North Yorkshire missed out on the heatwave sweeping the rest of the country during the first week of July. We’d pop the TV on to watch a bit of Wimbledon, where you could practically feel the sunshine beaming through the screen, to then put on our waterproofs to take the dogs for a walk. Unless, of course, it was a work day, and then we might get a bit of sunshine while I was stuck behind my desk.
Things are looking tentatively hopeful for the next few weeks (and we’ll definitely be making the most of it), but last weekend it seemed like the wet weather wanted one last hurrah before giving way to sunnier days. After spending most of the weekend watching the sky look rather overcast and with a fair wind blowing, threatening rain but not quite delivering, we decided to throw caution to the wind and head out to explore a new (very short) local walk. At least if we got wet we’d be close to home to get dried off quickly!
Sam had done some Googling for interesting things nearby and found a quick loop around Willance’s Leap and Whitcliffe Scar near Richmond – more than doable in the dry hour or so which was forecast on the Sunday afternoon. The monument at Willance’s Leap is straight down the footpath opposite the layby you can park in on Hurgill Road, next to the Beacon Plantation, so if push came to shove we could do a super short out and back to have a nosey and then beat a retreat.
Arriving with no signs of imminent rain, we started off with a wander along another footpath a little further up the road, which takes you along the top of Whitcliffe Scar to a viewpoint. This spot looks out over Richmond towards Leyburn and Penhill in the distance: Richmond is such a pretty little town, with its castle giving the view a little something extra, and even on a very grey day threatening rain it was a lovely spot. From here, we retraced our steps a short way to then fork off onto a footpath which would take us to Willance’s Leap.
The footpaths here run through fields and along woodland edges, and are overgrown enough to give you wet feet if you do the walk in trainers (guilty), but not so bad as to be impassable and inspire true grumpiness. You do get a nice view of the River Swale as it winds its way towards Richmond, which even in the rain which started up at this point of the walk made me feel super proud of our local area. Swaledale really is one of my favourite places on Earth. The rain was intense but short lived, and had eased off by the time we reached the monument which marks the spot of Willance’s Leap (you might want to skip the next paragraph if you’re squeamish).
Unlike the leaps we’ve visited in Scotland, which have been named after incredible leaps made by soldiers over rivers, this one has a rather more gruesome history. Around 400 years ago Robert Willance, a local draper, was riding along Whitcliffe Scar on a young horse and found himself suddenly in thick fog. Spooked, the horse bolted right off the edge of the scar, falling more than 200 feet. Sadly the horse was killed in the fall, but Willance survived with an injured leg, which he realised was becoming gangrenous. With no sign of rescue as night fell, Williance cut open his horse’s stomach with his hunting knife and stuck his leg inside to keep it warm until help arrived. With medicine as it was at the time, ultimately his leg was amputated, but Willance went on to live another 10 years: he’s buried in St Mary’s churchyard in Richmond (along with his amputated leg).
Willance placed several stones on Whitcliffe Scar to commemorate the spot, which have been replaced over the years by the town of Richmond as they have worn out. As well as the commemorative stones and great view, there’s an information board telling the story of Robert Willance and a bench which would be a great place to enjoy a snack (if you’re not racing the impending rain). I went into work the next day and shared the story with a few of my team mates, who promptly informed me that this was pretty much an exact scene from Star Wars. Who knew that Hollywood was inspired by North Yorkshire history!
Originally we’d planned to walk further along Whitcliffe Scar to Deep Dale, however we could see more rain heading our way and decided to take the more direct route back to the car. And it was definitely the right decision, with an absolute deluge of rain coming down about 5 minutes after we got back to the car and continuing for a good hour or two. Perfectly timed!
Dog friendly rating: 2.5/5. Expect to find sheep throughout this walk, as well as a few stiles, none of which are particularly dog friendly (although the weird double stile you have to cross twice on the out and back section does have gaps where small-medium sized dogs can wriggle through). There are some steep drops off Whitcliffe Scar in places which you should also keep in mind.
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