Words & Photos Ian Battersby

December 03 2009

The first time I paced this route was on a densely foggy day. There was no rain, yet each conifer needle held a delicate drop of condensed mist, forcing me into a waterproof top as I pushed through the pines that crowd tiny meandering paths threading their way through woods that finger the south-west corner of the North York Moors.

The air temperature hovered vaguely above freezing. Any lower and I’d have been treated to an extravagant hoar frost, but the only ice was that encasing the ground, making some stretches a tad tricky. The views were naturally curtailed in the soup, but the atmosphere was enough to tempt me back for a second trip, when I was treated to cerulean skies and a battering wind, which pushed in bands of incongruous cloud like wayward migrants blown in on a storm.

I weaved through the woods, before negotiating arable fields – surprising at a thousand feet. This is as high as it gets around here, but the area’s heaving with other points of interest. Flassen Dale is tiny, with vertical banks cloaked in conifer that shelter hoards of reared pheasants. For the next five kilometres, you’ll be spooking them, along with the partridges and wood pigeons. Spring Wood gurgles with brooks that feed ponds, which entice hundreds of waterfowl.

After climbing Scawton Moor the route travels the voiceless plantation of Wass Moor, with only the wind in the treetops troubling the silence. The pace was invigorating, and soon I was sinking through a dishy dale that houses Low Wood, into which the path ebbs out of sight. Follow the white flashes painted on ageing tree trunks through the gloom, as you bend and twist along a course of crowding boughs.

The ruins of Byland Abbey decay quietly in a secluded corner, with an inviting pub for company, or there’s another in Wass if you’re looking for refreshment before the climb up by Elm Hag, which is buried deep in the heart of Snever Wood.

Cockerdale Farm is being run with nature in mind. Keep a look-out for recently planted wildlife corridors that cross the rounded pastures, the grazing of which is controlled with wild flower welfare in mind. An attractive chapel perches above it, looking older than its years, probably designed that way by the artist, John J Bunting.

Finally I arrived at Roulston Scar, having regained the high ground, which comes to a fantastic finale here. Conceited crags survey vast plains below. If there’s any wind this is where you’ll feel it most, and gliders from the adjoining club were being winched up into it, as another band of dark cloud swept in from the Pennines.

Distance: 16.5 miles/26.5km Ascent: 2800ft/850m Time: 8-9 hours Start/finish: Sutton Bank (GR: SE 515830) Maps: OS 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 100 (Malton & Pickering) Information: Thirsk, 01845 522755 Travel: Trains to Thirsk; Moorsbus runs regularly in summer: 01845 597000

Technical Spec
N out of the car park to the road junction. Path E to Hambleton Ho. Path generally NE to Cold Kirby, then SE into woods of Flassen Dale. Descend and follow track NE then E to lane. Continue E 750m to farm. Track SSW onto Scawton Moor. At A170 turn W for 50m. Track S through woods to lane. S for 200m. Track and path SE then S past Low Wood. Take combination of path and lane W 1km to road corner. Path S 750m, then NW passing Byland Abbey. Cross lane taking path NE then NW into woods by Elm Hag. N to Cam Farm. Paths generally W past Cockerdale to Scotch Corner. Track NW to lane on Shaw’s Moor. SW then S past airfield. Track W then N round Roulston Scar to return.