Hawnby Hill

About trip

Time: 1.5 Hours Terrain: Moderate. Description: Hawnby Hill itself is a narrow whaleback, not quite, but almost, giving itself mountain status. It was left as an outlier of the moors by the Ice Age, whose retreating glacial tongues honed the hill's north-south alignment and gave it its distinctive shape. Starting in rich farmland, the route climbs out on to the open moor, before dropping to the headwaters of one of the tributaries of the River Rye. Sad ruins of once prosperous farms dot the sides of Ladhill Beck.