The present paper addresses the issue of particle recirculation in discharges where low-energy flux to ergodic divertor target plates is achieved in highly-radiating detached ohmic plasmas. Plasma temperature and particle flux are measured by flush-mounted probes in the divertor plates and by an upstream fast scanning Mach probe. The scalings with core density of the ion flux and electron temperature are well described by the simple two-point model used in axisymmetric poloidal divertors. The detachment signature is a pressure drop that occurs when the edge temperature falls below 10 eV. The parallel ion flux gradient is always positive, indicating that recombination is unlikely to play an important role in detachment. Visible spectroscopy of a neutralizer plate shows that attainment of cold detached plasmas near the density limit coincides with an abrupt increase of fuelling efficiency for both deuterium and impurities. A feedback algorithm based on real-time Langmuir probe measurements has been developed to monitor detachment and avoid disruptions.