George Wilkinson learns to take the rough with the smooth
The head of Great Fryup Dale must be one of the most out of the way places in the North York Moors, and getting there requires a tortuous road route.
Make the effort and you'll get an unusual experience. I mean most walks hereabouts are flat moor and smooth valleys. Fryup Dale is an even groove most of its length but today we definitely take the rough with the smooth.
Starting high, we drop down in the dale at a transition point, at the last of the farms. Behind us is the main valley, ahead, a mile of good track winds up towards Dale Head. We are gaining height but slowly, the real climbing is to come. The place is spacious, one side with a tier or two of crags and a thin belt of birch polka dotted with sheep. Our side has hillocks, lots of them, from eighteenth-century coal digging. These, 'The Hills', harboured bright dollops of lingering snow.
I took my sandwich stop, hunger overcoming my apprehension of a thick grey mist that was rolling remorselessly along the valley catching up relentlessly and threatening to wipe out the only nice day for a week. Snow flurried. I pulled on a coat. Then in a minute all was clear for miles, it had just been a single ground-hugging cloud on its way to Rosedale. Magic weather if weren't supposed to be springtime.
So I finished my tea contemplating the daunting prospect of the Head. It's steep, and from a distance has no obvious way up and out. More-over it is divided by long traces of waterfall and steep ravines and there are slithery slopes of shale.
Luckily when you are on the ascent the path cleverly twists and turns over the one-step streams to make the going reasonable, avoiding the worst.
Six hundred feet later you reach the cairn and the view is smashing, north over the valley and its mid-section stylish keyboard pattern of fields.
Incidentally there's a long history of proper farms here when mostly elsewhere were peasant holdings.
To get back we take a peaty and stony track through the heather, no more exertion, and if you've had to park a bit down the road, there's the pleasure of a look at Glaisdale and beyond to the sea.
DIRECTIONS
When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.
At fieldgate with two small gates either side (signs) to moor, right-hand gate to path in heather at 1 o'clock. Path peters out, continue downhill to fieldgate in kink in wall by small holly tree. Sunken path loops downhill, fieldgate to walled track.
Fieldgate and right to lane, first lane left downhill.
Immediately after farmhouse, track on left (signed), fieldgate, fieldgate and uphill by fence (fence on left), left of two adjacent fieldgates and uphill (grown-out hedge on right).
Fieldgate and left, 50 yard, fieldgate. Continue on grassy track/path, keeping above the fence/wall on left and ignoring any left forks that dip down to follow the line of fence/wall.
Fieldgate below tin hut, 150 yards, curve left down beside stream, cross stream below old stone sheepfolds, 20 yards, right, 20 yards, fork left across bracken on hillock, cross stream, right for 100 yards by stream then obvious stony path to left uphill. Path across moor, 200 yards.
Left to bridleway track at large cairn and back to start (ignore path forking off to right).
FACT FILE
Distance: About four miles, depending on where you park.
Time: Two hours.
Start: Grid Ref: 729028 (three distinctive wooden gates, i.e. a fieldgate flanked by two small gates, plus two bridleway signs).
Right of Way: The complete route is along public rights of way.
Date walked: Saturday, April 15, 2000.
Road route: The most straightforward way is along the Danby to Glaisdale road, turning south on to the Lealholm/Rosedale road.
Car parking: Roadside, here and there, either side, but mostly to the south of the turn off to Glaisdale.
Lavatories: None.
Refreshments: None.
Tourist & Public Transport Information: The Moors Centre, Danby Tel: 01287 660540
Map: Based on OS Outdoor Leisure 27, North York Moors Eastern area.
Terrain: Head of valley.
Footwear: Walking boots.
Points of interest: 'The Hills', waterfalls and the view.
Difficulty: Moderate but steep descent and steep 600 foot ascent.
Dogs: Suitable for dogs but keep on leads or under close control.
Weather Forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418
Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. Every effort is made to provide accurate information, but walkers set out at their own risk.
PICTURE:Rough ground with waterfalls at Dale Head
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