Please click on "Map" to see a cartographic map view of the route and "Hybrid" to see the combined map and Satellite. "Terrain" shows the contours of land over and around the route.

Please use the zoom tools or drag the slider to move in close or to zoom out (or use mousewheel zoom). Use the pan tools to move the map vertically and horizontally or place your mouse over the map and it changes to a hand; click your mouse to "grab" the map to manually scroll the map in any direction. Click on "Open Lightbox" to see the Google Map in its own window.

The two hikers icon shows the start of the route. Click on the hikers to get the route direction - clockwise or anticlockwise.

Please note that the outline route is a guide only and on full or near full zoom cannot be guaranteed to follow every twist and turn of the route described.

Dallowgill is a valley west of Ripon, pastureland on the edge of moor; today's walk takes in the grass and the heather. First the grass, to start with rock strewn rough stuff with rushes. Yellow fairy club fungi lit the ground like tongues of flame, sheep had horns painted red. We descended to where their horns were blue and the pastures were lovely, the gates most efficient and the farm on a rocky knoll so neat.

A wood brought a short blast of pheasant cacophony, the rush of the River Laver on its way to Fountains Abbey and a loop of wire like a walker snare on a bridge. Gamekeepers gave up this sort of thing in the 19^th century, along with trip-guns and mantraps, so this must have been accidental.

The sun shone on Coal Hill as we ate our sandwiches and looked over the land we’d trod, the walled green and a dozen farms. The territory to come held one building, a distant white shooting lodge, a beacon over the next few miles.

So onto Dallow Moor, a place layered with nature status this and special protection that, but not for stoats etc, note the traps on poles over becks.

We moved fast on the smooth stone tracks. The moor has two named standing stones, you’ll pass them and you’ve got to laugh. The first is a dumpy rock called Old Wife, the second is long, thin and semi-erect at 45˚ and named Long Rod.

Eventually we reached the shooting house, it’s small, called Kettlestang and is part white for the ‘guns’ part plainer for the beaters. The view from here is big.

Now for the fun. Moors tend to be well drained, the grouse prefer that, but between the shooting house and Dallowgill, where the only public footpath runs, is an area named The Bogs. It’s a few hundred yards of squelching through tall rushes, there is no obvious path, but we did this bit of the route last year. One assumes you all survived? It's not that bad, with binoculars one can see to the target gate. However one must make a plea to the authorities – please put in some waymark posts so a route establishes and the rare ecosystem isn’t random trampled. After all there are plenty of white plastic posts for grouse shooting. Next time I’ll try for a track marked on old maps across Horse Plain.

Finally one crosses Dallowgill, broken and abandoned houses and all.