North York Moors - Glaisdale to Battersby (★★★★★)

It is always good to be on the hunt for new routes, and one spot I came across was Glaisdale Rigg - and looking at the map, this could take me across to Rosedale Abbey, and on to Battersby (across the North Yorkshire Moors) - where I could catch a train home.

And so it is that today, I've head out on the early train to Glaisdale, where I initially I have a bit of trouble working out how to exit the station - but realising that the exit is on the opposite platform (and hidden behind the train I wait for it to go before I cross over). 

But since this is Yorkshire (and since no one is in any great hurry), the driver leans out and tells me to go - promising not to run me down whilst I do so.

This gets me safely out of the train station, and from here I turn right, and begin to head up a hill - and then just before reaching the Arncliffe Arms pub, I turn right down the road.

Here I am following the path of the Esk Valley Walk - but where it heads right to go down through the woods, I remain on the road - and bear left to head up the hill.

This takes us up to the main road that passes through Glaisdale - and here we turn right to head through the village, and then left at The Green - to head along a road that will transition into Glaisdale Rigg further up the hill.

Here we are also following (in reverse) the route of the Coast to Coast trail - which heads from the western end of the Lake District, across England to Robin Hood's Bay (passing through the Yorkshire Dales along the way).

Heading up this path, we get up onto Glaisdale Moor, with impressive views looking both forwards - and back the direction we have come.

The soft purple shade is the heather on the moors

With it being mid-August, the heather on the moors is not quite in peak flower (that has just about passed), but there is a very strong purple shade to the landscape.

Looking forwards a tiny bit further on

Continuing on along this track, it eventually joins up with a very minor road heading across the Moors - and my plan is to follow that road for a little bit, before a path turns off to the right, following a track above Dale Head round, to join another road near Danby High Moor. 

And although I didn't realise it at the time, this is the same route taken by the Coast to Coast walk.

And as we join up with this road we pass over the path of a cross dyke, which is believed to date back to the Middle Bronze Age - with this area of the moors being full of signs of early human habitation.

But these days, there are not many people about - and it is the sheep who we are most encountering along this walk.

A quick chat with some new friends

The view from the road isn't too bad really

I have not walked this route before, so I'm not sure how easy the turn off will be to find, but the path ahead turns out to be well marked by a gate, that also marks the end of this section of road walking (although we actually never met any cars along this stretch).

Not a bad view looking back

Along this next stretch the official route of the path is buried in the heather to the left, but this is fine, because we can just head along the track to the right - and this track continues for the whole stretch I plan to walk along. 

It is very quiet up here, and I pass my first fellow traveler of the day, in form of a bike out for a ride along this trail (which is at least good news about the quality of the path ahead). 

It is a pleasant route round, and upon reaching a crossroads in the path (that might have offered an early cut up), I decide to stick to the better laid track that I am already on - and continue to head round to the road.

At that road, I turn left onto a minor road, and then left again at a junction (where we leave the Coast to Coast behind) - before pulling off to the right of this road, to follow a path that drops down to the old track of the Rosedale railway below :

Heading down to the railway

Having made it down to the path of the railway (not too bad, eh?)

Here we find what remains of iron mining activity - with ores being mined, and then calcined at the nearby kilns - before being taken on to Teesside. And we will be walking that route on to Teesside - following the old railways across the Moors, and down the Ingleby Incline to Battersby.

Extracting the iron

Rosedale Railway (which we are walking on today)

Upon reaching the old path of the railway, the quickest route would be to turn right, and head round to meet up with the Blakey Inn on the far side of the valley ahead - which is a very similar route to the Coast to Coast route - which essentially does the same thing, but following (at times) busy roads instead of old railway lines.

And if you were walking the Coast to Coast, I think you would be permitted to take the liberty of dropping down off the road to use this route, as it does seem a bit smarter than doing a road section.

But in any case, our route today turns left, and will follow this ridge all the way round to Rosedale Abbey - and so we head on, passing the old stone kilns along the way.

Heading along the path

The view across the valley

Stone kilns

Up till now we have been walking on the oil railways, but as we join up with the old cottages, we move off this route - and start heading down towards the village below. 

Here, the next section of the walk involves a bit of road walking - heading out along the road, past Low Bell End, and into Rosedale Abbey - where I cut through the church yard to have a bit of a look around.

Of course we'll have a look

From here the goal is to head up on the road up to Spaunton Moor (via Chimney Bank) - but on the way I instead spot, and decided to follow, a footpath that runs parallel to the road, which takes me to the foot of Chimney Bank.

From here there is a (very) steep climb up to Bank Top - and here we turn to the right, to rejoin the former path of Rosedale Railway, by Rosedale Bank Top Kilns (which are a busier version of the kilns seen earlier today).

Photo taken while having a breather heading up the road

Having rejoined the old railway path, the route is once again straight-forward (as we just keep following the old railway) - and from here the route heads along Blakey Ridge for a long stretch, on the opposite side of the valley to that walked earlier today.

And after this long stretch along this path, we arrive at a car park - which is our signal to cross over and head onto the other side of the road, as we join the old railway route that carried the material on to Battersby, and then ultimately to Teesside.

And here at this car park, we also meet back up with the Coast to Coast trail, which as been following the road round (to the north).

Having just crossed over the road

From here navigation is once again incredibly straight-forward - as we once again just keep following the old railway path - and the walking is easy, with the path ensuring a flat route no matter how much the terrain might otherwise undulate.

And we fairly easily cross Farndale Moor, and then we tick off Dale Head, and Middle Head, before reaching Bloworth Crossing, where we also (briefly) meet up with the Cleveland Way (which comes in from our right, and heads out from this crossing along the same route as us).

Bloworth Crossing in it's glory days

From here we heads straight over at the crossing - and then, as both the Cleveland Way and Coast to Coast routes turn off to the left, we continue on - and bend round to the right, as we stay on the old railway route.

Here we spend some time walking along the top of a ridge, that looks out towards Teesside, and the countryside below, before we head down Ingleby Incline itself - and to the base of this ridge.

Walking down Ingleby Incline

In its glory days

This steep section was used to get the iron ore off the Moors, and from the bottom it is a long straight run to Battersby, on a path (that these days turns into a minor road) that follows the old route of this line.

Eventually though, we have to divert off the old route of the railway - which used to head in a straight line to Battersby train station - and at Bank Foot, we instead turn left onto another minor road, and then right on a slightly bigger (but still fairly minor) road. And from here it is a very short walk to Battersby train station.

And so it is time to head home by train, taking the same route that the iron ore used to - along the tracks to Middlesbrough.

Total Distance: 27.0 miles

Total Ascent: 2,890 feet

Enjoyment Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

If you are interested in exploring the route of the Cleveland Way (which we briefly met at Bloworth Crossing), the link to the section that overlaps this route is here : Kildale to Swainby.

For additional walking at the Glaisdale end, there is a writeup of a walk along the Esk Valley Walk (which we briefly met up with at Glaisdale) from Commondale to Whitby.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 93 (only used briefly near Battersby) and 94 OS Landranger maps (links redirect to Amazon). The route is not a specific trail, but someone with map reading experience should be able to navigate a route without issue - and a route was easy to find and follow