Esk Valley Walk - Castleton to Commondale (★★★★★)

Today we are heading to the North Yorkshire Moors to complete the Esk Valley Walk - and today we will be walking a section of this trail that focuses on the upper end of the River Esk.

We will start this walk in Castleton, and will then walk up Danby Dale until we meet up with the Coast to Coast trail on Farndale Moor.

Form here we will walk some of the section of the Coast to Coast that follows the old railway paths, before dropping down and following the River Esk from it's source back to Castleton - after which we will continue on to Commondale to use up a bit of additional time until our train home.

One of the challenges of getting onto the North Yorkshire Moors (and to Castleton) is the train timetable - and for those living further afield your earliest realistic option is the 9:20 train Monday to Saturday (getting into Castleton at about 11am) or the 10:20 Sunday train (getting in at midday).

This fairly late start means that you will either have to walk incredibly fast, or will have to catch the 7:30pm train back - which whilst okay in summer is not so good once the nights start to draw in.

This does make this a hard route to replicate via public transport outside the peak of summer - but here I am aided by the fact that I live on Teesside. And this gives me the option of suing the earliest train on each days.

These earliest trains leave Darlington at 6am Monday to Friday, or a bit after 8am on a Sunday - and for those coming from further afield and wanting to get going early, your best bet is to see if you can make your own way to Darlington in time for 8am on a Sunday.

Whilst I have made good use of that 6am service over the years, today we are using the more civilised 8am Sunday option - and this gets us into Castleton Moor train station at 9:30am.

At Castleton we are the only person getting off the train - and from here we head down to the road, and turn right - following the road down the hill, and over the river.

Once over the river we turn right again, along a very quiet road (where the cars are always exceptionally polite) - and then turn left onto a footpath that heads up the ridge, to the village above.

Looking back from near the top of this ridge

This town was once the main market for this part of Upper Eskdale - and it is reasonably big for the area (which is mostly tiny farming hamlets).

It's name Castleton is suggestive of a castle - and indeed to the east of the village there once sat a castle that can be found on an OS Map.

This castle was founded by Robert de Brus I (who was granted the Lordship of Skelton after the Norman Conquest) - and it was he who started off the Bruce dynasty in Britain, as well as foudning Guisborough Priory 

His ancestor would of course go on to be known as Robert the Bruce King of Scotland - but that would be six generations on from this Robert, who was only a fairly recent arrival to Britain when this casltle was built in Castleton.

In 1271 this castle passed to the Latimer family, and then passed on to the Neville family when the last Lord Latimer died without a son. 

And towards the end of the 14th (or beginning of the 15th) century the castle was abandonded in favour of a newer castle, that sits to the south-east of Danby - and the stone from Castleton castle was probably taken in order to help build that newer site.

But our route avoids the centre of the village - and we turn right to head away from that centre (and away from the former castle) - before turning left down a farm track.

Following the farm track

This track takes us on past Didderhowe Farm, and then out into the fields - which we now start walking through.

There are plenty of cows out and about in these fields, but they are mostly dairy cows - and are neither particularly curious, nor particular skittish.

And as we make our way through these fields, we find ourselves to be in quite wonderful countryside - with the North Yorkshire Moors being in my opinion at it's best during October - when you not only get those first hints of autumnal colour, but when there has also been enough rain to make the fields brightly coloured, and not enough rain to make the walking dismal.

Here we have an enjoyable time, as we start to make our way up Danby Dale - whcih is a side glacial valley, flanked by moorland at the top of it's ridges.

In time we reach the end of these fields - and then start to follow a very quiet road, that takes us up to Plum Tree Farm - and after here we continue on along farm tracks.

Heading out along the farm tracks

Until the ridge starts to narrow

Eventually the ridge slowly starts to narrow, as we make our way towards Danby Head - and towards the base of Danby High Moor.

The area of moorland just above us on Danby High Moor was mined for coal between 1789 and 1812 - although this was fairly low-grade coal, that was mostly burned in local lime kilns, rather than being used for wider industrial purposes.

This was done via bell pits similar to those that litter the area around Rosedale, and along Rudland Rigg - and a pit would be mined, and then left to collapse in on itself naturally.

But whilst this was low grade coal, it remained valuable due to the challenge of transporting higher grade coal into the area - and here it is worth bearing in mind that the railway only opened as far as Grosmont in 1835, and only along the stretch past Castleton and Danby in 1858.

Until transport routes improved, this low-grade coal provided the best source of fuel that was attainable - but once those transport routes improved, this lower quality coal was no longer worth mining.

These mines can be seen on an OS Map as the 'Workings' near Botton Cross at the true Danby Head (rather than the village Danby Head) - but out path takes us west, up a steep path that takes us up onto Danby High Moor.

Starting to leave behind Danby Head (the village)

A bit further up the ridge

Even further up

And now much further up

In time we reach the top of this climb - and in doing so meet up with a road that has come up from Castleton, via Castleton Rigg.

This is a fairly busy road - but we are not near it for long before we turn off, and start heading almost directly south, until we cross a road - where we meet up with the route of the Coast to Coast trail.

This section of the Coast to Coast is one which I have both walked and written up on this website - on a walk that ran from Battersby to Glaisdale, across a then much yellower expanse of moorland (during the peak of the summer drought).

But today the moors are looking much healthier as we follow this trail round past Rosedale Head until we meet back up with that busy road once again.

Here our path runs alongside the road, as the noisy cars speed by - although here we are compensated a bit for the road noise, by the views out across Rosedale - as we walk the mile or so round to the Lion Inn.

The view out across Rosedale

A slightly earlier view captured in early August (during the drought)

Rosedale itself is an area that we explored in a walk that went from Glaisdale to Battersby - and since we covered the history of the Rosedale Ironstone Mines in much detail during that walk, I won't repeat the same detail here.

 

But it suffices to say that this was a busy area of Ironstone mining - with the railways taking away the processed ores to the industry based on Teesside.

And having reached the Lion Inn, we turn our back on Rosedale - and walk past the Inn to those railways, as they start their journey across Farndale Moor (towards Middlesbrough).

Heading down from the Lion Inn

And meeting up with the old railway

A positive of joining up with this old railway route, is that the next 2-3 miles promise to be fairly flat - but the best thing about this section of railway isn't the flat terrain, but the wonderful views out across Farndale below.

The view out across Farndale

The view from a similar spot back in August

It is nice to see how quickly the colour has been restored to the area - particularly down in the dales - but the upper section of the moors has clearly been slower to regain it's colour - with this area being quite well drained by the channels that protect the railway path.

But here we can just take in the views as we make our way round across High Blakey Moor - with the odd Coast to Coaster heading past us in the opposite direction, on their way to Robin Hood's Bay.

Looking back towards the Lion Inn across the valleyc reated by Blakey Gill

Now looking back towards Farndale

Still looking out towards Farndale

Once again from a similar spot back in August

After a while our trip along this railway comes to and end - and the Esk Valley Walk turns away from the Coast to Coast, heading down into Westerdale Moor - and here we will join up with the start of the River Esk, as it draws water down from this higher ridge.

This stretch heading down off the ridge along this path is a very pretty one - and I have done this stretch of path many times - but the next section of path will be very quiet, and it is unlikely we will pass another walking until we get back to Castleton (spoiler - we didn't see any other walkers).

Heading down to the River Esk

Looking out towards the upper reach of the River Esk

After dropping down fairly sharply, this path meets up with the river - and here we get to stand by the River Esk near the very beginnings of it's journey down to the sea.

Our track from here follows on the western side of the river, whilst another track heads round on the far side (and that may be a useful alternative route if it has been particularly wet, as it does appear to be a permissible path - since it is fairly roughly marked via a dotted green line).

But sticking with the official route - we at first enjoy a good well made track, before we turn off and head down to cross over the infant Esk - and from here we have a mile or so of fairly wet path to navigate.

This section requires a bit of bog hopping, and some careful placement of feet to avoid getting the inside of your shoes wet - but here I remember all the right places to step, and get through without getting a splash of water into my shoes.

Continuing on along this route, the trail does in time start to get drier as the valley widens - and then we meet up with some horses, just as their horse pal gets returned to their fields.

The valley starts to widen

Rather charmingly, we now get to watch those horses already in the field head down to greet the new arrival, the very second he/she makes their way into the field.

As I approach one of the youngest foals looks a bit unsure about my arrival - but to my surprise the rest of the horses come over to also say hello to me - and so there is a bit of scratching and stroking to be done before we can continue on my way.

But in time we reach the end of these fields, head over a bridge - and then on round and through a few sheep fields - as we pass Wood End - and then on past more horses, and more sheep - heading towards New House Farm.

Another horse below Baysdale Moor

By the time we meet up with New House Farm, we turn onto a track that runs just below the steeper section of the ridger - and this takes us round to Hawthorn House - and on up a minor road until we meet up with the road that runs between Kildale and Westerdale.

We briefly turn onto this road, before quickly turning off - and by now we are heading almost directly towards Castleton (walking between the River Esk and the Baysdale Beck).

On our way to Castleton looking towards the River Esk

We now spend quite some time walking along this ridge, before we drop down and cross over the River Esk - before then following the river round to a road.

And having met up with this road, we turn left and follow it up on to the ridge, before then turning left again and following it back down off the same ridge - until we pass the point where we first turned off the road this morning - and then we retrace our steps towards Castleton train station.

It would be possible to end our journey here - but we have arrived at this point over an hour ahead of the next train to Middlebrough (which is right now on it's final run into Whitby) - and so we will walk the extra forty minutes or so round to Commondale just to kill a bit of time.

And with this in mind, we continue to follow the road past the train station, and on up the northern ridge - until we have passed the turn off for the onward route of the Esk Valley Walk - and only after we pass that turn off, do we eventually reach our left turn along a bridleway.

This bridleway is really a rough track, that provides access to the houses that sit along this ridge - and here our path is running above the Commondale Beck.

And this stretch of path offers us a very pleasant (and fairly flat) end to the day, before we eventually reach the edge of Commondale.

Making our way towards Commondale

Now closing in on Commondale

At Commondale we don't continue on into the village - and instead we reach a sign that direct us down through a sheep field to the train station.

And remarkably sheep field is the main access to the station, but the station does have a lovely little shelter to wait in until the train arrives, and it is a nice quiet spot in which to wait.

A nice spot to wait

By this point we have completed the Esk Valley Walk some time ago (when we passed through Castleton) - and it has been a lovely little trail that is easily accessible from Teesside (if not really from anywhere else) - and it is full of a lot of variety.

Last time we walked it, we had a grand old time walking down the growing River Esk until it finally reached the North Sea at Whitby - and today has been full of variety as we have walked up dales, through moorland, along old railways and down narrow valleys.

And overall it simply has been a great trail to walk, and enjoy.

Total Distance: 17.3 miles (15.3 miles to complete Esk Valley Walk)

Total Ascent: 2,201 feet (1,880 feet to complete Esk Valley Walk)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Click for the adjoing section of the Esk Valley Walk from Comondale to Whitby.

Click for a connecting walk along the Coast to Coast from Battersby to Glaisdale.

Click for a connecting walk exploring the Rosedale Ironstone Mines from Glaisdale to Battersby.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 94 OS Landranger map (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked, but a map is probably necessary to walk the trail