"Rambling through fields, woods and waterside, poised between the North York Moors and the broad lowlands."
Walk directions
From the centre of the village walk up the road signed for Cote Ghyll Caravan Park and Youth Hostel. At the top of the rise turn left on a track with a Cleveland Way sign to Scarth Nick. The track gains a tarmac surface as it climbs a rise, then turns stony as it continues around the hill.
Keep left at a fork (the right branch is signed ‘Footpath Lady Chapel’). The stony track ends near Chapelwood Farm; continue along a green track with a hedge on the left. Go through fields to a gate into woods.
A few paces further on the track forks; take the right branch, still following the Cleveland Way. Follow the track, climbing gently. Near the top it bends right to climb more steeply. As it starts to bend back left, look for a narrow, level path on the right.
Follow this path, soon bending left to a field gate. Follow the left edge of the field to meet a walled track. Turn left and go past some agricultural buildings, then turn right at a footpath sign. Go down by the wall to a stile and follow the path through bracken.
As the path descends more steeply, above a small valley on the left, it becomes a little confusing. The clearest path goes left, but this leads away from the right of way. Instead keep right, going at first uphill and always keeping the wet ground in the bottom of the small valley to your left. Descend gradually on a winding path through woodland. Go through a gap in a crossing wall, then turn down left on a wet and boggy track to meet a road.
Cod Beck Reservoir is just below but there’s no direct access to it. Instead turn right along the road to a gate into the reservoir grounds.
Go through the gate and cross the dam then follow a track straight ahead into forest. After 100yds (91m) pass a waymarker post and a narrow path on the right; 30yds (27m) further on there’s a wider surfaced and waymarked path on the right. Follow this for about 200yds (183m) to meet another footpath and turn right.
The path runs down to a kissing gate and continues down to meet a tarmac track near a whitewashed building, Osmotherley Youth Hostel. Continue down the lane, passing the entrance to Cote Ghyll Caravan and Camping Park, and go up slightly to meet a road. Turn left and follow the road back into Osmotherley.
Terrain
- Good tracks and field paths with a short rougher section (turn right on meeting the track after Point 4 to avoid and return to Osmotherley), 1 stile
Landscape
- Village, upland pasture and forest
Dog friendliness
- Opportunities for dogs to run on enclosed tracks and in forest
Parking
- Roadside parking in Osmotherley; the nearer the ‘Top End’ you park, the shorter the walk
Toilets en route
- Osmotherley, just south of centre
Osmotherley is a fine North York Moors village, though ‘handsome’ is a better description for it than ‘pretty’. It stands near the northwest extremity of the national park, and as the walk climbs away from the village it soon traverses a hillside with splendid views, not of the moors, but over the... wide Vale of Mowbray to the hills of the Yorkshire Dales. The moors come into view later as the walk turns east, over a green ridge, before descending to Cod Beck Reservoir. Osmotherley has a long history, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name Asmundrelac. Mount Grace Priory and the Lady Chapel made it a place of pilgrimage, and later it became a Methodist stronghold. Its Methodist chapel, built in 1754, is reputedly the oldest in the world. It’s also recorded that John Wesley visited Osmotherley no fewer than 18 times. The village grew rapidly after the establishment of linen mills at Cote Ghyll, one of which is now the Youth Hostel. Osmotherley is a significant place for walkers. Here the Cleveland Way intersects with the Coast to Coast Walk. The 190-mile (306km) Coast to Coast route, from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay, was the brainchild of the legendary walker and guidebook author Arthur Wainwright (1907–91). Osmotherley is also the start point of the Lyke Wake Walk. This originated in 1955 following a claim by local farmer, Bill Cowley, that one could walk 40 miles (64km) across the North York Moors, all on heather bar a few road crossings. This became an extremely popular challenge, with large groups of walkers attempting the route. Inevitably this led to serious erosion. Today the Lyke Wake Club works with landowners and the national park authorities to try and spread the load. Mass-participation events are no longer promoted. There’s no officially-defined route – the aim is simply to link the two end points, keeping to the high ground (essentially the main watershed of the moors). The official western terminus is the Lyke Wake Stone, by the minor road just north of Cod Beck Reservoir. This walk overlooks the opening stages as it descends towards Point 5. The Lyke Wake Walk is usually done from west to east. As the prevailing wind is from the west, this generally means you have the wind behind you. Heather also tends to grow away from the wind and therefore provides less resistance to walkers travelling in this direction – a useful tip when planning any moorland walk.
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.
"Rambling through fields, woods and waterside, poised between the North York Moors and the broad lowlands."
Walk details
1hr 30min
Difficulty:
Hard
Gradient:
Challenging
Distance:
3.5 miles (5.7kms)
Ascent:
525ft (160m)
Walk directions
From the centre of the village walk up the road signed for Cote Ghyll Caravan Park and Youth Hostel. At the top of the rise turn left on a track with a Cleveland Way sign to Scarth Nick. The track gains a tarmac surface as it climbs a rise, then turns stony as it continues around the hill.
1 of 8
Keep left at a fork (the right branch is signed ‘Footpath Lady Chapel’). The stony track ends near Chapelwood Farm; continue along a green track with a hedge on the left. Go through fields to a gate into woods.
2 of 8
A few paces further on the track forks; take the right branch, still following the Cleveland Way. Follow the track, climbing gently. Near the top it bends right to climb more steeply. As it starts to bend back left, look for a narrow, level path on the right.
3 of 8
Follow this path, soon bending left to a field gate. Follow the left edge of the field to meet a walled track. Turn left and go past some agricultural buildings, then turn right at a footpath sign. Go down by the wall to a stile and follow the path through bracken.
4 of 8
As the path descends more steeply, above a small valley on the left, it becomes a little confusing. The clearest path goes left, but this leads away from the right of way. Instead keep right, going at first uphill and always keeping the wet ground in the bottom of the small valley to your left. Descend gradually on a winding path through woodland. Go through a gap in a crossing wall, then turn down left on a wet and boggy track to meet a road.
5 of 8
Cod Beck Reservoir is just below but there’s no direct access to it. Instead turn right along the road to a gate into the reservoir grounds.
6 of 8
Go through the gate and cross the dam then follow a track straight ahead into forest. After 100yds (91m) pass a waymarker post and a narrow path on the right; 30yds (27m) further on there’s a wider surfaced and waymarked path on the right. Follow this for about 200yds (183m) to meet another footpath and turn right.
7 of 8
The path runs down to a kissing gate and continues down to meet a tarmac track near a whitewashed building, Osmotherley Youth Hostel. Continue down the lane, passing the entrance to Cote Ghyll Caravan and Camping Park, and go up slightly to meet a road. Turn left and follow the road back into Osmotherley.
Terrain
- Good tracks and field paths with a short rougher section (turn right on meeting the track after Point 4 to avoid and return to Osmotherley), 1 stile
Landscape
- Village, upland pasture and forest
Dog friendliness
- Opportunities for dogs to run on enclosed tracks and in forest
Parking
- Roadside parking in Osmotherley; the nearer the ‘Top End’ you park, the shorter the walk
Toilets en route
- Osmotherley, just south of centre
Osmotherley is a fine North York Moors village, though ‘handsome’ is a better description for it than ‘pretty’. It stands near the northwest extremity of the national park, and as the walk climbs away from the village it soon traverses a hillside with splendid views, not of the moors, but over the... wide Vale of Mowbray to the hills of the Yorkshire Dales. The moors come into view later as the walk turns east, over a green ridge, before descending to Cod Beck Reservoir. Osmotherley has a long history, and was mentioned in the Domesday Book under the name Asmundrelac. Mount Grace Priory and the Lady Chapel made it a place of pilgrimage, and later it became a Methodist stronghold. Its Methodist chapel, built in 1754, is reputedly the oldest in the world. It’s also recorded that John Wesley visited Osmotherley no fewer than 18 times. The village grew rapidly after the establishment of linen mills at Cote Ghyll, one of which is now the Youth Hostel. Osmotherley is a significant place for walkers. Here the Cleveland Way intersects with the Coast to Coast Walk. The 190-mile (306km) Coast to Coast route, from St Bees in Cumbria to Robin Hood’s Bay, was the brainchild of the legendary walker and guidebook author Arthur Wainwright (1907–91). Osmotherley is also the start point of the Lyke Wake Walk. This originated in 1955 following a claim by local farmer, Bill Cowley, that one could walk 40 miles (64km) across the North York Moors, all on heather bar a few road crossings. This became an extremely popular challenge, with large groups of walkers attempting the route. Inevitably this led to serious erosion. Today the Lyke Wake Club works with landowners and the national park authorities to try and spread the load. Mass-participation events are no longer promoted. There’s no officially-defined route – the aim is simply to link the two end points, keeping to the high ground (essentially the main watershed of the moors). The official western terminus is the Lyke Wake Stone, by the minor road just north of Cod Beck Reservoir. This walk overlooks the opening stages as it descends towards Point 5. The Lyke Wake Walk is usually done from west to east. As the prevailing wind is from the west, this generally means you have the wind behind you. Heather also tends to grow away from the wind and therefore provides less resistance to walkers travelling in this direction – a useful tip when planning any moorland walk.
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.
