The North York Moors - Paddy Dillon

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There is only one clear track across the undulating heather moorland, so route-finding errors are unlikely, even though the area is quite featureless. Small cast-iron plaques mark features of interest along the way. Tiny Seavy Pond and Dundale Pond, which were dug in medieval times as watering-holes for livestock, can be easily passed by unseen, as they are choked with vegetation.

      The track crosses a gap at the latter, where there is a five-fingered signpost. Walk a short way uphill to leave the moorland at a gate, where it becomes a tarmac road, Limpsey Gate Lane, leading down into the attractive and spacious village of Levisham. Keep walking down the road to the bottom end of the village. Follow a path straight downhill, cutting out a sweeping bend to land on the road at a lower level. Turn left down the road to pass Levisham Mill Farm, deep in the valley. Climb up the steep road to return to Lockton.

      LEVISHAM AND LOCKTON

      Levisham boasts a broad central green surrounded by stout stone cottages and farmhouses. Facilities include the Horseshoe Inn for food, drink and accommodation, as well as Rectory Farm B&B. There is a youth hostel at nearby Lockton across the valley, as well as the Lockton Tea Rooms. The road between the two villages features 1:5 gradients on both sides of the valley.

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      Houses in Levisham face onto a broad, open green.

      Levisham and the Hole of Horcum

Start/finish Horseshoe Inn, Levisham, SE 833 906
Distance 10km (6¼ miles)
Total ascent/descent 260m (855ft)
Time 4hrs
Terrain Valley-side paths cross steep wooded slopes as well as gentler moorland slopes, with easier field paths towards the end; generally easy
Maps OS Landranger 94 or 100; OS Explorer OL27 South
Refreshments Horseshoe Inn at Levisham, possible café at Saltersgate
Transport None, but regular Yorkshire Coastliner buses serve Lockton and Saltergate from Pickering and Whitby, and Levisham Railway Station offers an alternative starting point from the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

      The village of Levisham is reached only after negotiating 1:5 (20%) gradient roads, and anyone going there by car has to leave the same way. Deep, steep-sided valleys flank Levisham Moor, while the Hole of Horcum is a remarkable dalehead that was carved by glacial melt-water at the end of the Ice Age. Most visitors come and go using the main road over Saltergate Bank, but the Hole of Horcum can be reached by using valley-side paths from Levisham. The return to Levisham overlooks part of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

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      Leave the Horseshoe Inn at the top end of Levisham and walk straight down through the village, admiring the stone houses that surround the broad central green. Walk to the bottom end of the village and follow a path straight downhill. Turn left along a footpath that swings across a wooded slope. Later, climb 60 steps, then fork left at a junction along a path signposted for Horcum. The path is quite narrow and flanked by flowers, brambles and bracken, with views across the valley to the nearby village of Lockton.

      The path swings left as it works its way through the valley, and it is well wooded at times along Levisham Brow. Generally, the path runs gradually downhill and the woods begin to thin out. Go through a small gate and cut across a slope of bracken to reach the side-valley of Dundas Griff. A signpost points ahead to Saltergate and a small stream has to be forded before you cross Levisham Beck using a footbridge.

      Follow the path gently uphill, across the wooded valley side, using a boardwalk before going through a gate. Continue along a path across the grassy valley side, and later keep to the left of a building at Low Horcum. Walk onwards and head down a grassy track to go through a gate. A clear path leads up through heather, then rises more steeply up a heathery groove as it climbs out of the Hole of Horcum. Enjoy the views around this splendid hollow before continuing through a gate at the top to see a bend in the busy A169 road on Saltergate Bank. There might be a new café below.

      According to a locally favoured legend, a giant by the name of Wade was out of sorts with his wife, and so he scooped up a pile of earth to throw at her. He missed, and the resulting hole became the Hole of Horcum, while the lump of earth became Blakey Topping. The former Saltersgate Inn can be seen from the gap at the head of the Hole of Horcum. The strange pyramidal radar at RAF Fylingdales rises beyond, looking quite out of place in the bleak moorland setting.

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      A clear path climbs up through the heathery head of the Hole of Horcum

      A gate gives access to a track rising from the gap. See Walk 3 for a quick return to Levisham. Go through the gate, but turn immediately right to cross a stile and slant left downhill. Walk across a grassy moor, but don’t stray too far from the steep slopes of Levisham Moor. Follow a vague path, which becomes much clearer later, but take the time to identify the path instead of forging straight through the heather. Further ahead there is more bracken, and there are views down on to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway in the deep gorge of Newtondale. A short detour can be made to the little ruin of Skelton Tower, which is a good viewpoint overlooking the gorge, but make sure to return to the main path afterwards to avoid wet ground beyond. The broad, grassy path eventually reaches a bend on a minor road above Levisham Railway Station. The station offers an alternative starting point.

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      Grazing on the moorland shelf near Skelton Tower

      Walk up the road, but only to pass a small wood. Branch off to the right, but fork left almost immediately to follow a grassy path. Further along, turn left up another clear grassy path, climbing a slope covered in gorse bushes. Turn around the top of a small, steep-sided wooded valley, then walk alongside a couple of large fields. Follow a narrow road straight into Levisham to return to the Horseshoe Inn.

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      Skelton Tower overlooks Newtondale and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway

      Levisham Station, Levisham and Newton-on-Rawcliffe

Start/finish Levisham Railway Station, SE 818 910
Distance 9.5km (6 miles)
Total ascent/descent 260m (855ft)
Time 3hrs
Terrain Generally easy, using clear roads and tracks for most of the way, with a steep, vague and muddy path at the end
Maps OS Landranger 94 or 100; OS Explorer OL27 South
Refreshments Horseshoe Inn at Levisham, Mucky Duck at Newton-on-Rawcliffe.
Transport The North Yorkshire Moors Railway serves Levisham Railway Station; Monday-only Ryecat buses serve Newton-on-Rawcliffe from Pickering.

      Levisham Railway Station is on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway – a line that

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