GEORGE WILKINSON sets out on a long and linear walk on the southern edge of the North York Moors.

Ebberston is a very long and linear village. We parked at its southern end, a sheepdog stood cooling its paws in the beck and we popped along Mill Lane to the millpond and along a pleasant path behind the houses.

High hedges darkened with blackberries hid the village, the sun shone on the foothills of the North York Moors. After cut hay and standing barley, we emerged at the A170, once Ebberstons's High Street now the highway to the seaside.

Across the road we found the beck again and, to our pleasant surprise, a tempting Wildlife Trust info board - reading this changed our plans. The board told of King Alfred's Cairn, a nature reserve of calcareous woodlands, permissive paths, interesting flowers and Heritage Lottery funding.

Petrifying springs were skirted, the dappled light of Chafer Wood was a blessing, and Netherby Dale, as it is also called, was a real treat with a canopy of elongated ash, some dripping with seeds, and ferns and mosses underneath. Despite an inch of rain the previous night, the smooth firm paths were but a little greasy.

After a mile the canopy broke, the sun came in, rosebay willow herb was out in pink and a Painted Lady showed up. Daddy-longlegs breed hereabouts and at a kissing-gate a family appeared, dad in wellies with child on shoulders and half lost.

We headed further north, a back road took us up on to a plateau of farmland where the 600 feet of altitude provided good views, nearby to a farm on a valley grooved with a prehistoric earthwork, and further away, over an ocean of wheat, to the sea.

Sandwiches were consumed and a bar of Swiss chocolate (should have frozen). A bean field gave cause for relief in a way because we would have been waist high and struggling among the veg if we had followed our original route plan.

Instead, we aimed down an arrow-straight track with full-on views south to the level horizon of the Wolds escarpment.

Fields gave way to Chafer Wood again, and the curiosity of King Alfred's Cairn. It is odd, an 18th century makeover of a natural cave, the thick walls are shaped like a small old fashioned haystack. Inside a group could gather, it would be comfortable for two and you could see the stars through the round opening in the roof. And it's a cairn with a view, and the mound of ground it is perched on is a jewel of calcareous grassland, flowering with the round heads of Woolly Thistles and a spray of Harebells.

Then we walked back through Ebberston, very nice too, with the channelled stream first one side of the street then the other, and down both sides old houses and cottages.

Fact file

Distance: Four miles

Time: Two hours

General location: South edge of North York Moors

Start: Village of Ebberston

Right of way: The route is along public rights of way and a permissive path

Date walked: Friday July 18 2003

Road route: A170 five miles east of Pickering

Car parking: Roadside

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The Grapes Country Inn and Restaurant, 'special Sunday Lunches booking advisable'.

Tourist and public transport information: Pickering TIC 01751 473791.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL27 North York Moors Eastern area.

Terrain: Slopes, part wooded and plateau.

Points of interest: King Alfred's Cave was a communal tomb, contained remains of four adults and a child.

Difficulty: Easy.

Dogs: Suitable.

Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418.

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. Heading south through village, right to Mill Lane, snickelgate on right at end to path by hedge on right. Right to main road (pavment and verge).

2. Left to lane at crossroads, pass two entrances to wood (Wildlife Trust sign and then public footpath sign), 200 yards, path on left (sign).

3. Snickelgate, 50 yards, left to road.

4. Track on left at bend, ignore side turns.

5. Fieldgate into wood and path stays close to edge. At grassy area on left, path to Cairn. Rejoin path around wood edge. Right to road and back to Ebberston.

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 09:34 Saturday, August 02, 2003