Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.
A ten-mile moorland day with 360 metres of ascent and about four and a half hours, climbing out of the Esk valley onto Glaisdale Rigg and traversing Egton High Moor before dropping back by the dale head; the moor tracks are largely firm sand but the crossing between the two moors is deep peat that stays wet all summer. It starts at Glaisdale village near the Arncliffe Arms, with roadside parking and Glaisdale station on the Esk Valley line right at the foot of the hill, which makes this an easy walk to reach by train from Whitby or Middlesbrough. Glaisdale Beck gives a good swim at the bottom and the moor is genuinely wide open, but the whole plateau is grouse moor with free-ranging sheep and nesting curlew and golden plover, so leads are required on the moor from 1 March to 31 July.
A short 3.5-mile riverside round with only 140 metres of climbing, comfortably done in an hour and three quarters, following an ancient paved packhorse trod through East Arnecliff Wood that is greasy underfoot after rain. Start at the seventeenth-century Beggar's Bridge by Glaisdale station, which is on the Esk Valley line from Whitby to Middlesbrough, so the whole walk can be done without a car. The Esk runs alongside for most of it with easy shingle access for a drink or a swim, dogs can be off the lead in the wood, and the only lead sections are the short stretches of lane at Egton Bridge and the return into Glaisdale.
A shorter 4.8-mile taste of the moor with 170 metres of ascent and about two and a quarter hours, climbing the lane out of the village onto Glaisdale Rigg and returning by the field paths above the dale; the ascent is on tarmac and then firm moor track, so this one stays walkable when the peat higher up is impassable. It starts by the Arncliffe Arms in Glaisdale, a two-minute walk from the station on the Esk Valley line, with free roadside parking on the lower road. Glaisdale Beck at the start and the moor springs give water, the rigg is broad open ground for a dog, but the intake fields either side of the moor gate carry sheep all year and leads are needed on the moor from 1 March to 31 July while the birds are nesting.
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