Church at Lockton

Lockton Tea Rooms

Just prior to joining up with the trail I pass the church of St Mary - which is a church that was abandoned in 1976 - but which which remains used for burials (I was confused by some modern tombstones in the graveyard when having a look around).

The church sits alone - and this has led to some speculation around whether there used to be a village around the church - but with no evidence being found of any abandoned village, it is assumed that it was merely built to serve both Levisham and Lockton.

But in 1884, a chapel-of-ease was rebuilt in Levisham in 1884 - and after that restoration, that church became the primary church of Levisham, contributing to the later abandonment of this church.

All looking good from this angle

But gates are unexpected

And the roof is missing!

Having joined up with the Tabular Hills Walk, we are heading across what would appear to be hay fields - and we are heading along the base of Levisham Wood (heading south).

Looking out across the valley

Soon we drop down - and cross over first a stream, and then the route of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway (a bit after one of the heritage diesel services came through)

North Yorkshire Moors Railway

Once over the railway, we follow a track up the hill - and then join up with a lane that starts to head along the far side of Newton Dale, until we reach Newton-on-Rawcliffe (ahead of which we get to stop at a well-placed bench).

View out across the railway from the well-placed bench

The building we are looking down at is Levisham station - and from there it is possible to walk close to the railway line all the way up to Newtondale Halt (shortly after which the path turns back towards Simon Howe Rigg).

But from here, we turn and touch the very edge of Newton-on-Rawcliffe village - before taking a route through the forest of Stony Moor.

And whilst walking through here we hear the sound of a steam engine heading up the train line in the valley below.

Through the trees

Upper Farm and Middle Farm

At the next junction after passing the set of farms, the path turns to the west, and heads along the edge of the fields until it reaches a road. This road is only very briefly followed (heading south), before we turn off, and continue to head west along a new track.

Before we turn to head south, we enter a patch of trees, and here we are crossing over what is a contested Roman Road (it's age is possibly older) that is believed to have run from Malton up to Sandsend. 

Route of the road

This road is know as Wade's Causeway - named after a Giant by the name of Wade (who supposedly lived at Mulgrave Castle, whilst his wife inconveniently lived at Pickering Castle). 

There have been doubts over the origin and date of this road (beyond basic speculation about whether or not there was a chap called Wade) - but sections do appear to have all the characteristic features of a Roman Road - although other bits do appear to be potentially older.

To the south, it is not clear where the route of the route might have been - although it stands to reason that there would be a road connecting up this camp and the fort at Malton - whilst the route of any road to the far north is not entirely clear either.

But in any case, whilst sections of Wade's Causeway are visible - here no evidence of it exists.

Wade's Causeway further north in 1912

After we turn to head south, we continue on through woods - before we break free into open fields for a period - before the trees return as we start to close in on Cawthorne Banks.

Initially a wide track

Then narrower paths

Cawthorne Banks

From here, we have a short walk alongside Cawthorne Banks, before we reach the road - and here we turn left, and make it round to where we left the Tabular Hills Walk on the previous day.

By this point we have bypassed Cawthorne Camp - which is an old Roman camp.

In AD 71 the Romans advanced to York, and built it into a fortress from which they could control the northern area of the country (that had up until then been controlled by the Brigantes).

The position of the Brigantes ahead of Roman invasion

Around AD 73 the Brigantes abandoned their fortress at Stanwick, after a period of war with the Romans - and this fort sat not far south from the River Tees (and today sits on quite a nice cycling route that I occasionally use).

The status of Roman forts (red for primary forts, and white for marching forts)

As a rule, the North Yorkshire Moors does not have a lot of Roman infrastructure. There were signal towers along the coast - but at this spot we do have one of the rare Roman camps that sat in this part of the world.

Down in Malton a bigger fort existed (called Derventio Brigantium) - which was 18 miles away from the main fortress in York. And whilst not shown on the map, there was once a smaller timber Roman fort along what is assumed to be the same road near Grosmont.

And for those of us who like walking, it is clear that these fort are not random distances apart - and it should be possible to get from York to Malton in a day, and then on to this camp on the following day, and either to the fort near Grosmont (or to Sandsend) the day after.

The camp here was fairly large - and if you access it through the car park, you can go have a look around on a permissive path (but don't expect much more than some raised earth).

Not my photo, and if it looks like this maybe I should have made the trip, Source: Britain Express

But moving on past this site, from here I opt for the same approach as on the previous day - turning left at the T-junction of the road, and then right to head down a footpath, that in turn turns into a road to Middleton.

And then from there it is an easy (but longer than expected) walk into Pickering, where it's not a long wait for the bus on to York, and home.

Total Distance: 13.2 miles (7.6 miles on the Tabular Hills Walk)

Total Ascent: 1,168 feet (1,040 feet on the Tabular Hills Walk)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ★ ★ / 5

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 100 OS Landranger map (links redirect to Amazon). The route is fairly well way-marked, but these do go missing in places