George Wilkinson has to get his compass out to navigate his way to Danby Beacon.

The weather forecast pinned up at The Moors Centre read 'sunny spells, rain later' so we didn't dawdle and nipped up through the trees to a gate to grassland and another gate to the moors. The heather smelt fresh after rain, the views to villages one, two, three in the Esk valley were sharp. Notches of intake fields glowed a nitrate green against the muted shades of moor, curlews called from half-blue sky and a lapwing lifted into the breeze and spun down a valley.

A mile of the Lord's Turnpike track brought us to the Pannierman's Causeway a medieval path or 'trod' paved with sandstone. It heads for the sea. Soon we reached Elm Ledge, a very quiet back road that offers an easy shortcut route. But we continued on the pannierway and though the flags stopped we passed an old guidestone engraved 'Whitby' and, I think, 'Danby'.

According to the late Raymond Hayes, author of Old Roads And Pannierways in North East Yorkshire, in 1711 the 'Justices at Northallerton ordered Guide Posts to be erected as crossways throughout the North Riding'. When we got down to Sandy Slack and Water Dittins, where there is an area of damp rushes, we could have used a guide post because there was no sign of the bridleway that leads back up towards Danby Beacon, it had gone with time and in the cycle of heather burning and re-growth.

So it was out with the compass which did the job despite a bit of zigzagging to keep to the shorter heather. We intersected a line of grouse butts between butts number 6 and 7, reasonable dead reckoning; we should have hit a spot between butts 4 and 5. The are invisible in a gully until you are on them and are four star, circular with drystone lining.

From there we took a track as the only extant route and joined Elm Ledge and reached Danby Beacon.

Here is a freshly-painted trig point, and a metal view plaque that explains the 360 degrees of super views - Captain Cook's Monument on the Cleveland Hills, 90 degrees of uninterrupted sea/sky horizon, Whitby, Goathland, Fylingdales, Great Fryup Dale... terrific.

On the way down, we soaked up the sights to the south, and an Esk Valley Line three-coach diesel loco slid up the valley. It was the steam trains that put the panniermen out of work, no more trains of horses laden with fish and salt.

Back at the Moors Centre a party of junior school children from Northamptonshire were doing a compass course. By the time they are old enough to do a distance they will be benefiting from the promised land mapped out inside the National Park's centre. The caf and interactive info-experiences were humming but in a quiet room upstairs are laid out the draft versions of the Countryside Agency's 'Right To Roam' maps. The future splendid and colour coded in green and yellow. Have a look; if you think there are any areas incorrectly defined fill in a comment form.

Directions:

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

1. Right to road from car park, at corner - gate to path through wood, fieldgate out to track, 100 yards, fieldgate on left, 50 yards uphill, right fork to path which swings left and parallels wall, old gateposts, keep parallel to wall.

2. At wall corner, right on dirt track, 30 yards, left to track which curves right after 30 yards to cross moor.

3. Right to road, 100 yards, track on right (signed Clitherbeck Farm), 100 yards. Where track meets wall corner to right, take paved path at 10 o'clock. Flags disappear in places, keep gently uphill.

4. Straight to number 6 for easy route. Otherwise, cross road at sign and continue on track then path. Downhill, (old stone waymark), gully to left and then to right, by gorse. Continue down to flattish ground of rushes and long grasses, to where path is about 20 yards away from step-width stream.

5. Double back right and take a route over shorter heather at 155 degrees magnetic (avoid deep heather), making way uphill back up to Elm Ledge, intersecting hidden grouse butts in gully en route, then track. Left to road to Beacon.

6. Road downhill, first road left, cross road to walled track, right to road, 50 yards, track on right at corner, through farmyard, track, stile into field at corner above house, 100 yards to tree and trough, 10 o'clock across field, stile, right to road and back to Moors Centre.

Fact file:

Distance: Six miles

Time: Three hours

General location: North York Moors

Start: The National Park's Moors Centre at Danby

Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way, and necessary approximations to.

Date walked: Saturday May 3, 2003

Road route: Via Castleton. Main Moorsbus route. Esk Valley rail line

Car parking: Moors Centre, £1.50 all day

Lavatories: Moors Centre

Refreshments: Moors Centre

Tourist and public transport information: Moors Centre 01287 660540. Moorsbus info tel: 01845 597426, or website: www.moorsbus.net

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL27 North York Moors Eastern area

Terrain: Mainly moorland

Points of interest: Wheelchair circuit through Crow Wood at Moors Centre

Difficulty: Moderate

Dogs: Suitable

Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 09:52 Saturday, May 10, 2003