A Stroll With Stu: autumnal colours on show in five-mile walk from Ellerby to Lythe, near Whitby

It brought to mind a lovely woodland path near Lythe that I’ve only done once before and I thought it would be nice to see it turning to shades of gold.

Start at Ellerby village - the X4 bus kindly takes you there - heading uphill along the road that soon takes you to its junction with the A174.

Scuttle across the road and go straight on along a path with a hedge on your left (don’t take the wider track that bears right).

The path cuts diagonally across the the third field, before a short grassy stretch in a fourth, leading to a stile, a little wooden bridge and Coverdale lane, in that order.

Turn right along the lane which ultimately takes you back to the A174.

Not far to your left, cross over and follow the B1266, quickly turning left down a minor road to Mickleby, turning left again on reaching the village.

The Lane, which shows signs that it had exhausted its supplies of tarmac, begins to curl right and downhill.

Shortly after Low Farm on your left, go through a gate (er, it might be a stile) adjacent to a footpath sign hidden in the bushes.

Track through the lumpy and occasionally muddy field towards Bog House Farm and let the adventure begin.

Now, over the years, I’ve been ganged up on by a variety of creatures in the North York Moors.

Dive-bombed by Lapwings on the Moors, almost run over by Black Beauty near Ravenscar, hemmed into corners by curious sheep, snarled at by a Ribena-faced farmer near Mulgrave Woods, chased by slavering hounds near Egton and invited to break the world high jump record by a snorting bull in

Bilsdale, that had no intention of allowing me to operate the sneck on the gate.

On this occasion though, I was grateful to a herd of friendly cows that seemed to realise that I was hopelessly lost, and walked over en-masse as if to say “You’re in the wrong field mate”.

I went wrong at Bog House Farm, where I correctly went through a gate into a very sloppy farmyard, but incorrectly turned right, downhill, along a track to the left of woods.

You need to quickly go left into the field just below the farm, but I drifted way too far south into a nice-but-useless grassy field, where I spent half an hour looking for a footbridge across a small beck.

The cows caught my attention as they had all come over to a fence to stare at me.

Now, cynically thinking that farmers like to store their cattle and all their available mud near public footpaths, I popped over to have a gander at their field.

Sure enough, it became clear that I needed to join them.

Back on the right route, cross that footbridge and bear slightly left.

It’s now straight on through several fields, crossing a lane above West Barnby, straight on again through the centre of the next field, then edging right to keep the field boundary on your right.

Soon you need to go straight over the last field to go through an open gate onto the lane below East Barnby.

Go left for 150 yards, and follow a footpath sign to your right.

The path now is clear as it heads to woodland in the distance.

All along this route, the views down the shallow valley formed by Mickleby Beck on its way to Sandsend, have been exquisite.

We are blessed in these parts with steep valleys near the Esk, vast expanses of glorious heather moorland, towering cliffs and golden beaches on the coast, but don’t dismiss the gentle beauty of the undulating field in these parts.

Its music for the soul.

On entering those woods, the path goes sharp left before curving right and making its way to the village of Lythe.

Sure enough, the autumn shades were developing nicely and this was a handsome contrast to those pretty fields.

The sound of drying leaves crumpling underfoot is only bettered by that of fresh snow compressing under your boots on rare sub-zero winter mornings.

There are occasional views through the trees across Sandsend Wyke all the way to Whitby, before a surprise ending of the route above the pristine Mulgrave Community Sports Centre.

Go through two successive gates to walk along the grassy bank above the cricket pitch, curving around to a fingerpost fielding at deep square leg, which reassures you that you are not trespassing.

The village of Lythe is just 200 yards further on where you can choose to walk on down the hill to Sandsend, or maybe just hop on the bus home!