Howdale Moor and Brow Moor

This is a closed circular loop of 3.8 miles (6.1 km) starting and finishing at the car park beside the transmitter mast on Scarborough Road, about half a mile west of Ravenscar at grid NZ 970 012. Allow about 2.5 hours at ordinary walking pace with stops. Climbing is modest, roughly 89 m of ascent, with the ground between about 176 m and 264 m, so the effort is in the surface underfoot rather than the gradient. Our editorial difficulty is 4/10: easy in profile, bumpy and rough in places, with a shallow ford and some route finding on open moorland.

• Start opposite the mast and follow the track and bridleway out across the moor.
• Fork right after a pond and head toward Cook House.
• Swing round the moor edge on a short surfaced stretch, cross a boardwalk, then drop beside a wall and fields into a small wood.
• Ford a shallow beck just to the right of a small waterfall, then climb back up through heather.
• Join the Stoup Brow Trail and follow the track round Brow Moor, with a short optional detour to a large cairn for the coast view.
• Cross a track and return over the moor to the mast and car park.

Expect a mix of heather paths, rough tracks, bridleway gravel, a little surfaced track, a boardwalk and one wooded section. Some paths get overgrown, and the low ground and moorland hollows hold mud well after rain, so wear boots you do not mind soaking at the beck crossing. There are no stiles. Much of the walk is on Open Access land, where paths are faint in stretches, so keep a map and be ready to pick your line between junctions. The moor is exposed and there is no shelter once you are away from the wood, which matters on windy or misty days.

Sweeping heather moorland, big open views over the Ravenscar coastline and north toward Robin Hood's Bay, and prehistoric burial mounds scattered across Howdale Moor and Brow Moor alongside other traces of old land use. The cairn detour on Brow Moor is the best single viewpoint on the circuit and worth the few extra minutes. Fylingdales Moor is known for birds of prey including merlin and short eared owl, with short eared owls most likely in winter.

Park at the car park near the transmitter mast on Scarborough Road; the walk begins and ends there. Ravenscar has toilets and refreshments, a short distance east. On dogs, this route does not work as a full walk: dogs are only permitted on the public bridleway between the first and third roadbook points, under close control or on a short lead, and on a short lead near livestock. From the third point onward the route crosses Open Access land where dogs are not allowed off rights of way. A short lead also applies from 1 March to 31 July where nesting birds are a concern.