Bus stop

Fadmoor is a new destination for the Moorsbus and opens up a lot of territory for gravity-assisted linear walks from the edge of the moors down into Ryedale.

Fadmoor to Helmsley is an ambition this summer, but we will start with Fadmoor to Kirkbymoorside.

I got off the bus and gazed forlornly at The Plough Inn, a snug and sophisticated place to eat and drink. Unfortunately the bus timetable was obviously concocted for the tee-total sandwich brigade. Never mind, after a sober appreciation of the sloping pastoral views south, and a brief glimpse of headlands and moorlands north, I descended deep into the sultry warmth of the wooded valley.

This is a nice walk on a very hot day because we spend the next few miles in filtered sunlight on a track right at the edge of a wood. Hodge Beck meanders and our track gently rises and falls, so sometimes you are quite high above the beck, occasionally by the water, and mostly you have a good view of the valley over pleasant pastures.

The valley is quiet: few buildings, the big house at the top, then a mile or so, a mill, another mile or so, a church. I only saw two walkers but came across a flock of birdwatchers, an RSPB outfit from the East Riding behind their long lenses. They told me to look out for the spotted flycatchers on the gravestones. Or did they say they had spotted flycatchers...? One tries to get it right.

We meet the water at Hold Caldron, a sheltered spot with a little car park, weir and mill. Then our track arcs up, a dry loop, bright with tall dandelion types, and back down to the river, which in summer can disappear underground hereabouts.

Across a field is the Minster, little but ever so pretty and on everybody's list of favourite churches. Check out the Anglo-Saxon coffin lids and arch, and especially the stone sundial with its inscription on Orm the Son of Gamal and others from the days of old, circa 1060. I spotted the spotted flycatchers flitting out to grab their airborne prey.

Near the Minster, off route and unfortunately unsigned, is Kirkdale's famous and important cave. Once the den of hyenas and strewn with the bones of exotic animals, it was investigated in Victorian times and played a serious role in demolishing the creation myth. Indeed, Roger Osborne writes in 'The Floating Egg' that it 'utterly changed the way we look at the history of life on earth'. After that fields of swaying barley, eyesore phone masts at a safe distance, and Kirkbymoorside.

As I write I get an email from the National Park entitled 'gifts for going green'. Use the bus tomorrow, and you may get a present.

FACTFILE

DISTANCE: Six miles.

TIME: Three hours.

START: Moorsbus from Kirkbymoorside (or further afield) to Fadmoor, then walk back to Kirkbymoorside.

MOORSBUS: Full details Tel: 01845 597426 or www.countrygoer.org/nymoors. Moorsbus - Kirkbymoorside to Fadmoor, 50p. Sundays only until July 24, then daily until September 2, then Sundays only until October 29. Buses leave Kirkbymoorside at 1105, 1335, 1435 and 1535.

RIGHT OF WAY: The complete route is along public rights of way.

DATE WALKED: Sunday, June 11, 2000.

ROAD ROUTE: Kirkbymoorside is on the A170 between Helmsley and Pickering.

CAR PARKING: Kirkbymoorside car park £2 for six hours or roadside.

LAVATORIES: Car park.

REFRESHMENTS: Pubs and cafs at Kirkbymoorside. The Plough Inn at Fadmoor.

Tourist and public transport information: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173

MAP: Based on OS Outdoor Leisure 26, North York Moors western area.

TERRAIN: Mostly sheltered valley.

FOOTWEAR: Walking boots.

POINTS OF INTEREST: Kirkdale, its Minster and cave.

DIFFICULTY: Moderate.

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

WEATHER FORECAST: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418.

DIRECTIONS

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

1. From Plough Inn at Fadmoor, 100 yards along Kirkbymoorside road, first right (signed Welburn), first right (signed Sleightholme Dale only), avenue then steep downhill.

2. Near bottom of hill, track on left (by outbuilding, sign inset from road) and wood-edge path. Ignore two left forks uphill and right forks into fields.

3. Track about 100 feet above river, right fork, 30 yards, fieldgate into field, one o'clock across field, gate back into wood, 20 yards, right to wood-edge path until it leads to stile/fieldgate out of wood then left to track through field.

4. Hold Caldron. Fieldgate near bridge to track, 100 yards, right fork. More wood-edge path. About 100 yards after tracks junction (where track close by and 20 feet above river, fence), fork right 25 yards, fieldgate into field, bridge, field then Kirkdale Minster.

5. Along lane by Minster, left at T-junction, footbridge/ford.

6. At crossroads, fieldgate into pasture (signed) and path by wire fence.

7. Right uphill at edge of wood, 50 yards, stile and right, hedge gap (opposite wood on hillside), 11 o'clock to gap in hedge via hedge corner, field edge (hedge on right), low bit of fence, 11 o'clock, stile, stile/fieldgate.

8. Stile between bungalows, left and stay on West Pasture road as it contours then swings right (becoming Shaw Drive) downhill, left at T-junction to Tinley Garth and back to centre.

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