North of Malton on the A169 towards Pickering is a road on the right towards Low Marishes and ultimately Yedingham travelling eastwards for approximately 6 miles. This road is flat and quiet, which would make it an ideal road for leisure cyclists as well as those cycling as families. The A169 is a busy A road which carries a lot of fast moving traffic and therefore only very competent experienced cyclists tend to use it.
A short 2 mile stretch of cycle track leading from the new Edenhouse Road Roundabout to the Low Marishes junction would open up an opportunity for people to have an alternative route towards Dalby Forest via Allerston or Ebberston, or to link with the A170 towards Scarborough. If they got to Yedingham they could even choose to cross to Heslerton and join the A64 cycle track to Scarborough. This short stretch of track would make the Low Marishes to Yedingham road much more accessible for leisure cyclists and families.
Currently there is a footpath around the A64 /A169 roundabout and a footway leading towards the new Edenhouse Road industrial estate/livestock market roundabout. This maybe could be upgraded as a dual use path and provide useful access for workers on this site also.
There are a number of Bridleways north of Malton, which link to the Edenhouse Road Estate area including the proposed Malton to Pickering cycle route, these would also help to provide relatively safe access to the track being proposed. These are marked with red dots on the map below. The route is marked as a solid red line.
Photo A
On the left side of the road after the livestock/industrial estate roundabout there is a stretch leading towards Howe Farm (on the bend) where there appears to be the outline of an overgrown path through the grass verge. Anecdotally there is a notion that this was part of a cycle path many years ago. This maybe could be corroborated from council or local authority archives.
See Photos B, C and D. D is where path appears gradually near Farm. Arrows point to worn area which may be outline of supposed path.
At Howe Bridge there is a small path on the side of the bridge. This is probably an area where cyclists would probably need to dismount much in the same way they do on the A64 bridge near Scampston Hall as it is quite narrow. Ideally a pedestrian/cyclist bridge should be built alongside the road bridge to keep people safer.
See Photo E.
After this point there is a short stretch before a large lay-by on the left hand side almost opposite Howe Bridge Farm (Whole Hogg Farm shop). It maybe sensible to place a crossing point with a central refuge after the lay-by near to the bus stops on either side of the road as there is already a path from the southbound bus stop to the Low Marishes junction. The road is quite straight here. Placing a central refuge here may aid bus travellers also.
See photos F and G. G shows position of possible central refuge.
I did consider suggesting the track would be well suited on the right hand side of the road after the Edenhouse Road roundabout but there is a large protected tree at the Howe Farm corner and also no footpath on the right hand side of Howe Bridge.
