Parking
Use the Dalby Forest Visitor Centre car park off Dalby Forest Drive at Low Dalby, Pickering, YO18 7LT. Start by the Dalby Courtyard; trail maps are available at the visitor centre.
Overview
About Ellerburn Trail
This record covers the complete Ellerburn Trail circuit as mapped by the forest managers: 5.49 km, about 3.4 miles, with roughly 40 m of ascent and descent and around 1 hour 26 minutes of moving time at the recorded route pace. It starts and finishes in the Dalby Courtyard area beside the visitor centre as a continuous closed loop, and the lower approach into the valley uses a shared corridor that you travel in both directions.
Expect a distance discrepancy with the signage and printed information at the forest. The official trail listing separately gives a short route of 2.8 km and a long route of 4.5 km, both signed with purple markers carrying white arrows. Those are shorter waymarked options within the same valley; the figure stored here reflects the full manager-linked circuit rather than either signed variant, so check the marker option you want before setting off.
Why go
- Easy-access surface for wheelchairs, pushchairs and adaptive bikes
- Mostly flat beckside and valley walking with a modest rise
Heads up
- Shared with cyclists and other users
- The signed short and long options make the full distance easy to misread
Best for a short, low-effort valley circuit, a first outing for new riders, a pushchair or wheelchair-friendly forest outing, or an easy stretch of the legs before or after using the visitor centre. It is a functional forest and beck walk with no summit, no ridge and no wide panorama, the lower section is travelled in both directions, and the final incline is the one part that will register if you are pushing a chair or a buggy.
Parkwolf’s verdictWho it suits, and the honest limitsMap & elevation
The route
Loading the North York Moors map
Full mapElevation72–116 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Safety
8 active North York Moors alerts
- ClosureHawnby Bridleway 110 closurePublic Bridleway 25.122/110/1 in Hawnby is closed to pedestrians, cyclists and equestrians because its bridge is unsafe. - The closure is between grid references SE 5309 9073 and SE 5335 9097.Official details
- ClosureWest Ayton Footpath 1 closurePublic Footpath 1 in West Ayton (Forge Valley) is temporarily closed because its boardwalk is unsafe. - The closure is between SE 9860 8494 and SE 9839 8712.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
North York Moors Tour Guide
Your drive to Ellerburn Trail, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for North York Moors National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Dalby Forest Visitor Centre0:00 / 0:29
“Dalby Forest Visitor Centre is coming up, a useful first stop if you haven't decided how much walking or cycling you want. Staff can help you choose a route, and the café serves meals, coffee and cake.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf North York Moors Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Haygate and the Pexton Moor Trail
- Two Ages of Dalby Forest
- Dalby's Rabbit Trap
- Three Ditches in the Trees
- 298 audio storiesacross North York Moors’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Eurasian Otter, Red Deer, Grey Seal, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 126 trails, 65 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Ellerburn Trail
How the route unfoldsThe payoff is quiet valley scenery rather than views from height: running water, conifer and…
The payoff is quiet valley scenery rather than views from height: running water, conifer and broadleaf woodland, and the soft open ground where the trees pull back from the track.
- Leave the courtyard and visitor centre complex on forest tracks heading into the valley.
- Follow the line of Ellerburn Beck, with mixed woodland on the slopes and open grassy edges beside the track.
- Turn for home through the Low Dalby valley, closing the circle back at the courtyard.
Difficulty, surface and accessibilityThe going is easy and mostly flat, on generally firm forest tracks, with a steady incline…
The going is easy and mostly flat, on generally firm forest tracks, with a steady incline towards the end of the circuit. Elevation sampling along the route shows gently rolling ground with one modest rise rather than any sustained climb.
It is signed as an Easy Access Trail and is described by the managers as a multi-user pathway suitable for disabled cyclists, walkers, wheelchair users, children learning to ride, parents with pushchairs and dog walkers. Even so, this is a forest track rather than a paved promenade, so treat it as a supported easy-access route with a firm surface and a final gradient to plan for, not a guaranteed step-free surface at every metre.
Getting there and parkingStart point: Dalby Forest Visitor Centre / Dalby Courtyard, Dalby Forest Drive, Low Dalby,…
- Start point: Dalby Forest Visitor Centre / Dalby Courtyard, Dalby Forest Drive, Low Dalby, Pickering, YO18 7LT.
- Use the visitor centre car park; accessible parking is part of the site's access provision.
- Trail maps are available at the visitor centre, which is the simplest way to confirm whether you are following the short or long signed option.
- The complex has a cafe and toilets on site.
Dogs and shared useDogs are welcome.
Dogs are welcome. The route is shared with cyclists, families and other users, including people learning to ride, so keep your dog under close and reliable control and give way courteously. The same applies to walkers: expect bikes and buggies anywhere on the circuit.
Wildlife
Wildlife in North York Moors
15 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
10 sightingsRed DeerMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
79 sightingsGrey SealMost seen around noonSighting map
26 sightingsWestern Barn OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
33 sightingsEuropean BadgerMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
10 sightingsMute SwanMost seen around noonSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across North York Moors. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
