George Wilkinson roams around the rim of the Hole of Horcum.

The Hole of Horcum is one enormous hole in the ground. Holiday makers driving over the North York Moors pull off the road, gaze at a depression big enough to swallow all the houses of Whitby and then continue on their way to the seaside town.

Our mission was a more intimate affair. As we pondered the information in the National Park's caravan and chatted to John Hallett the volunteer ranger, we thought that with the sun blazing down it would be a bit hot and sticky down in the Hole, and once in we'd have to get out.

Anyway, the heather was purple, the National Park-owned Levisham Moor was advertised as 'open access' and that made an airy route on the tops doubly attractive.

A couple of miles of easy-amble track took us round the rim of the Hole. En route are Bronze Age dykes and barrows, all in a sheet of purple. Every now and then a walker, runner or cyclist would pass, a squirrel searched for a tree in a totally treeless landscape and miner bees hovered over their holes. Best of all were the locals at Seavy Pond. Here, over the dark peaty water, it was like Heathrow Airport for jumbo dragonflies, minus the air traffic control as many of them indulged in a jewelled orgy of sky sex in the 'tandem position'.

After an hour we settled for a minute by a five-way signpost and watched swallows swoop over Dundale Pond and then tramped through bracken and over a brow of grassland until the wooded valley of Newton Dale came into view. Again we decided not to go too deep and settled on Skelton Tower as our halfway house.

The tower stands in a swathe of heather overlooking the Dale. It was built in 1850 by the Reverend Robert Skelton as a shooting lodge. These days it's perfect for train spotting. So we sat in the shade of the little ruin with a gathering of walkers, chewed sandwiches and waited. Soon with a whistle and a puff a steam train chugged through the snaky valley below.

Then we chugged on, via a terrace of grassland, the land rising in a wave of bracken topped by purple on one side and plummeted to Newton Dale the other. A couple reported an adder. For the last half mile we were in 'the beam' to quote Dr Albanese, the US Air Force scientist. Fylingdales Radar Station glared at us. Apparently its emissions interfere with the electronics of cars, but we are sterner stuff and climbed the little hill back to the car park where, to finish on a sweeter note, there was an ice-cream van.

Directions

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

1. From car park, cross road, right on path.

2. Stile/fieldgate to track (signed). Ignore right fork near first pond.

3. Right at pond to path uphill (five-way fingerpost, signed Station).

4. At wall corner, path at one o'clock over grassland, at edge of hill sunken path swings right down hillside, path to tower.

5. Skirt edge of valley on path on terrace of grassland, as valley curves west, carry straight on across terrace, via clump of thorn trees.

6. Ignore eroded path up hillside. Path up bank, stile and left to stile/fieldgate on outward route.

Fact file

Distance: Six and a half miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: North York Moors National Park.

Start: Car park.

Right of way: The route is along public rights of way, permissive path and over open access land.

Date walked: Friday, August 22, 2003.

Road route: The A169 Whitby road from Pickering.

Car parking: Large free car park.

Lavatories: Portaloos at car park in season.

Refreshments: 'The Legendary Saltergate Inn'.

Tourist and public transport information: Pickering TIC 01751 473791. National Parks information caravan at car park in season.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL27 North York Moors eastern area.

Terrain: Heather moorland and upland grassland.

Points of interest: Open access area.

Difficulty: Moderate, easy navigation, smooth surfaces. Please note, steep drops near Skelton Tower.

Dogs: Suitable.

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.

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 16:12 Friday, August 29, 2003