Crimple Valley viaduct and Hookstone Wood

Four and a bit miles round the shallow bowl of the Crimple valley on the southern edge of town, roughly two hours at dog pace, with one gentle pull back up out of the valley and nothing else you would call a hill. It starts from the car park on Hookstone Wood Road and crosses the old golf course to pass under the thirty-one arches of the 1848 viaduct; Hornbeam Park station is five minutes away and has trains from York and Leeds, which makes this one of the few Harrogate walks you can do without a car. The field sections turn to proper clay mud from November onwards while the Hookstone Wood paths stay walkable all winter, sheep graze the valley fields so leads on there, and Crimple Beck gives a dog a drink but is too shallow for a swim.