Glaisdale and Egton Bridge

This is a circular 5 miles (8 km) starting and finishing at Glaisdale Station (grid reference NZ 784 055), and the official timing is about 3 hours 30 minutes. Distances here are for the full loop, so you end where you started with no retracing and no shuttle to sort out.

You drop down beneath the railway almost immediately and cross the River Esk at Beggar's Bridge, whose inscription points to 1619. From there it is riverside road, then a proper climb through Church Dale Farm and woodland onto open farmland, across fields and a stone bridge, past Egton Mortuary Chapel. The descent to Egton Station is on old stone-paved trods, then you cross the railway and the Esk at Egton Bridge, pass the Horseshoe Hotel and return by minor road, bridleway and the woodland track through East Arncliff Wood. The payoff is the contrast: two historic river crossings at the bottom, wide high farmland views in the middle.

Rated moderate, and it earns that. Reckon on roughly 292 m of ascent and 205 m of descent, with a high point near 173 m and a low point near 43 m, so it is a valley-to-tops-to-valley profile. There is a steep climb out of the valley in the early middle section and another steep pull later in the loop. Surfaces are field paths and woodland tracks, plus stone trods that get slippery, so boots with grip beat trainers. Expect several stiles and about 1 and three quarter miles (2.8 km) on minor roads, so stay alert for traffic on those stretches.

Esk Valley countryside throughout, with woodland that gives a strong bluebell show in late spring. The Esk itself supports salmon and sea trout. The two obvious photographs are Beggar's Bridge and the river at Egton Bridge, both easy to reach from the path without scrambling about.

Dogs are welcome on almost all walks in the North York Moors National Park, but the park's guidance is to keep them on a short lead under 2 metres from 1 March to 31 July for ground-nesting birds, and near livestock at any time of year. On most moorland open-access land dogs must stay on public rights of way. You pass through farmland with animals on this loop, so short leads and control around cyclists and horse riders matter here.

Rail to Glaisdale Station is the clean option and it puts you on the route from step one. The station is unstaffed with level access from a cobbled, uneven car-park approach, but there is no station car park listed, no station toilets and no refreshments there. Refreshments are available in Glaisdale and Egton Bridge, so plan a stop in the villages rather than at the platform.