Dallowgill, near Ripon (From York Press)

Dallowgill, near Ripon

2:20pm Monday 30th October 2006 in Walks By George Appleton

George Wilkinson takes in the grass and heather - and the squelching fun - of Dallowgill, near Ripon.

Dallowgill is a valley west of Ripon, pastureland on the edge of moor; today's walk takes in the grass and the heather.

First the grass, to start with rock strewn rough stuff with rushes. Yellow fairy club fungi lit the ground like tongues of flame, sheep had horns painted red.

We descended to where their horns were blue and the pastures were lovely, the gates most efficient and the farm on a rocky knoll so neat.

A wood brought a short blast of pheasant cacophony, the rush of the River Laver on its way to Fountains Abbey and a loop of wire like a walker snare on a bridge.

Gamekeepers gave up this sort of thing in the 19th century, along with trip-guns and mantraps, so this must have been accidental.

The sun shone on Coal Hill as we ate our sandwiches and looked over the land we'd trod, the walled green and a dozen farms. The territory to come held one building, a distant white shooting lodge, a beacon over the next few miles.

So on to Dallow Moor, a place layered with nature status this and special protection that, but not for stoats etc, note the traps on poles over becks.

We moved fast on the smooth stone tracks. The moor has two named standing stones, you'll pass them and you've got to laugh. The first is a dumpy rock called Old Wife, the second is long, thin and semi-erect at 45 and named Long Rod.

Eventually, we reached the shooting house. It's small, called Kettlestang and is part white for the "guns", part plainer for the beaters. The view from here is big.

Now for the fun. Moors tend to be well drained, the grouse prefer that, but between the shooting house and Dallowgill, where the only public footpath runs, is an area named The Bogs. It's a few hundred yards of squelching through tall rushes. There is no obvious path, but we did this bit of the route last year. One assumes you all survived? It's not that bad, with binoculars one can see to the target gate.

However, one must make a plea to the authorities. Please put in some waymark posts so a route establishes and the rare ecosystem isn't random trampled. After all, there are plenty of white plastic posts for grouse shooting. Next time I'll try for a track marked on old maps across Horse Plain.

Finally, one crosses Dallowgill, broken and abandoned houses and all.

Directions

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

1. Left to road, right at junction (signed Dallowgill).

2. At cattlegrid, left and follow wall to your right and round corner (waymark).

3. Left downhill at corner where a track leads off right, 200 yards, stile in solid gate (waymark) into pen, by wall to your left, fieldgate, sunken grass track.

4. Right just before fieldgate (waymark), damp dip, grassy bridge over stream, around hillside, fieldgate, track and fieldgate into farmyard, fieldgate.

5. Cross road to gates into wood (sign), track 200 yards then where track flattens out turn left across space for 50 yards, footbridge (waymark), path 1 o'clock uphill, gate out of woods, 50 yards, fieldgate on left.

6. Fieldgate into yard, right between sheds, ten yards, gate, left to track, 25 yards, gate on right, 25 yards. Left to road, 100 yards, track on right uphill, fieldgate (waymark).

7. Stile in fieldgate to moor and 300 yards on path across hill. Right to road.

8. Track on right (info board Harper Hill), 200 yards, fork left on main track.

9. Right at T-junction to more main track.

10. Right at shooting lodge, cross bog c60degrees, downhill. Note Greygarth Monument is in line.

11. Decrepit gate in wall into field of heather, grassy path 11 o'clock, gateway by ruins, left 100 yards, fieldgate, 50 yards, gateway, 50 yards, gateway and track.

12. Bridge and immediately right to track, 100 yards, swing left to walled track uphill, swing right below barn then curves left uphill. Fieldgate and right to road.

Fact file

Distance: Seven and a half miles.

Time: Four hours.

General Location: Near Ripon.

Start: Tom Corner GR. SE 177726.

Right of Way: Public and Right to Roam Map: Drawn from OS Explorer 298.

Date walked: October, 2006.

Road Route: Possibly best via Kirkby Malzeard, intricate.

Car Parking: Gravel and grass at Tom Corner, info-board.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Inns and Rose Lea tearoom at Kirkby Malzeard.

Tourist & Public Transport Information: Ripon TIC 01765 604625.

Terrain: Pasture and moor.

Points of interest: The original Greygarth Monument celebrated the eradication of local wolves.

Difficulty: Not easy.

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>>