Walking in North Yorkshire
March 21, 2013 5:45 AM   Subscribe

I'm planning on spending a long weekend walking in North Yorkshire. Ideally we would stay in a nice pub in a small town and take a couple of moderate walks (~10 miles) each day and drink beer and eat pies in the evening. Where should we stay and where should we walk?
posted by Fiery Jack to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (9 answers total) 14 users marked this as a favorite
 
I just returned from a holiday in Scarborough and we did this with much shorter walks. The Cleveland Way is a fairly easy walk along the coast on public footpaths. The website has information about places to stay along the route. It's about 20 miles between Scarborough and Whitby, which make for a great trip over a couple days.
posted by Eumachia L F at 6:23 AM on March 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Sounds like you're looking for The Dales / 3 Peaks country.
posted by anagrama at 6:38 AM on March 21, 2013


Some accommodation options here.
posted by oliverburkeman at 6:58 AM on March 21, 2013


The steam railway between Pickering and Whitby stops at several cute towns. Goathland is the halfway point, there's breathtaking walks from there and a number of pubs and places to stay (I didn't overnight myself, so I can't recommend anywhere in particular, but I can attest to the quality of walking and pubs).
posted by Erasmouse at 7:00 AM on March 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Nthing the Cleveland Way: there’s a ton of offline and online literature about it, and lots of little chunks of it that make great hikes and long walks.

I would recommend a look at Staithes, a fork-bendingly beautiful fishing village off the A174. It has a couple of cosy pubs that do food, although I’m not sure if they do B&B. The Ship Inn (http://www.shipinnportmulgrave.co.uk), 5 mins up the road at Port Mulgrave, is an ex-pub B&B with good reviews on Trip Advisor. Both Staithes and Port Mulgrave are very handy for the Cleveland Way. And when the tide is out you can walk along the rocks by the sea, and find lovely ammonites and things.
posted by Grunyon at 7:01 AM on March 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


Helmsley would make a nice base.
posted by crocomancer at 8:08 AM on March 21, 2013


If you go for the Cleveland Way option (and obviously you should), High Hawkser has a pub that does decent food (no lodging). It's just south of Whitby though, so it'd be lunch on your last day or something.
posted by hoyland at 8:21 AM on March 21, 2013


For me Scarborough is a little run down. Whitby or Robin Hoods Bay on the coast or Pickering or Helmsley inland would be my best bet.

You don't mention if you have a car, if you do I'd spend one day at Whitby (The White Horse and Griffin is very nice, and some of the best fish and chips or kippers in the country are to be found in Whitby), one day either at Goathland or Glaisdale (the Mallyan Spout at Goathland is a rather posh hotel but has a very nice bar and good food) and one day either at Pickering or Helmsley.

You can do this by bus, or the North Yorkshire Moors Railway, but you have to keep a good eye on the time, for instance the last bus from Whitby is 6PM and the NYMR (usually steam) is a tourist train and not very regular.

Walk the coast, parts of the Cleveland Way are very nice and accessible from Whitby.

The loop from the Lion Inn at Blakey Rigg which is part of the old railway line, near nowhere but the pub does accommodation and food, is a nice gentle stroll in good weather.

Falling Foss or Maybeck, accessed down a very narrow and steep road from the top of Blue Bank above Sleights just outside Whitby (follow the signs to Littlebeck) were part of my childhood and still hold a place in my heart.
posted by hardcode at 2:25 PM on March 21, 2013 [2 favorites]


Your choice splits basically between Dales and Moors: I'm inclined to prefer the moors and the coast, as it's closest to home and I like the raw bleak beauty of the high moors.

Seconding Grunyon on Staithes: it's the hidden gem of the coast between the Tees and the Humber. Seconding hardcode on travelling inland from Whitby if you want to explore further: Lealholm's small and pretty (sample walk) and reachable on the Esk Valley line rather than the NYRM; Commondale is further along that line and opens up the moors.
posted by holgate at 7:49 PM on March 21, 2013 [1 favorite]


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