GEORGE WILKINSON finds that Wass is friendly and pretty, with a lovely hill that isn't a mountain.

WASS was very friendly and pretty. The village hall car park has an honesty box and a welcoming notice.

There was sunshine on the blossom and the Wombwell Arms looked inviting. Cyclists riding Italian steel were headed Ampleforth Abbey way; Byland Abbey is very close and Rievaulx not so far, but we had in mind a higher thing and, at the village crossroads, we turned to seek out Mount Snever Observatory.

A mountain it is not, and anyway there was much to sweeten the climb, along with the dense garlic. Insects flitted and seeds drifted in shafts of light. The woods sounded lovely too, it being the quiet season for pheasants, although not for songbirds. Sometimes there was a buzz from a Sutton Bank aircraft.

There are interesting land shapes named the Camp Holes.

The observatory, when you arrive, is rather impressive, a single tower standing higher than the trees that crowd it.

It bears, engraved, a eulogy to nature and a bow to Queen Victoria.

Then we went down to later go up, but no complaint. Cocker Dale is a charming valley where bugle flowers speared the verges, forget-me-not lay misty and in areas where the trees had been felled there were lakes of bluebells.

In 1322 the ground would have been wet with blood because hereabouts the Scots thrashed us at the Battle of Byland.

Four deer were silent as they bounded over the track. A few seconds later a gamekeeper trundled by on his buggy and a fifth deer made a break when he had passed. And we spooked the starlings that, in Hitchcock style, erupted from a field wall, seemingly from its very crevices, in a loud and panicked swirl, while a dozen crows stayed calm.

At the top, above the forests and wood, is Cam House and the views are far and wide, notably south and west to the plains. Tumuli dot the plateau so this has been a good spot for a long time.


Directions 

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed. Note: (wm) = waymark

1. Left to road from Village Hall, right at junction (dead-end road sign), becomes track.

2. At junction, steps up to snickelgate (fingerpost Cam Farm/Observatory). Path gently up through field (some waymarked posts).

3. Stile into wood (fingerpost) and immediately left fork to track. Step ford. Ignore a track on left.

4. At tracks T-junction, cross track to path (fingerpost 'footpath', wm) steep uphill for 100 yards through trees then good path swings right and along top of ridge, near end go down small bank on left.

5. Right (fingerpost Wass pointing other way) to track uphill, 25 yards, straight on at three-way junction/clearing.

6. At tracks T-junction by fields, left before fieldgate (wm other way), 200 yards, grass track on left (waymarks on trees).

7. At observatory, good path on left just to side of it, downhill (no sign).

8. Right to track (fingerpost - permissive path).

9. Right at T-junction to track (fingerpost/permissive path arrow), uphill, half a mile. After track crosses stream right at junction, right at T-junction (three-way fingerpost - Cam House), fieldgate, grass track on hillside.

10. At top of hill, fieldgate (wm) into field, through trees, by garden wall to your left (wm post), fieldgate (wm), cross field, fieldgate by barn (wm), cross field corner to fence (wm) and left by fence.

11. Stile/fieldgate (wm) on right to field-edge path gently downhill towards woods, gate, 25 yards, gate, stile/fieldgate into wood and rejoin outward route.


Fact File

Distance: Six miles.

General location: North York Moors.

Start: Wass.

Right of way: Public and permissive.

Dogs: Legal.

Date walked: June 2013.

Car parking: Village Hall, Wass.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The Wombwell Arms at Wass.

Tourist information: National Park Centre Sutton Bank 01845 597426.

Map: OS Explorer OL26 North York Moors western.

Terrain: Mixed.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.