Around Whorlton and Swainby

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Walk directions

With the church on your left, walk down the village street to the right of the stream. Continue walking past a sign that says ‘Unsuitable for Buses and Coaches’ and go straight ahead uphill. As the road bends to the right, bear left up the track that lies ahead.

Go through a gate and turn left to join the waymarkers for the Cleveland Way. Walk through the woodland, turning left just after a seat, down to a gate. The footpath goes downhill to another gate into woodland. Turn left at the sign and cross the stream on the footbridge to reach a lane, with another footbridge, over Scugdale Beck.

Follow the lane past Hollin Hill Farm to a T-junction with a post box. Cross the lane and go through a Cleveland Way-signed gate. Walk up the path beside woodland to a gate (there’s a view of the valley from this ridge).

The path beyond bends and at a junction of paths, bear right to a gate and goes onto a paved track, climbing steeply in the wood. Go straight ahead at a crossing track to another gate, and continue to follow the paved path through a gate up to the heather moorland. After the first summit the path descends beyond a large and a small cairn into a dip. Where the paved path ends, take a narrow path off to the left, down through the heather.

After about 100yds (91m) you will reach a concrete post. Bear left and follow the narrow path down a ridge between gullies, descending to a signpost. Go straight on, eventually going over a spoil heap to reach a gate on your right.

Through the gate, go straight down the hill through woodland. At the bottom go ahead to cross a stile by a gate and go down the track. Just after the first house on the left, take a footpath over two stiles.

Walk up through the woodland onto a track. Turn left, and left again at another path, which soon becomes a track. At a T-junction, turn left again and follow the track downhill to a pair of kissing gates. Go straight ahead along the track, signed ‘Whorlton’.

Go through a metal handgate and follow the track along the hillside. After a kissing gate with steps beyond, turn left at the bottom and follow the field edge. Bear right to go over a stile by a gate and beside a paddock to another gateway onto a metalled lane. Turn right. Follow the lane past Whorlton Church and the castle back to Swainby village.

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Location

Nearest postcode:

Additional information

Terrain - Tracks and moorland paths, lots of bracken, 4 stiles

Landscape - Farmland and moorland, with some woodland

Dog friendliness - On short lead on moorland

Parking - Roadside parking in Swainby village

Toilets en route - In Swainby village

Walks in North Yorkshire Dog-friendly walks in North Yorkshire

About the walk

The charming and peaceful village street of Swainby, divided by its treelined stream, gives few hints of its dramatic past. It owes its existence to tragedy, the coming of plague – the Black Death – in the 14th century, when the inhabitants of the original village, just up the hill at Whorlton,...

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Been on this walk?

Send us photos or a comment about this route. Or recommend a route of your own.

Find out more

Walking in Safety

Read our tips to look after yourself and the environment when following this walk.

Learn more

Get an AA guide

Explore our range of ‘50 Walks in’ guides - they’re the ideal companion for a ramble.

Learn more

About the area

North Yorkshire, with its two National Parks and two designated Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, is England’s largest county and one of the most rural. This is prime walking country, from the heather-clad heights of the North York Moors to the limestone country that is so typical of the Yorkshire Dales – a place of contrasts and discoveries, of history and legend.