Читать книгу The North York Moors. 50 walks in the National Park онлайн

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Start at Ye Olde Forge Valley Inn at West Ayton. Follow the A170 road across the bridge to East Ayton and turn left along a road called Castlegate, signposted for the Forge Valley. Pass the East Ayton Lodge Hotel and walk down the road. Follow the road until a public footpath (not a public bridleway) is signposted on the right, flanked by fencing for a few paces. Walk up a broad woodland path parallel to a deep groove. Turn left near the top of the wooded slope and follow a path just inside Ruston Cliff Wood, with occasional views out across fields. Pass attractive pantiled stone buildings at Osborne Lodge and walk straight ahead. Fork left downhill, walking straight ahead to pass an information board.

FORGE VALLEY WOODS NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE

Towards the end of the Ice Age, around 10,000 years ago, a mass of stagnant ice dammed the broad valley, causing water to form the temporary Lake Hackness. This overflowed and carved the deep, steep-sided Forge Valley. The fields above the valley lie on soft Hambleton Oolite, while its sides are formed from hard Lower Calcareous Grit, and its floor is impervious Oxford Clay. The valley became choked with wildwoods, which in turn provided charcoal for small iron foundries in the 14th century. This is one of the best valley-side mixed deciduous woodlands in Yorkshire.