Detour #156: Wolds apart in undiscovered Yorkshire, UK
Squeezed between Yorkshire’s urban centres of Leeds and York, its busy east coast holiday resorts and the open spaces of the moors is an under-appreciated region rich in history and cracking driving roads.
As modern reality reminds us, war is nothing to glamorise. An appreciation of history is important though and, with it, context that can transform a seemingly unremarkable stretch of road into something more interesting. As happens just a few miles into our trip across the Vale of York into the Yorkshire Wolds and Howardian Hills with the first hint of this otherwise beautiful region’s role in seismic – and violent – historical events.
We’re only a short distance away from the busy intersection of the A1, M1 and M62 but the quiet B-road across rolling agricultural land has already provided opportunity to let our Alpine A110 S off the leash under clear, late-spring skies and the mood is high. A simple sign with the words ‘Battlefield Trail’ in a lay-by inspires further investigation, a nearby information board explaining it’s the site of the War of the Roses era Battle of Towton, fought in 1461 between the Lancastrians of King Richard VI and the Yorkists of Edward IV. Armies of Romans, Saxons, Vikings and Jacobites have also marched and fought over this region while, within living memory, the flat terrain was home to many airfields from where allied aircrews flew on missions in the Second World War.
More recently the peace and beauty of this under-appreciated corner of Yorkshire has been inspiration for artists, not least David Hockney and his affectionate appreciation of the region’s gentler side. For drivers and riders seeking a quieter alternative to the nearby A1, the seaside traffic on the A64, and beautiful but busy North York Moors, it’s also a surprisingly quiet and enjoyable place to, literally, detour off the beaten track.
The roads may be less epic in nature than those atop the nearby moors, but they suit the little Alpine I’m driving down to the ground, its lack of weight and small footprint making it just the job. This is the S version, with more power, stiffer suspension and grippier tyres, the poise to slingshot the numerous 90-degree turns that crop up regularly across this flat section of the route all adding to the fun.
The fen-like landscape east of York has an East Anglian or even Dutch feel about it, with swing bridges over rivers, flat fields and big skies. We pause at Elvington airfield, its long runway popular for speed records while the Yorkshire Air Museum on its grounds celebrates the thousands of wartime aircrew who flew from bases just like this. You could easily spend a few hours touring the exhibits here but we need to exercise self-discipline and press on, promising to return another time when we can do it justice.
Nearby Stamford Bridge is a name that should ring a few bells, not for the distant football ground of the same name but more for the ‘other’ battle in 1066 you may dimly remember from your school history lessons. It was here the Anglo-Saxon King Harold defeated his own brother Tostig and Norwegian king Harald Hardrada in a decisive victory, before marching back south to confront the Normans at Hastings just days later. By rights this triumph should have sealed Harold’s reputation but, as you’ll recall, things didn’t end so well for him or his exhausted army.
These days Stamford Bridge is a bustling and attractive little town, the eponymous crossing over the Derwent clearly still strategically important, at least going by the traffic streaming across it. Seemingly it’s also packed with attractive looking eateries, our choice of The Square Bakehouse delivering a powerful hit of sandwiches, pastries and sweet snacks to fuel us for the next stage of the journey…
After a thankfully brief squirt of the hateful A64 we point the Alpine north and towards Castle Howard. Given the French heritage of our car and the opulent, chateau-inspired splendour of the palace in its grounds we probably should stop for a pic but we have places to be and instead enjoy the impressive avenue that passes through it, marvelling at its scale.
Hooking a left onto the B1257 towards Helmsley the road meanders across the mellow Howardian Hills between tall hedges and bordered by the hills to the north and the flatlands to the south. Glimpses of both appear when the road crests, the Alpine in its comfort zone on this archetypal British B-road. The hillier northern section of this route beyond Helmsley is celebrated among petrolheads two- and four-wheeled but this bit is quieter and the better for it.
Before Helmsley we drop south at Oswaldkirk with the hills behind us and the Vale of York ahead, the B1363 another delightfully quiet and rolling bit of backroad that twists and turns through farmland to Easingwold and back towards the A1. The charmingly quirky toll bridge at Aldwark (don’t forget your 40p in loose charge) gets us back over the Ouse and set for the final run to Boroughbridge. A proud market town in the classic North Yorkshire mould, it has Roman ruins nearby and more besides but we’re more interested in a refreshing cup of tea, which we score at the charming courtyard Café Chez Nous just as they’re closing up. From there it’s a short squirt back to the A1 and the road north if you’re treating this as an extended detour or, for us, the return leg home.
Words Dan Trent Twitter | Instagram
Photography Sim Mainey Instagram
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