In 1973 Sir Charles Dalton the High Sheriff of Yorkshire wrote "much remains to be done to improve the...convenience of the riverside footpaths". He was talking about the Foss, the river on today's walk. Nearly 30 years, on his words are still pertinent, as I found out.

Yearsley, a line of houses in the western Howardian Hills, makes a start.

There are unicorns on some walls (as on the Fauconberg Arms in Coxwold). We slip through a garden, to small pastures then a big field. On my Explorer map (2000) this is many fields. OK, but the margins and cross paths had been ploughed up. Luckily a good route runs parallel through a wood; I took it rather than mess with the mess the farmer had made of the path.

Under the pines, sprouted Stinkhorn mushrooms (Phallus impudicus), pale and limp. Apparently, the white of the young balls they grow from has the 'pleasant flavour of young raw peas'.

Sweeter is the source of the Foss. We pass within a hundred yards of the spring, a bath tap flow, but clear. Twenty miles downstream, after 48 hours, the water is 33-feet wide at Yearsley Bridge in York.

I followed the Foss, early on it lives up to its Roman name of 'ditch', running in a deep gully. The countryside, its catchment area, is lovely, ever-changing hills and valley junctions.

Oulston Reservoir is a surprise, that such a trickle could make such a lake, beautiful too, birds, reeds, another unicorn, a 50-foot earth dam, a sandwich stop.

We cross the Foss via stepping-stones and all goes well till we hit a road at Milking Hill. Here three signs, including 'Foss Way', point across a field, and a notice pleads 'keep in single file'. The cheek! The farmer has destroyed the path. I find a way round.

Cherry Hill should provide long views towards York. Not for me, it rained all day. Parasol mushrooms flourished. Within sight of Bransby we peel off into Peel Park. This is nice, except the start and finish. The start is a walker-dicey farm, with walker, or dog-hostile Holstein cows, the latter providing my scariest five minutes for ages. Note the pedigree beasts understand very loud Anglo-Saxon. Stick up for your rights, it may be their field, but it is your path.

Adventure over, and next a wood of honeysuckle and pollarded hazel, and a stream that curiously ran thick like Ovaltine. The explanation came soon, another giant field where once were many. And not only hedges gone, and erosive ploughing up and down the slopes, but a stream buried! A shame that an intricate and interesting route finished with agri-vandalism.

FACT FILE

Distance: Five miles.

Time: Two or three hours.

General location: Howardian Hills.

Start: Yearsley.

Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.

Date walked: Saturday, October 7, 2000.

Road route: Yearsley is between Bransby and Ampleforth.

Car parking: Roadside in Yearsley.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: None.

Tourist and public transport information: Easingwold TIC 01347 821530.

Map: Based on OS Pathfinder 214 Dalton and Coxwold, part on new OS Explorer 300 Howardian Hills.

Terrain: Small hills and valleys.

Points of interest: Sir Charles Dalton quote from The River Foss by Michael Fife and Peter Walls, published by Ebor Press 1973, reprinted 1981. Path damage reported to NYCC Oct 8 2000.

Difficulty: Moderate, mostly good track and path, well waymarked.

Dogs: Risky, boisterous cows.

Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418

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

DIRECTIONS

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

1. Nearly opposite church, fieldgate to track by garden (signed), 50 yards, fieldgate into field, one o'clock, stile, stile and right (no margin), left hand bend, straight on to wood.

2. EITHER a)left by fence OR b)only if field-edge path not reinstated, enter wood, faint path ten yards, left to path that parallels public right of way then dog-legs across a track (large straw bales) to 50 yards from wood edge, joining the good track by the stile at No 3.

3. From field, at first bend in wood, stile on right into wood and left to track. (Note: straight on from this stile 50 yards to see Foss near its spring).

4. Pass waymarked stile on left. Path on right, 25 yards, bridge over Foss, fieldgate, path by edge of wood.

5. Gate, 100 yards, grassy track uphill swings towards farm.

6. Up to fieldgate by paddock then right to skirt farmyard, gate on left, gap in hedge on left, cross farm track, field edge path for 100 yards.

7. Gate on left, right downhill to stile/fieldgate, path.

8. About 20 yards after railings by dam/sluice, fork right ten yards to gate (waymark on gate), fieldgate and 11 o'clock downhill, fieldgate, 50 yards, stepping stones across Foss, track uphill 150 yards, gate on left and through farmyard, farm drive out but leave 100 yards before road to fork down to stile.

9. From road to Beckfield House EITHER a)cross road to stile/pair of fieldgates (signed) and straight across field (winter grain, not reinstated) to hedge gap, 50 yards, stile and aim for farm OR b)right to lane, tarmac lane on left.

10. Tarmac lane (fieldgates).

11. Tarmac drive on left. At farm, left through pair of fieldgates beside barns, right between barns (waymark), right then left to track downhill out of farmyard. Left,50 yards negotiating quagmire and electric fence(s).

12. Gateway, one o'clock, stile in wire fence, contour, stile into wood.

13. Fifty yards before footbridge, fork right (knee-high waymarked post), keep stream to left until 'pipe' crossing ten yards from field, stile, one 'o'clock up, then aim for hedge corner, right, waymarked official stile, paddock, fieldgate, drive.

Click here to view a map of the walk