The North York Moors - A Walker's Guidebook

Guidebook to 50 walks in seven regions throughout the North York Moors National Park, enabling walkers to discover the Tabular Hills, Hambleton Hills, Cleveland Hills, Northern Moors, High Moors, Eastern Moors and Cleveland Coast. The classic Lyke Wake Walk (65km) is also described, split over a four-day period.

This guidebook offers 50 walks in the varied landscape of the North York Moors National Park. The park was designated in 1952 and covers 1432km² (553 square miles) of land that comprise the largest continuous expanse of heather moorland in England. The moors are of no great height, yet offer a wonderful sense of spaciousness, with extensive views under a ‘big sky’. There are also deep verdant dales where charming scenes and hoary stone buildings can be found, as well as a remarkable cliff coastline designated as heritage coast. The long-distance Cleveland Way wraps itself around the moors and coast, but there are many other walks that explore the rich variety of the area, focusing on its charm, history, heritage and wildlife.

The walks are distributed through seven regions within the park, enabling walkers to discover and appreciate the Tabular Hills, Hambleton Hills, Cleveland Hills, Northern Moors, High Moors, Eastern Moors and Cleveland coast. For those who like a challenge, the course of the classic Lyke Wake Walk, crossing the national park from east to west, is also offered, split over a four-day period to allow a leisurely appreciation of the moors. Almost 750km (465 miles) of walking routes are described here, though the national park could furnish many more splendid ones from a stock of 1770km (1100 miles) of public footpaths and bridleways.

People have crossed the North York Moors since time immemorial, and some of their routes survive to this day. Stout stone crosses were planted to assist travellers and traders with a safe passage, and these days practically all rights of way are signposted and walkable, though some routes are used far more than others.

Despite having the appearance of a wilderness, this has often been, and remains to this day, a working landscape. The moors are scarred and quarried in places by man’s search for mineral resources, and the heather cover requires year-round management for the sport of grouse shooting. Walkers with enquiring minds will quickly realise that the human history and settlement of the moors, even at its highest points, stretches back over thousands of years. Our own enjoyment of the moors, in contrast, may be nothing more than a transient pleasure that leaves little trace.