GEORGE WILKINSON flattens the heather of Hawnby Moor near Bilsdale
These days the notorious 'Bilsdale TT' has been tamed by speed cameras, so hopefully if you drive into Hawnby via Helmsley you shouldn't be fazed by the 'kamikazes on their Kawasakis'.
Anyway the grassy car park under Hawnby Hill was tranquillity base - a lone Sunday afternoon sun-worshipper, and a couple from Harrogate who knew the lie of the land and said my proposed route was 'the classic', a classic in need, I think, of rejuvenation.
You turn your back on Hawnby and Easterside Hill, which is no shame as they look much better on the return, and take a track up a gentle inclined plateau. After a while, heather monoculture is broken by an intake field and our path leads to a shallow valley that is a mosaic of ground-cover greens and is curlew country. At a ford an obvious track (of doubtful status) lures the walker back to the start. Take this and you miss the best.
Instead we pick our way up the stream to the head of the valley. There is a history here of ancient waymarking, a faded blob of yellow now and then, one on an antique and redundant gatepost that will topple at the next nudge of a sheep's flank. Off to the north the Bilsdale TV mast pierces the sky.
Alongside are grouse butts of wooden pallets tufted with heather. I've mentioned these in the directions, but I wonder, do they shuffle like giant numbered cards on a countryside boardgame?
We're on the top. A few steps across the heather and we get the prize, the most wicked view of Bilsdale, a generous section of the lovely big valley. Because a contour track is verboten, we descend a little. It's not difficult, the heather is short or burnt, and obviously when it is burnt the path disappears. However there are little cairns, and if every Evening Press walker adds a stone, the route might live, even if the heather is left to grow tall. We intersect a main route out of the valley and climb some for a long gradual descent. This provides smashing views south down Bilsdale, and the landmark Hambleton Hills' outliers make shapely sequential appearances. First Easterside Hill, then Hawnby Hill, then Coomb Hill. You see all three side by side.
Sometime you have to pay for your pleasures and we have to cross the valley, deeper now and wooded, making for a pretty but pretty sweaty last quarter of an hour.
DIRECTIONS
When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.
1. North on track (signed 'unsuitable for motor vehicles').
2. Right fork, track downhill, right fork, grassy track in heather, 200 yards to wall corner (yellow waymark), track downhill by wall, gate, downhill to stream(s) but do not cross ford.
3. Left uphill from ford, approximately follow stream, keep shooters' pallets to left, marshy area. Reach corner of walled field (faint yellow waymark) and uphill, keeping wall on left.
4. Wall changes to fence and at old post (faint waymark) by fence leave track. This point is opposite shooter's pallets numbers 4 and 5 and a broken bit of wall on the hillside to the right. Leave said post at 1 o'clock, i.e. east. (If you miss this post you will meet a private track as fence to your left curves. Cross dirt tracks at a 'Y' junction and downhill, no path, cairns as you lose height, aiming for the left-hand corner of the right of two conifer plantations.
5. At fieldgate by corner of wood, turn around, take track uphill (not one next to wood, other two join after about 100 yards).
6. Left to stone/dirt track by wall. Ignore a right fork by wall.
7. Fieldgate into field, track descends gently till 100 yards before gate out then sharp right downhill to waymarked boulder. Large house opposite. Gated footbridge and path twists up through trees. Please follow yellow waymarks which were as follows (they may change): straight uphill after trees till almost level with house and barns, gateway on left, pass barn, track above house, fieldgate out of yard and track back to car park.
FACT FILE
Distance: Five miles.
Time: Two and a half hours.
Start: Moor Gate, the gates and cattlegrid north of Hawnby, at the northern end of Hawnby Hill. Grid Reference 539917.
Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.
Date walked: Sunday, June 13, 1999.
Road route: Either via Osmotherley or via Helmsley - Bilsdale road three miles, Hawnby, then Snilesworth road from Hawnby.
Parking: Free parking area.
Lavatories: None.
Refreshments: Inn and shop at Hawnby.
Tourist & public transport info: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173
Map: Based on Outdoor Leisure 26, North York Moors western area.
Terrain: One short steepish hill, short stretches over heather.
Footwear: Walking boots.
Points of interest: Views and moors.
Difficulty: Moderate.
Dogs: Suitable for dogs on leads or under close control - ground nesting birds.
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.
PICTURE:View towards the moor
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