リクコールでののおすすめウォーキング＆ハイキングルート

Wild horses and cows roaming.

Lovely woodland, nice spot for a stroll.

This 10 km (6.4 miles) traffic-free flat route follows the old East Coast mainline railway and features a scale model of the Solar System.

Pluto is up the shallow hill, slightly off the main path. You're always a planet to me, Pluto.

Neptune

Off-road parking, could easily fit 10-12 or so cars in here.

Smaller parking area, with space for around half a dozen cars or so.

If you follow the small woodland path around the far northern edge of the Common, just next to South Moor Field, you will be rewarded with a stroll through a fabulous Silver Birch wood, and a huge number of mature Oak trees. This is a little off the beaten track through the centre of the Common, but the paths are easily navigable and not overgrown (even in Summer).

Remnants of RAF Riccall are clearly visible around this loop. The base has a rich history and served as a heavy bomber (Handley Page Halifax) operational conversion unit during the Second World War. Three runways were constructed to form an "A" shape, which allegedly had to be rebuilt after they started to subside and sink into the soft ground. The entire common is riddled with patches of concrete and asphalt that represent the remains of the taxiways and flight pan.

Northwest section of the Common is known as Danes Hills, so named because it is believed that this is where the where the Viking army buried their dead after their defeat at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. If you are lucky, you may see some long-horn cattle roaming around. Not sure which farm they belong to, but there are signs warning dog-walkers that cattle are roaming, so they haven't strayed here by accident.

Off-road parking for at least a dozen cars, easily accessible from the A19 next to Riccall.

And an old railway signal, with a mini-solar system sculpture under it.

Not much here either except the marker and signpost. 1.5 miles towards York to reach Uranus, 1.75 miles towards Riccall to reach Pluto.

Not much here but the marker and the signpost to its neighbours - 1.5 miles to Saturn and around 1.75 miles to Neptune.

Along with the Jupiter marker, there is a bench, couple of other sculptures and an information board describing those parts of the National Cycle Network that are around York.

The sculptures for the four rocky planets are all very close to each other and lie within a 300m stretch of the track.

Cute sculpture atop the old railway bridge over the River Ouse. Information board with a potted history of the River Ouse.

Location is slightly out - the highlight is just over the bridge on the north side of York Road, however, just here you can also see a one third scale model replica of the Cassini-Huygens Space Probe, and a few metres south there is a little self-serve cafe kiosk with honesty box. Don't count on this though, it was empty and looked like it had been neglected for quite some time when I passed it.

Not quite Sputnik, but a model replica of the Voyager 1 Space Probe, complete with information board.

Nearly seven miles each way, and fully paved. There are plenty of places to join the route if you don't fancy the entire length, with easy parking in Riccall, Naburn, Bishopthorpe and just off the B1222 between Stillingfleet and Escrick. Much of it is tree-lined, providing relief from the sun or light showers, and there are plenty of benches to rest on along the way. The section between Riccall and Naburn is quite peaceful, but between Naburn and Bishopthorpe it can get busy, and unfortunately a lot of dog fouling on the route near Bishopthorpe.