Kirkbymoorside walk

Snow, snow, great joy, snow, more than enough in Ryedale to make it easier to fasten a pair of gaiters to the boots rather than a set of chains to the car wheels, and walk from somewhere easy rather than risk the back roads.

So, for a few minutes Kirkbymoorside was crunched through, to its western edge. For ten minutes the A170 was paralleled east to west on a footpath out of range of salt slush spray. Five minutes on back lanes of tyre polished slipperiness led to the foot of Kirk Dale, a valley that cuts north.

But 50 yards before you reach the valley's Hodge Beck, stop on the lane and peer right, through a gap in the hedge, to the Kirkdale Caves, a pair of dark eyes into the past, set halfway up a cliff, hyena dens of long ago.

Back to the day, the beautiful day. No water flowed over the ford; Hodge beck was turgid with soft ice. Our path goes upstream through hazel coppice, the pretty little Minster the other side, and then scratches a quite steep and slithery line up the valley side, to drop to the beck again. Here you'll see the bridges ripped out in the infamous floods of 19 June 2005. And here the beck was dry, but a few hundred yards further on was running merrily, this is limestone country, water vanishes into a changing underground and re-appears to alter the surface.

But never mind the water, the day was snow, the trees dressed to the finest twig. The valley was half in blue shadow and happily half in a brilliant blue-sky sunshine that made for a toasted sandwich stop where the views expand. We were joined by a hundred crows and pigeons that came out for a chatty five-minute fly around. Briefly there was the tinkle of snowmelt. From further on a noise of water filtered up through the trees.

This was Hodge Beck crashing over the weir at Hold Cauldron, the old and aptly named mill flooded last summer.

To get out of the valley you'll take a climb of 150ft and then flatten out on to fields. The line or condition across the first of these was uncertain so the crop was skirted, yellowhammers flurried along a hedge.

Along the tops there's a quiet connection via Low Hagg Farm, Hagg Road and Hagg Farm to the start of Robin Hood's Howl which is a mile of descending, narrow valley. In here the sun was sparking and dying through the scrub, the temperature falling for a white freeze night.

A feeling reinforced on exiting the Howl to the big wide Ryedale still shining but for a solid black cloud floor to ceiling over the Howardian Hills. On the tramp back in over the fields the snow dumped down hard again, a perfect day.

Directions

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

1. From Post Office, downhill, right to West End and keep straight on - pavement on wide verge by A170.

2. Right to road (no verge), straight over at crossroads.

3. Riverside path on right (signed) immediately before bridge and ford. Fork right uphill about 25 yards before churchyard on far bank ends, path dips down near where river curves away, then up for 25 yards and left to track.

4. Join track by river, 100 yards, path in lower edge of wood (waymark), becomes track after passing field to left, uphill then down to Hold Cauldron. Return for a few hundred yards.

5. Track on left uphill (no sign but unusual new tall metal pole).

6. At top of hill at paths junction (waymarks) path to small gate 30 yards away, cross field aiming about 100 yards to right of house, left at small gate - not through it (waymark), field edge track 200 yards to gate/fieldgate, left 20 yards then right to cross field to gate to left of buildings.

7. Left to road, right to Hagg Road. At bottom of sharp dip stile on right to path along valley bottom (signed).

8. Snickelgate and left up bank 50 yards, stile and right to field-edge path, gap, field-edge, left at corner, 30 yards, 1 o'clock from next corner across field to hurdle gate, stile, 11 o'clock, stile, stile, stile to path between bungalows and turning area.

9. Left to contouring estate road, concrete path on left after entrance to Sturdy Court, ignore right turns until bench then right to Tarmac path downhill, cross side road to join Dale End, right at mini-roundabout and down main street.

Fact file

Distance: Six miles.

Time: Three hours.

General Location: North York Moors, southern edge.

Start: Kirkbymoorside.

Right of Way: Public.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors Western Area.

Date walked: Wednesday, December 28 2005.

Road Route: Kirkbymoorside is on the A170 between Helmsley and Pickering.

Car Parking: Roadside.

Lavatories: Public car park behind King's Head pub.

Refreshments: Inns and cafs at Kirkbymoorside.

Tourist & Public Transport Information: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173.

Terrain: Mostly valley.

Points of interest: The broken bridge that this route bypasses north of Kirkdale Minster might take some time to repair.

Difficulty: Moderate.

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: 15:28 Friday, January 06, 2006