Daffo-thrills

It's wild daffodil time in Farndale. This linear route, which starts on Good Friday, takes you up the long valley to see the yellow treasures. Then the Daffodil Bus takes you down. Walking starts at the south end of the dale at the small Lowna car park. However, this soon fills. The National Park Authority has calculated that over 50,000 people descend in the season, so I'd be tempted to get the daff bus from Hutton-le-Hole, but beware, this car park fills up too so consider a Moorsbus connection at peak times.

I did my first daff reconnaissance a fortnight ago. There were none out on the first luscious half mile by the river, through frog-squirming water meadows. Nor any yellow trumpets in the next half mile of steep and species-rich riverside woods. But everywhere, and in the most unlikely places, there was the distinctive green sheen of their leaves and the muted yellow of unopened buds as countless pushed up, even through bracken.

We can't follow the river all the way, because there's no footpath, so we take a nice loop up the west flank of the valley, coming down at more riverside meadows and daffs. Some bulbs have been washed out in the recent floods, others have had to push up through an extra inch or two of river-deposited sand. Luckily the deluge wasn't a week or two later or the damage would have been considerable.

There is still no riverside path so we loop up the eastside of the valley this time, climbing up by a cascading tributary where the daffs have also climbed. The views from the craggy top are terrific, right up, across, and down the valley. You also get a fine aerial view of the hamlet of Low Mill which will be bustling, being the centre of the 'daffodil experience'.

If you fancy a further, easy, mile and a half, you don't need a map and directions for an extra leg to High Mill and Church Houses. It's by the river and such a contrast, with duckboards, wheelchair access, and the classic picture of intricate river meanders infilled by yellow. Then the bus back.

The daffodils are at their best the second week in April depending on the weather so go soon.

DIRECTIONS

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

1. Through car park, track to wood, footbridge and right, 50 yards, right fork to riverside path (stiles and fieldgates). Track.

2. Fieldgate to path parallel to and above river.

3. Gate by footbridge and left uphill, path.

4. Right at T-junction with wide stony track (not the signed stile into wood). As track swings left uphill and as stone wall kinks three yards to right, fork right to faint-then-clear path by wall through trees. Track on left uphill by fieldgate (waymark), fieldgate, uphill to fieldgate and through Park Farm.

5. Fieldgate by barn, cross field as far as gateway then turn left uphill (fence on your right), fieldgate and stay by wall on right, fieldgate

6. Fieldgate to left of barn out of farmyard, 1 o'clock downhill across field, right onto track then 11 o'clock to footbridge and stile (50 yards to left of fieldgate on track), downhill (hedge on right), stile, stile and through scrub to footbridge over River Dove, stile.

7. Footbridge and stile over stream, right uphill (by stream), fieldgate and left to track, fieldgate and left.

8. Right to road, 25 yards, stile on left, stile, 50 yards, stile on left (leave stream) and right by fence, fieldgate into farmyard and immediately right between house and barn.

9. Fieldgate out of farmyard and uphill, 50 yards to fieldgate on left. Two o'clock up and across hillside to field corner, cross tiny stream then contour above wall to left and across field to fieldgate to moor.

10. Uphill on path at l o'clock for 100 yards, left to track, fieldgate by first (Crag) cottage (pass through yard with garage/small barn), fieldgates and track down hill to road and straight on to Low Mill.

FACT FILE

Distance: Nearly four miles.

Time: Two hours.

Start: Lowna.

End: Low Mill, Farndale.

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

Date walked: March 12 and 22.

Road route: Lowna lies between Gillamoor and Hutton-le-Hole and is on the Daffodil Shuttle Bus route.

Car parking: Free at Lowna but limited space and often full at this time of year. Hutton-le-Hole £1.20 and £1 off bus ticket.

Lavatories: Low Mill.

Refreshments: 'Daffodil Teas' from 2pm at Low Mill Band Room on Sundays, including March 28 and April 4, 11.

Tourist & public transport info: Helmsley TIC 01439 770173. North York Moors National Park Exhibition Caravan at Low Mill till April 23.

Map: OS map OL 26, North York Moors western area.

Terrain: Paths and tracks.

Footwear: Walking boots, stout shoes, or if dry, trainers.

Points of interest: Farndale and iits daffodils.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Dogs: Suitable for dogs kept on leads or under close control.

Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418

Farndale Daffodil Shuttle Bus: From Hutton-le-Hole to Lowna, Low Mill and Church Houses, Good Friday, Easter Saturday, Sunday and Monday and Sundays 11, 18 and April 25 Full timetable on http://www.countrygoer.org/nymoors From Hutton-le-Hole at 9.30am, 10am, then every 15 minutes until 5pm. From Low Mill 9.45 am, 10.15am, then every 15 minutes until 5.30pm. Some Moorsbus services restart at Easter and Sundays in April including two via Hutton-le-Hole to Danby, from Thornton-le-Dale and Sutton Bank. Other Moorsbuses are Thornton-le-Dale to Sutton Bank and Sutton Bank to Danby (via Helmsley and Stokesley). Fares £2.50 (£5 family ticket) for all-day unlimited travel. Further Afield services fares £5 (£10 family ticket). Depart York Rail Station 9.05am, (Easingwold Market Place 9.40 am, Coxwold 9.55 am), arrive Helmsley 10.15am, change bus (no wait), arrive Hutton-le-Hole at 10.35am. Return journey leaves Helmsley at 6.15pm, arriving York 7.25pm. Also from Scarborough (depart Rail Station 9.15am, return from Thornton-le-Dale at 5.30pm, arrive Scarborough 6.10pm), Malton, Teesside and Hull.

PICTURE:The cascading tributary into the River Dove gurgles through daffodil woods

Click here to view a map of the walk