Dallowgill Moor walk

Tom Corner, the place, the car park, boasts a mosaic of a Roman soldier. There's also an info board that was clear about the birds, the moors and the prohibition of dogs, but slightly inaccurate with the 'You Are Here' label.

No matter, because a new fingerpost points down Potter Lane, a sunken track, wall and gorse each side with foxgloves ready to overwinter in the algae green rocks. Less pleasant are the dead rabbits, agri-plastic debris both fresh and well weathered, 'gates' that did not fasten and indeed one fence/ gate that was so ancient that the trunk of an oak had grown round the bars. Then the lane took a decrepit bridge where once was a ford and we had crossed Dallowgill the valley.

Then we found abandoned roofless houses and a tight pattern of drystone wall remnants. I have read it wasn't until the late 19-century that people from Dallowgill travelled to the villages and the last shop here which sold sweets and tobacco closed in the 1940s.

That shop was at Grey Green Farm. The 'grey green' seemed appropriate for the day, the landscape had that hue with fine mist.

We hit the heather and soon were targeting a lone white painted building less than a mile away on Dallowgill Moor. The public footpath was unsigned and had vanished, but we avoided The Bogs and the standing water and approximately followed the line on the OS map.

There are two rooms, one white, one not, one with sprigs of heather in vases, one with cobwebs, it's the Kettlestang Shooting House, a portion for the 'guns' the other for the beaters. This moor has long been famous for grouse shooting kings etc and on a wall is a gilded list of names headed 'The First Table of Benefactors' which includes some MPs and bishops amongst the aristocrats. Sir Robert Peel gave £500.

We had our sandwiches and then went right to roaming to a nearby Trig Point that was prettily coated by yellow lichen.

On a nice day up here you would get glimpses of Nidderdale, on a dire day you would need your OS map and compass.

Ours was middling weather, clear enough to see the ruler-straight drystone wall that guided us the next mile and bright enough to pick a meandering line avoiding the thickest heather and the boggy bits. So inevitably we intersected with a green lane track and on this we accelerated back, picking up a beck, a ravine and finally Dallowgill's pastures, quite pleased with our exploration.

Directions:

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

1. From parking area signed Tom Corner, right to road, 100 yards, left (fingerpost), 50 yards, fieldgate (waymark), walled path/track downhill, curves right, swings left below barn, 200 yards, fence or use gate to left to rejoin sunken track part overgrown, swings right at wood-edge below farm (makeshift gate/fence).

2. Bridge with hole on left over stream (ford fenced off), left to track, 100 yards track on right uphill, 100 yards, fieldgate, 10 o'clock, gateway, right for 50 yards, fieldgate (no hinge), 100 yards to fieldgate to left of ruins.

3. Path through rough pasture/heather, keep about 75 yards from wall to right.

4. Fieldgate in wall to moor, straight on, sometimes faint paths, avoid low-lying water, white shooting house.

5. West for 500 yards, very faint paths, one starts just 3 paces to left of grave marked 'Jet', trigpoint.

6. Continue west for about 300 yards. Wall/fence now visible. Head about 340 degrees, i.e. NNW for a mile approximately paralleling the wall.

7. Right at good stony track, becomes metalled.

Fact file:

Distance: Five miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: Eastern edge of the Dales, near Ripon.

Start: Tom Corner GR. SE 177 726.

Right of lay: Public rights of way and CROW access land.

Date walked: Friday October 7, 2005.

Road route: From Ripon to Kirkby Malzeard, through village, just outside speed limit zone, right turn to road signed 'Dallowgill 3'.

Car parking: Free car park at Tom Corner signed.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Inns and shops at Kirkby Malzeard.

Tourist & public transport information: Ripon TIC 01765 604625.

Terrain: Mostly moorland.

Points of interest: Last July Simon Bostock, the President of the Moorland Association, hosted an AONB Field Trip on Dallowgill Moor. The theme was 'Walking, shooting and Wildlife: how will the CROW access affect biodiversity?'

Difficulty: Moderate in clear weather.

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

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 16:39 Friday, October 14, 2005