Not to be mist

MY drive to the Hawnby Hills was exquisite, the landscape fairytale lovely with valleys mysterious and filled with mist, and peaks brilliant in the sunlight; I wanted more of this on the walk, and mentally shuffled my route options for contrast.

By the time I was parked up at Murton Grange eating Helmsley carrot cake things were still looking good, sunlight shafted through the sycamores and single leaves fell clattering in the dead still air. Murton Grange is a spick-and-span farmstead all in white.

Straightaway is the first open access area and a track through it descends.

Apparently the limestone grasslands are 'particularly attractive in the spring' but were pleasant in the autumn too, with first hints of hills a mile away and valley sheep standing out extra bright on the mist-quilted slopes.

The track loops through Peak Scar Wood, conifers one side, beech the other, and the raucous racket of jumpy pheasants.

You emerge at a viewpoint and half down the valley. I was going to descend to the romantic ruin and spring-fed stream but instead set to climb for the sun, a steep 200 feet through the berry-laden scrub on Noddle End.

The sun had gone, I was too late in the day, and the mist had risen and dispersed, coating the sky an even grey. But what a huge sky. Gowerdale Bank is a high level plateau, with big fields, and at the most a far fringe of trees. A fine open place with good straight tracks.

There are windypits just off route. A dunnock piped out a song and then hid in its retreat of an overgrown harrow.

Walking is flat and straight for a mile, well not quite flat, an almost imperceptible rise brings the edge of a moorland of bleached grasses and heather. The tracks and terrain make for as many mountain bikers as hikers, though this has always been a popular place, but be mindful, if the weather is bad it's fierce, with nothing to break the sweep of a blizzard.

All I had was the grey but Hawnby Hill and Easterside Hill basked shapely in the gloom. On an optimistically named Sunny Bank is a barn imaginatively called High Building and prehistoric earth works on a commanding position that you can explore.

By now you will be entranced by the symmetry and changing profiles of the famous local hills and access areas allow the best views, so do not plummet before you have to. But descent is a must, and ascent, to cross a final valley. Luckily an access area can be nicely used for energy saving.

Distance: Five miles.

Time: Two or three hours.

General location: Hawnby Hills - western edge of North York Moors National Park.

Start: Murton Grange.

Right of Way: The complete route is along public rights of way. Sunny Bank access due to end 30/09/2001.

Date walked: Sunday October 22.

Road Route: Either: Helmsley, Bilsdale, Hawnby road, left at junction a quarter mile from Hawnby then three-quarters of a mile. Or: via Boltby or Sutton Bank.

Car Parking: Ample on verge near Murton Grange GR536882. This is the back road from Old Byland to Hawnby that is closed at the moment at a ford.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Inn at Hawnby.

Tourist & Public Transport Information: Sutton Bank Visitors Centre 01845 597426.

Map: Based on OS Outdoor Leisure 26 North York Moors Western Area.

Terrain: Valleys and plateau.

Points of interest: Views, , transitional geology.

Difficulty: Most flat, two sharp climbs.

Dogs: Suitable for dogs but keep on leads or under close control.

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.

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

1. From Murton Grange, cross road at T-junction, fieldgate into access area (info board), track down to and through wood, looping round pheasant pens.

2. Stile/cattlegrid out of wood, 20 yards, path on left straight uphill through scrub (waymark), ruins at top, cross field to large barn.

3. Gate to track (wall on left).

4. Fieldgate to moor and right.

5. Fieldgate at corner of wood to track. At barns note CSS info board showing access area, 100 yards, gateway, right fork.

6. At small copse on right, fork uphill for views, return to track downhill.

7. Fieldgate by edge of wood, track to farm and left at barn, 25 yards, fieldgate on right.

8. Fieldgate and left to track, 10 yards, straight over tracks junction, 50 yards, fieldgate (blue waymark), 50 yards downhill, fieldgate on right and left to small gate and follow stream down.

9. Bridge over stream (valley bottom), 11 o'clock uphill, track to Dale Town, through farmyard, cattlegrid out and follow hedge on right to grassy track on left uphill - now in open access area.

Click here to view a map of the walk