Cleveland Way

Background Information

The Cleveland Way is one of Britain's better long distance paths. It is a trail of two halves; it starts off from the mooorland village of Helmsley, then heads west to the escarpment of Sutton Bank. It then heads north along the escarpment and across moorland before descending down to reach Osmotherley.

The hardest and remotest stretch of trail then follows as the path heads east, climbing up and down a series of hills before eventually passing the highest point of the moors, after which it slowly descends northwards to Kildale. It then climbs north, passing the Captain Cook Memorial to reach an official diversion that visits the outlying summit of Roseberry Topping. The trail then heads northeastwards, heading through Guisborough Woods and visiting the villages of Skelton Green and Skelton before reaching the North Sea coast at Saltbun-by-the-Sea.

Whereas the first half of the trail crosses wild and remote moorland, the second half is a sometimes-high and wild coastal walk. A clifftop walk leads to the village of Skinningrove, after which a visit to the highest cliffs on the east coast of England leads to Staithes. More clifftop walking leads to Runswick Bay, Sandsend and then the town of Whitby.

An easier walk heads along cliffs to Robin Hood's Bay, after which a high climb leads up to the incomplete village of Ravenscar. The trail then sticks to the clifftop as it heads south to visit Scarborough. The trail follows the promenade through the town before climbing up the cliffs to the south. An easy and rewarding stroll along the cliffs then leads to the end of the trail at Filey Brigg.

The varied nature of the trail makes it a wonderful stroll, with the high views and wild scenery of the moors contrasting sharply with the rugged coastal stretch of the trail.

Farm machinery to the southwest of Cold Kirby.

Map of the trail

Maps courtesy of Google Maps. Route for indicative purposes only, and may have been plotted after the walk. Please send me have comments you may have on what you think of this new format.

List of legs

Leg	Distance (miles)	Ascent (feet)	Descent (feet)	Difficulty
Helmsley to Cold Kirby	5.4	1148	558	easy
Cold Kirby to Sutton Bank	4.9	630	446	easy
Sutton Bank to Kepwick Quarry	6.5	883	676	medium
Kepwick Quarry to Osmotherley	5.2	528	1171	easy
Osmotherley to Carlton Bank	7.5	1657	1207	hard
Carlton Bank to Bloworth Crossing	6.9	1906	1581	strenuous
Bloworth Crossing to Kildale	6.1	335	1083	easy
Kildale to Guisborough Woods	7	1722	1316	medium
Guisborough Woods to Saltburn	8.3	892	1841	medium
Saltburn to Staithes	8.6	1578	1539	medium
Staithes to Whitby	11.7	1827	1883	medium
Whitby to Robin Hoods Bay	7.1	1220	1198	medium
Robin Hoods Bay to Hayburn Wyke	7.5	1296	1230	easy
Hayburn Wyke to Scarborough	7.7	791	876	medium
Scarborough to Filey Brigg	8.6	1201	1066	easy

	109	17614	17671

Further information (books)

The following books describe the Cleveland Way:

Further information (websites)

The following websites detail the trail:

The official website for the trail. - www.nationaltrail.co.uk
Walking Englishman's listings page for the trail. - www.walkingenglishman.com
Diary of a 1999 walk along the trail. - www.gtleisure.co.uk
Information about the Cleveland Way Relay race. - www.nym.ac
The Sherpa Van's guide and baggage transfer service. - www.clevelandway.co.uk
An account of a walk along the Cleveland way. - walkdiaries.blogspot.com

Transport

The western part of the trail is not well-served by public transport; most of the villages (aside from Helmsley and Ostmotherley) sit off the trail on the plains below.

The coastal stretch is much better served, and various bus services run up and down the coast; there are also railway stations that allows the coastal stretch between Saltburn and Filey to be walked in one go.

There are railway stations on or near the trail at Kildale, Saltburn, Whitby, Scarborough and Filey.

Traveline is a very good resource for planning journeys by public transport.

Trail news

A new edition of the Cleveland Way Guidebook has been published: see for more information.

Map information

1:25,000 maps


Outdoor Leisure 26 (North York Moors - Western Area)	Outdoor Leisure 27 (North York Moors - Eastern Area)	Explorer 301 (Scarborough, Bridlington & Flamborough Head)

1:50,000 maps


Landranger 100 (Malton & Pickering, Helmsley & Easingwold)	Landranger 99 (Northallerton & Ripon, Pateley Bridge & Leyburn)	Landranger 93 (Middlesbrough, Darlington & Hartlepool)	Landranger 94 (Whitby & Esk Dale, Robin Hood's Bay)


Landranger 101 (Scarborough, Bridlington & Filey)

Suggested schedules

The following schedules are advisory. They indicate various ways that the trail can be split up into walks of several lengths, with convenient end-points for each day's walk.

Naturally, you may want to alter this according to whether you are staying in B&B's, hostels, camping or are doing the walk in sections and are relying on public transport. Your own walk will probably vary from the itineraries shown below.

Night	Leisurely		Good		Fast
Night	Place	Distance (m)	Place	Distance (m)	Place	Distance (m)
0	Helmsley		Helmsley		Helmsley
1	Sutton Bank	10.3	Sutton Bank	10.3	Osmotherley	22
2	Osmotherley	11.7	Carlton Bank	19.2	Kildale	20.5
3	Carlton Bank	7.5	Guisborough Woods	20	Staithes	23.9
4	Kildale	13	Staithes	16.9	Robin Hoods Bay	18.8
5	Saltburn	15.3	Robin Hoods Bay	18.8	Filey Brigg	23.8
6	Staithes	8.6	Scarborough	15.2
7	Whitby	11.7	Filey Brigg	8.6
8	Hayburn Wyke	14.6
9	Filey Brigg	16.3

The inland half of the Cleveland Way can be difficult to split up into short legs without diverting off the trail onto the plains. Accommodation, especially between Osmotherley and Kildale, is sparse. The coastal stretch is very different, with regular villages on the coast and others a short distance inland, and some fairly good transport links.

Note that any leg ending at Carlton Bank involves a walk to the nearest accommodation; usually this would be a walk of 1.5 miles down into Carlton-in-Cleveland, or even further into Swainby. Care needs to be taken when planning the stretch between Osmotherley and Kildale.

Tourist Information

There are several tourist information offices on or near the Cleveland Way. These are not necessarily open throughout the year; see the websites for opening times. Also note that these have been closing in recent years, which means that this list may not be fully accurate - if you spot any problems, please let me know.

Helmsley Tourist Information Centre, Helmsley Castle Visitor Centre, Castlegate, Helmsley, YO62 5AB. Tel. 01439 770173. Email
Sutton Bank Tourist Information Centre, Sutton Bank, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 2EH. Tel. 01845 597426. Email
Great Ayton Tourist Information Point, High Green Car Park, Great Ayton, Middlesborough, TS9 6BJ. Tel: 01642 722835.
Guisborough Tourist Information Centre, Priory Grounds, Church Street, Guisborough, Tees Valley, TS14 6HQ. Tel: 01287 633801
Saltburn Tourist Information Centre, Saltburn Library, Windsor Road, Saltburn-by-the-Sea, TS12 1AT Email
Whitby tourist information centre, Langbourne ROad, Whitby, YO12 1YN. Tel: 01723 383637 Email: Email
Scarborough Harbourside tourist information centre, Scarborough Harbourside, Sandside, Scarborough, YO11 1PP. Tel: 01723 383637 Email
Filey tourist information centre, Visitor Centre, John Street, Filey, YO14 9DW. Tel: 01723 383637 Email

When to walk

The Cleveland Way can be walked at any time of year; however, you would be wise to avoid walking it in the winter without a great deal of walking experience. The high moors inland can become snowbound for weeks at a time, and the coastal paths can be very slippery. Worse, some useful accommodation closes during the winter.

The best time for walking the trail would between April and September, outside the school's summer holidays. Accommodation should be plentiful through this period, and there is plenty of daylight in which to complete the longer stretches.

In late summer / early autumn, heather on the moorland stretches can provide a vivid display of colour.