Holiday 15 - Our Week in North Yorkshire

In June 2019 we spent a week in North Yorkshire, staying in a large, self-catering house near Malton. We did a number of quite different walks in and around the North Yorkshire Moors.

The first full-days' walk was from Ravenscars to Robin Hood's Bay, following the Cleveland Way. The route first followed the coast along cliff-top paths and then took us down to the shore, where we walked along the sea's edge to Robin Hood's Bay.

After exploring this seaside town, and stopping for an icecream, we returned to Ravenscar by a route further inland on a dismantled railway. There was a tea shop at the end of the walk, which made a most welcome stop.

The second walk was from Goathland, known to Heartbeat viewers as Aidensfield. Walking through the village, we crossed the preserved track of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Goathland station. We followed footpaths through moorland and farmland to Grosmont.

We stopped for lunch at the beautifully preserved Grosmont railway station followed by a guided tour of the railway workshops. Our route back took various footpaths, mostly through woodland, which included a small diversion to see Mallyan Spout waterfall. This had been recommended to the walk leaders, however the recent dry weather had left it rather unspectacular.

The walk ended back at Goathland, where some of us stopped at a tea shop while others explored the village.

The next walk was around the Hole of Horcum, a large natural bowl in the landscape in Levisham Moor. We started walking around the rim of the bowl before branching off into the moor.

We descended to the remains of the Skelton lookout tower - yes, descended to the tower - which overlooked a valley in which the North Yorkshire Moors Railway travelled alongside Pickering Beck. Stopping at the remains, we had our packed lunches and watched the Pickering to Whitby train steam through the valley.

The return leg took us into the bowl of the Hole of Horcum.

The last walk was from Fridaythorpe and explored the dry valleys known as dales or slacks. These flat-bottomed valleys must once have been rivers but the river beds are now grass covered and used for grasing sheep.

We crossed farmland from Fridaythorpe into the dales, stopping to see two farmers herding sheep through West Dale. Walking through Brubber Dale into Thixen Dale, we admired a strange earthwork sculpture in Bradeham Dale.

After emerging from Wayrham Dale, we stopped for lunch at a nearby picnic area and returned to Fridaythorpe through farmland.