Newgate Bank to Helmsley walk

'Pretty countryside is only a bus ride away', that's what it said on the Moorsbus and confirmation came as we headed for the North York Moors through the low lands where potato fields were frosted with flowers in the sunshine.

And pretty towns too. Helmsley was humming to the tune of its market day of fish and fancy pullovers and the syrupy sounds of the country music stall.

A change of bus, a change of landscape and a diesel-powered climb of 650 feet took us to Newgate Bank. It was essentially downhill from here.

Stage one was a long arc around Rievaulx Moor. South, over the heather, there was a sliver of Ryedale. North lies Bilsdale and then the moors. Lovely views.

A sign informs us of ground-nesting birds, a big raptor floated in the sky. Rain threatened on a warm westerly.

After a couple of miles, we reached the high point of the walk, a triangulation point at a 1,000 feet gleaming with fresh white paint. A few hundred yards further on, four walkers out from Teesside had stopped for lunch at the view bench. One tinkered with the modern equivalent of the trig point, the satellite-connected Global Positioning System.

This should have been the high point of their walk but they were lamenting it had gone. Namely the sculpture by the late Austin Wright, torn away by demented desperado(s), leaving only a tractor-wide strip of crosshatched alloy attached to its plinth.

Stage two was a two-mile saunter south down the virtually traffic-free dead-end road. We stepped aside only for a large flock of freshly-shorn sheep that seemed, without attendant farmer or dog, on autopilot back to their field.

We liked the verges here, yellow with the similar flowers of two closely-related plants, the tall brooms and the little trefoils. There were also some orchids, and many foxgloves of colours white to purple in a forest clearing.

The views from this lane are wide and open to the land near Helmsley.

The caravans on a Duncombe Park pasture caught the sunshine. They were there for the steam fair. Steam wouldn't interest Jeremy 'petrol head' Clarkson, but I share his attitude (on caravans only), if not his violence to the white boxes.

Stage three involves a few miles down Beck Dale, a wooded valley with steep sides and a stream and track at the bottom.

The track had been recently scraped smooth so the beck, the crystalline flow on many a Helmsley postcard, was a little dirty.

Then a cloud burst above us and a bedraggled bunch from Scarborough sheltered under a tree. We passed signs of yesterday's valley business, an empty sawmill, and today's, the high wire of a pheasantry, and we hit town, the market steaming in the sunshine, with time to buy a hunk of cheese before the bus home.

Fact file:

Distance: Eight miles.

Time: Four hours.

General location: North York Moors.

Start: Top of Newgate Bank. GR. SE 564 890.

Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.

Date walked: Friday, July 2, 2004.

Road route: Moorsbus.

Car parking: Long-stay pay and display or roadside if boarding the Moorsbus in Helmsley .

Lavatories: Car park on Newgate Bank Top and in Helmsley.

Refreshments: Much in Helmsley.

Tourist and public transport information: For Moorsbus telephone National Park Centre at Sutton Bank: 01845 597426 or Traveline: 0870 608 2 608. Helmsley TIC: 01439 770173.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western area.

Terrain: Moor and valley.

Points of interest: Helmsley's market day is Friday.

Difficulty: On the flat or downhill.

Dogs: Suitable.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.

Directions:

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. Tarmac entrance to car park, 50 yards, straight on to track at corner (forest gate, signed 'Footpath').

2. Right to road (dead-end).

3. Pass farm, then, after one field, leave road for field-edge path on right (sign on left), right at first corner, 100 yards, stile on left and cross two fields.

4. Gate into wood, ten yards, left to track, 50 yards, fork left to track (signed), which turns to path and maintains height.

5. Right to main track downhill at junction in gully (signed), left in valley bottom to track, fords. Track joins from right.

6. After sawmill yard (was empty), fork right to clear path, footbridge over stream and flagged path into Helmsley.

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 08:49 Saturday, July 10, 2004