Wood work

FOR walking near York, buy the new Ordnance Survey Explorer 290. The old Pathfinder maps dismembered the city, now its inner ring road is almost bull's-eye centre on the sheet, and radiating roads define dartboard segments. Route finding is much less hit and miss. I scored a six, just outside the outer ring road treble, and parked opposite the Greyhound pub in Dunnington.

Old brick houses distinguish the way out to Intake Lane, the village's south-eastern boundary.

Dunnington was in Sunday afternoon slumber. We headed off between neat playing fields and ramshackle allotments, over a few narrow fields, to a pretty pond and Hagg Lane, a dead-end.

Now we have a nice country feel, and entering Hagg Wood are insulated from any road noise. Hagg Wood is Forestry Commission and 'open access'. Welcoming signs say 'open to all'. This is a lovely little wood, worth exploring, with a fair and improving mix of trees, and the paths a mix of muddy and dry.

A birdwatcher emerged, quiet and clad in green. We chatted about the fine weather and admired some coal tits 'with their white cheeks'. Rhododendrons were budding, bulbs were pushing up and silver birch logs were glowing with orange fungi. The 'Friends of Hagg Wood' do good work.

The birdwatcher tipped me off about the treecreepers on the edge of the wood, but I forgot to look when I got there because the view was so eye-catching.

The horizon is an assemblage of woods, some mid-distance, some quite far; only the Wolds to the east rise higher. With big, very-flat fields, there is space. Our next couple of miles was a broad sweep out and round on private road Tarmac.

Also from our viewpoint you can see Londesborough Lodge, Lime Field Farm, and especially Scoreby Manor House. We pass these, fine-looking buildings all. Scoreby village was wiped out by the plague, the house name is recorded in the Domesday Book.

The Tarmac made for an easy tour of sand/silt soils made difficult by standing water. Patches of the autumn-sown crops were barren. The deep drainage ditches, accompanied by strong hedges, are few and far between. We come within a couple of hundred yards of the River Derwent, unfortunately one can't get to its banks, but you see a stretch to the north.

Time was getting on, light was fading. A hundred fieldfares were nervously shifting from the fields to trees then back to the fields. I accelerated, and swung round north of Hagg Wood till almost back at Dunnington.

Then I did a final optional loop in the dark. A well-signed City of York Council 'promoted path' climbs a bit to Dunnington Hall and gives a view of the village, in my case lights through evening rain.

Fact file

Distance: Six miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: Within five miles of York city centre.

Start: Dunnington.

Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way and through open access area (Hagg Wood).

Date walked: Sunday, January 7, 2001.

Road route: From the eastern bulge of the York Outer Ring Road to the A166 or A1079 (T). Dunnington is signed and a mile or two.

Car parking: Street side in village.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Pubs.

Tourist and public transport information: York TIC 01904 707961.

Map: Based on new OS Explorer 290 York, or obsolete OS Pathfinder 665.

Terrain: Flat alluvial plain.

Points of interest: The footpath marked on the new OS map between Hagg Farm and SW corner of Hagg Wood is an error from the old map. Plus access to Hagg Wood near Hagg Farm has yet to be resolved. Hagg Wood - open access.

Difficulty: Moderate.

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.

Directions

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

1. Start at York Street Post Office, right (pass phone box), right at junction to Church Street, second left then immediately right to Intake Lane.

2. After playing field, track on right (signed), 100 yards, right before allotments, footbridge over stream, 20 yards.

3. Left to track for 200 yards, then before house two o'clock across three fields, right at fence, pond, left to Hagg Lane (tarmac which degrades), double gates and stile, left to track, 200 yards as far as double gates then right to field-edge path (hedge on left).

4. Footbridge into wood and straight on, track becomes grassy (drainage gully on left).

5. Right to track just outside wood, swings right and becomes tarmac at Londesborough Lodge.

6. Left at T-junction (signed Lime Field Farm).

7. At Lime Field Farm, take a left into yard for 20 yards, right by barn and straight on to grassy track through fields, 300 yards, 'S' bend (ignore track on left) then keep straight on (gates). Cross track (opposite number nine on the map), track with gates to end of Intake Lane, then on to tarmac.

8. Metal gates on right (signed bridleway) to grassy track.

9. Left to track, left to road, pass Dunnington Hall and viewbench.

10. Track on left (by hedge), 200 yards, path on right by hedge and back into Dunnington.