A Walkers Tale

Today I am off to complete a walk that I have done before, but never got enough photos to do a writeup with - and this walk is the first stretch of the Cleveland Way from Helmsley round to Thirsk.

The Esk Valley Walk is a relatively minor trail that follows the pretty Esk Valley through the North Yorkshire Moors - and one of it's appeals is that it's easy to access and walk.  The route travels along the same valley as the Esk Valley Railway line, which is a rural train service with frequent stops on it's journey from Middlesbrough to Whitby, although only limited services running throughout the day.

The Cleveland Way on the North Yorkshire Moors is one of my local areas to go walking - and when walking in the North Yorkshire Moors, this is the path I use most. Today's section of the Cleveland Way  makes use of two train lines - first the line from Middlesborough to Whitby, and second the line to Saltburn (along the coast).

For this walk I will be following the route of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway out of Grosmont round to Goathland - where filming has been done for series like Heartbeat and films such as Harry Potter. Then I will head back and continue on round to Lealholm using the Esk Valley Walk .

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.

Living up in the North East - up between Darlington and Middlesbrough - one of my local stomping grounds over the years has been the North Yorkshire Moors - which offers a fairly quiet and peaceful place to go walk in pretty countryside, away from the crowds who generally tend to head west to visit the lakes.

Having recently walked from  Scarborough to Whitby  along the Cleveland Way , I was interested in the differences between that walk and the Cinder Trail - along the old railway line - between the same towns.

This walk was the second of two days of walking - starting at Filey, and walking along the coast northwards to Whitby. Having stayed over in Scarborough, this second day would involve a walk from Scarborough up to Whitby. Click for the writeup for the previous walk, walking along the Cleveland Way from  Filey to Scarborough .

Over the years, I have spent a lot of time walking on the North Yorkshire Moors - with much of that happening along the Cleveland Way . This is one of the more underrated trails around the country - offering a full mix of farmland, moorland, cliff views out from Sutton Bank, and then a stretch of coastline from Saltburn down to Filey.

The Cleveland Way is one of my regular walking routes - and a particularly nice section of of the Cleveland Way is the section running from Sutton Bank, up to Swainby - via Osmotherly.

After moving up to the north for work, I found myself living roughly halfway between Darlington and Middlesborough.  Before moving up, I had head much about National Parks such as the Lake District, the Peak District and the Yorkshire Dales - but the North Yorkshire Moors was a relative unknown.