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.
Six and a quarter miles with 210 metres of ascent and around three hours, following the Esk west on the old toll road to the seventeenth-century packhorse arch of Beggar's Bridge and returning by the woods and the little mortuary chapel above the village; the toll road is surfaced and level, the woodland return is steep, rooty and slippery. It starts at Egton Bridge by St Hedda's church, with a small free car park and Egton Bridge station on the Esk Valley line a hundred yards away, and the famous gooseberry show fills the village on the first Tuesday in August. The Esk is deep, clean and reachable in a dozen places for a proper swim, the toll road is traffic-free and safe, but there are stepping stones across the river that a nervous dog will refuse and the riverside meadows are grazed by sheep.
A 4.6-mile circular of about two hours on the old private toll road that runs beside the Esk from Egton Bridge to Grosmont, out past Barnards Road toll cottage and back by field paths above the river; easy underfoot with one modest pull. Start at Egton Bridge station on the Esk Valley line, or park considerately in the village near the Postgate Inn and the stepping stones. The toll road is broad, gated and sees only the occasional car, so it suits a dog off the lead, but the return crosses grazed fields with gates and the Esk is deep and quick in the pools by the stepping stones.
A traditional 1860s country inn beside the Esk Valley railway in Egton Bridge, named after the martyr Father Nicholas Postgate and once a regular location in the Heartbeat television series. Dogs are welcome in the bar and beer garden, and the three en-suite rooms take pets at ten pounds per dog per night. Handy for riverside rambles and the village's famous August gooseberry show.
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