Route march to ‘a bigger picture’

The East Yorkshire group of the Long Distance Walkers Association has renamed their annual 23-mile walk, which starts at Sledmere in the Yorkshire Wolds, in homage to the record-breaking Royal Academy exhibition, “A Bigger Picture”.

Organisers hope numbers will be boosted on the back of the huge interest the exhibition has generated in the area.

The walk’s founder John Davis said: “Hockney is a friend of the Sykes family and it starts off only a few yards from one of the paintings he did of Sledmere.

“It goes through very little known dales like Crow Tree Slack, a typical Wolds dale, which has been there for millennia.

“The walk goes off public rights of way and crosses some of the roads Hockney has travelled and painted.

“If anything you get a better view because while Hockney tended to stay by the side of the road or just off the road, our walk goes right into the heart of the countryside.”

“Our Even Bigger Picture” sets off from Sledmere Village Hall at 8.30am on May 20. Entry is £12 on the day.