Commondale

People ask me if I ever repeat a route and the answer is no. But bits of walks are gone over again, which is the case with this one, for the first mile or two.

People also ask if I am going to run out of routes. No, because the more you do, the more you discover. Also, Right To Roam offers new routes and this is one of those. So when we got to where we reached in 2004, and were set on a shooters' track, out came the binoculars to scan Commondale Moor for a return line. We tracked on, over North Ings Moor, cut through a long line of standing stones, and to our pleasure got a sea view. And to our irritation came across the first of a number of signs and painted rocks that should by rights be gone, as they imply you shouldn't be there, as in the days before Right To Roam.

A valley opened up as we took a ridge, then another valley, offering a new view. It's not the shock of the new after a decade of leading these walks, it's another notch, a honing of the pleasure.

By now we had reached a place between Wayworth and North Ings moors. To avoid any road work, we looked for the way down we had previously guessed at. It was good, a mown strip through the heather and grasses, an access route for grouse shooters, passing a line of luxury butts and cutting across the fascinating Park Pale dyke.

The only grouse was that acrid smoke from heather burning had settled in the valley, blurring the clarity of the blue moon-hung sky.

Time now for thanks to the people who have been important to me in this job the past decade. First and foremost to Victoria, my navigator, who has kept me on track, and second to Julian Cole, who hasn't tried to keep me on the straight and narrow.

As my minder at the paper all these years, he could have blunted my barbs and smoothed all my choppy syntax, but he hasn't and that has given me confidence. And thanks to you, reader/walkers, for not writing in to complain at any and every mistake, thereby forcing me to write stories heavy with self-protective qualification.

And remember if you don't get lost now and then you haven't lived, but take that compass, which reminds me. I don't want my gold one yet. Hope you've enjoyed the walks. I have, lots.

Directions

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

1. From parking area with access sign, left to road downhill, first path on left 50 yards before barns (signed), picks up fence for few hundred yards, gate to stone trod downhill.

2. Slab bridge over beck, path 100 yards, gate, moorland path angles up valley side, joins path/track.

3. Sleeper footbridge and right to track at junction before railway carriage.

4. On left-hand bend ignore a track to right (old redundant sign).

5. Left to track at junction (ignore private' painted on boulder).

6. Fieldgate in fence, 200 yards then at sunken grouse butt on right turn left to faint path that becomes mown track after 25 yards to pass more butts and cairn, downhill. Immediately before fieldgate, right to grassy path beside field/fence, track back to parking area.

Fact file

Distance: Five miles.

Time: Two or three hours.

General location: North York Moors.

Start: Parking area just west of Commondale village.

Right of way: Public and Right To Roam.

Map: Drawn from OS OL26 North York Moors western area.

Date walked: October, 2006.

Road route: From York via Stokesley or Blakey.

Car parking: Grass/gravel area with info-board, free.

Lavatories: Commondale.

Refreshments: Inn and tearoom in Commondale.

Tourist and public transport Information: National Park at Danby 01439 772737.

Terrain: Moor and valley.

Points of interest: On the New Antiquarian website the Park Pale dyke is imagined variously as a territorial boundary, a defence system or a deer park boundary.

Difficulty: Good underfoot.

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

Map of the walk>>