River Folk Audio Trail

This is a circular walk of 2.3 miles (3.7 km) that starts and finishes at the Rievaulx Abbey access, and it comes with a downloadable audio piece about the River Rye and the people who have lived alongside it. Allow about an hour of walking, plus extra time if you want to stop and listen properly.

From the abbey area you drop into the River Rye valley, pass the Rievaulx Bridge and river setting, then work through woodland and open fields before curving back to where you parked. The abbey ruins and the valley sit in the background for much of it, so the scenery does a lot of the work while the audio fills in the history and community stories. The recording was made by audio theatre artist Helena Fox with local people taking part, as part of the Ryevitalise Landscape Partnership.

Rated easy, with roughly 51 m of ascent and the same again coming down, running between about 74 m and 123 m. Surfaces are mostly path (around 55%) with a fair stretch of asphalt (about 34%), plus small sections of forested or wild trail and dirt road. Nothing technical, but expect the usual soft ground and mud on the path sections after wet weather.

Start and finish at Rievaulx Abbey, grid reference SE 57500 85037. Parking is pay and display at the Rievaulx Abbey car park.

Phone signal around Rievaulx can be patchy, so download the audio and the map before you arrive. Bring headphones, and charge your phone, since the audio is the main reason to do this particular loop rather than a plain valley wander.

Dogs are welcome if you keep them under control. On this route stick to the public paths and keep your dog on a lead or reliably to heel; where ground-nesting birds are around, a short lead of under 2 m applies between 1 March and 31 July.