Dog-friendly Kirby Grindalythe

The best short walk of the Great Wold Valley villages, and nearly all of it on public bridleway, which means gates instead of stiles and room for a dog on a long line. Out of Kirby Grindalythe past St Andrew's, up the grass bridleway signed at each end that climbs north-west onto the wold, along the gravel track on the top with the whole valley behind you, then down a second bridleway to High Street. Open arable with skylarks over it and no shade at all on the top section. The Gypsey Race in the valley bottom only runs in some years, so do not count on it for water.

Kirby Grindalythe sits on the Gypsey Race in the Great Wold Valley, and this loop takes the bridleway climbing north-west out of the village onto the wold at about 173 metres, runs west along the wold-top track towards High Mowthorpe, then drops back south-west on a second bridleway to rejoin High Street a mile west of the village. St Andrew's church at the start has a vast Victorian mosaic of St Christopher on its west wall, which is worth two minutes before you set off. The last mile back into the village is on the valley road, which is quiet but has no pavement. The Gypsey Race is usually dry here in summer, so this is not a walk to rely on for the dog to drink.