Sutton Bank and the White Horse of Kilburn

The skies above Sutton Bank are often busy with gliders that soar overhead on strong up-currents and rising pockets of warm air. The Yorkshire Gliding Club, established in 1931, has its station and airfield on the remarkably flat stretch of land above the sweeping semicircle of very steep cliffs. This natural amphitheatre creates thermals and also funnels the prevailing westerly winds into strong up currents.

The flat limestone lands of the Hambleton Hills around Sutton Bank provide suitable conditions for horse racing. The sport was well established as early as 1612, and racegoers would seek refreshment in the Hambleton Inn and Dialstone Inn - now Dialstone Farm. The name of the farm probably originates from the dial of weighing machines used to weigh in the jockeys. In 1755, the main prize, 'the Hundred Guineas', was transferred to York. And as a result, the local races went into rapid decline. However, the tradition continues with the racing stables at Hambleton House and the use of the gallops for training.

Gormire Lake is the only natural lake of any significant size in the North York Moors. Its formation dates from the end of the Ice Age, when part of the melt water channel was blocked by a landslide at the escarpment edge. Local legends suggest that the lake is bottomless and that it is haunted by a white mare and its rider, who plunged to their watery grave from the cliffs above. The 70 feet of vertical cliff face that rises above Gormire Lake is referred to as White Mare Crag or Whitestone Cliff.

After a rock fall in 1755, the freshly revealed limestone face was said to have the appearance from a distance of a white horse. A nature trail circles Gormire Lake, which is a breeding place for wild duck, coot and sometimes the great crested grebe.

Part of the walk follows a highway that was used by Scottish cattlemen (Drovers). In the 18th and 19th centuries they drove their cattle into England to sell meat to the expanding market towns and industrial towns. The 15 miles of highway from Sutton Bank to Osmotherley is known as the 'Hambleton Drove Road' and the weary Drovers would have quenched their thirst at the Hambleton Inn or the Dialstone Inn.

The Kilburn White Horse is a chalk hill figure cut into the hillside at the south end of this walk, just over a miles walk from the Sutton Bank visitor centre. The horse is 318 feet long by 220 feet high and covers about 1.6 acres. It is said to be the largest and most northerly hill figure in England. The horse faces south-west and is visible from some distance, particularly from the East Coast Main Line railway south of Thirsk, and from the A19. On a clear day, the horse is visible from north Leeds, 28 miles (45 km) away on the higher ground to the west of the Vale of York.

Near the White Horse, on a remarkable horseshoe shaped area of elevated flat ground is Yorkshire Gliding Club. The club formed in 1934 and has has had many famous fliers such as Nicholas Goodhart, Amy Johnson and Fred Slingsby. The club's location, on top of Roulston Scar and Sutton Bank over the White Horse of Kilburn, and the sheer drop away of the cliff, has made it a notable aircraft launching point. It is the most popular gliding club in the north of England.