Early Warnings at Fylingdales and Lilla Cross

Newton House Plantation is one of the many blocks of forestry that make up the North York Moors Forest. There are more than 50,000 acres (20,250ha) of trees in the National Park, many of them, like Newton House, open for walkers. Nearly three-quarters of the timber they produce is used for sawlogs, and the rest for pulp and other products. Look out on the forest tracks for deer, and for siskins and crossbills that nest in the plantations. And keep an eye out, too, for mountain bikers, who are encouraged to use the trails.

Unlike in most of upland Britain, the most important of the roads and tracks in the North York Moors follow the ridges between the valleys. The tracks are often marked by standing stones or crosses, many of them of great antiquity. Although many are called 'cross', most are just a base or the stump - and sometimes there's nothing to see at all. The North York Moors National Park has Ralph Cross, one of the most distinctive, as its symbol and, after the forest section, our walk passes what is left of York Cross and Ann's Cross, with the remains of John Cross to guide us on the final descent from the moors.

The most impressive and most ancient of the Moor's crosses is Lilla, which commemorates a selfless deed of bravery in ad 626. King Edwin of Northumbria, whose wife Ethelburga was a Christian, was the intended victim of an assassination attempt at his court by the River Derwent near Stamford Bridge. The assassin, sent by the King of the West Saxons, lunged at Edwin with a poisoned dagger. Lilla, a Christian and one of Edwin's counsellors, leapt forward to protect the King and was killed. Edwin had his body buried in the Bronze Age howe on the moors in sight of the sea, and had a cross, said to be the oldest Christian memorial in the North, erected in his memory. It still survives, despite a peripatetic life in the 20th century - threatened by shells from artillery ranges, it was removed to a spot by the Whitby road by the Royal Engineers in 1952. It returned home again ten years later.

Dominating the middle section of the walk is the improbably large sandcastle that houses the Fylingdales early warning system. It's heavily fenced and there are forbidding notices at all approaches, but from a distance it's impressive enough. It replaced the three 'Golf Balls' that became one of the sights of the Moors from the 1960s. Unlike those unexpected but satisfying spheres, the new monuments seem not yet to have been taken to visitors' hearts.

Where to eat and drink

May Beck car park usually boasts an ice cream van in the summer season, but otherwise you'll need to visit nearby Goathland or other local villages to find refreshments.

What to look for

Forests are changing landscapes, with areas being clear felled and others newly planted. While this can sometimes make walking confusing, when wooded glades give way to an open landscape of tiny netted trees, it can have positive benefits for wildlife. If you are near a felled area towards dusk, you may be rewarded by the 'churring' sound of the nightjar. Virtually invisible in the day, when it sits disguised by its plumage amongst fallen leaves and twigs, it favours such open areas for nesting. Nightjars migrate from Africa in the spring, and lay their eggs in dead bracken in May and June. Also known as goatsuckers, as they were thought to milk goats with their beaks, making the goats go blind, they are said to carry in them the souls of unbaptised dead children.

While you're there

Take the steep road starting on the B1416, near the access road to May Beck Car Park, that goes down into the deep valley the beck has carved out of the hills. In the valley bottom is the pretty village of Littlebeck, surrounded by woods at the entrance to a narrow gorge. The 29ft (9m) waterfall called Falling Foss in the gorge, can be reached both from Littlebeck and from the May Beck Car Park.