Route B 03: Short walk from Hawnby Moor Gate around Easterside hill

This walk of just under 5 miles gives a 360° panoramic view of the hills and valleys around Hawnby. For the best views when walking it is probably best to go anticlockwise, but this involves a long steep climb, so I suggest the clockwise route with more gentle gradients. The route from Moor Gate (a mile north of The Inn at Hawnby) goes round the east side of, and over part of, Easterside hill looks down on Bilsdale then into Ryedale and Ladhill Gill. Beyond Hawnby the walk continues around the west of Hawnby Hill back to the starting point. There may be sheep and cattle on the route and some of the paths are narrow and a bit slippery when wet.

Walk directions (clockwise).

Note that Hawnby (The Owl inn) is an alternative start and finish point (see 8,9); some alternatives to part of the walk are available (see separate “alternatives” document)

  1. (540917)  Set off on a solid track that runs east from the car park and after about 150m, just after a green box on the right, turn right onto an ill-defined path to a stile over a wire fence. [150m]

  2. (542917)  Continue over the stile, slightly left to another stile and right across a field, diverging from the boundary, to a wooden stile at a gap in a stone wall. Over this stile, through a gap in a wall to the right, then diagonally left to a path between 2 large trees and continue downhill, slightly to the right to a footbridge over a stream. [550m]

  3. (546913)  Cross the footbridge, turn left through trees and keep left up a bank through remains of a wall into a field then bear right uphill towards a gap in the boundary. Pass through the gap and shortly turn left onto a grassy track passing a ruined building (Crow Nest) Turn right beyond the ruin to a gate into moorland. [200m]                                                                 

  4. (547914)  Go through a gate and find a path uphill with a stone wall on your right for about 400 yards where the wall bends right. Follow the wall to the right gently uphill (ignoring a bridleway waymark on a gate). Continue on this path with the wall to your right for 1200m with Bilsdale becoming more visible below on your left. Continue above Bilsdale to the point where the path appears to veer to the left downhill. [1700m]

  5. (557907)  Take the waymarked route to the right over a stile and continue uphill through the moorland of Easterside hill with a field and Bilsdale to your left. After 150m, join a wider grassy track and follow this as it diverges from the field, more steeply uphill for 450m to the top of the southern part of Easterside hill. [600m]

  6. (554901)  Follow the waymarked path downhill with views over the valley of Ladhill Gill to Hawnby where it joins Ryedale. At the bottom of a steep descent, climb over a stile into a field and across the field to a stile onto a road. [500m]

  7. (553896)  Turn right onto the road and follow it for 1200m to Hawnby village. [1200m]

  8. (543898)  At a junction, continue straight on for a short distance to another junction (by The Owl). [50m]  Beside the bus shelter, turn right up steps and then to the right of a house then uphill to the left of a derelict building to a gate. [150m]

  9. (543899)  Pass through the gate and uphill (slightly left) across a field to a waymarked stile into “Access Land”. Continue uphill to a path junction at a rowan tree and turn left. Near a stile into a field, continue on the woodland path. [150m]

10. (542900)  From here the path is winding and narrow, slippery in places and is on the side of a steep slope. After 400m, keep left at a waymark post and shortly go over a stile out of Access Land. Follow the path for 400m through the wood to a field in a clearing. Keep right along the top of the field and then through woodland to a gate. [950m]

11. (537908)  Go through the gate with Hill End House and upper Ryedale ahead. Continue past the house to a wooden signpost at a junction of paths. [200m]

12. (536910)  Continue straight on along the track then across moorland (with views of upper Ryedale) gradually moving away from fenced-off fields, finally arriving at the cattle grid opposite the car park. [750m]

Walk from Hawnby Moor Gate (anticlockwise route)

Note that Hawnby (The Owl inn) is an alternative start and finish point (see 8,9); some alternatives to part of the walk are available (see separate “alternatives” document)

  1.  (540917)  Cross the cattle grid and bear right off the road onto a grassy track diverging from the road and gradually uphill. Follow this path for 750m to a wooden signpost with a house beyond. [750m]

12.  (536910)  Continue slightly left past the house, moving away from the track to a gate into a wood. [200m]

11.  (537908)  Go through the gate and follow the path through the woodland to a small field. Continue along the top edge of the field and at the corner, bear left onto a woodland path for 400m to a stile into Access Land. Follow the narrow path for another 400m to a stile into a field (an alternative here is to go over the stile and slightly left to another stile). [950m]

10. (542900)  Just before the stile, keep left on a narrow path and shortly turn right onto another path downhill to a stile out of Access Land. Over the stile, bear right, downhill, to a gate by a stone building. [150m]

  9. (542899)  Go through the gate and follow a track downhill to steps to the road beside a bus shelter opposite The Owl inn. Turn left onto the road and straight on at the first junction, round a bend and turn right at the second junction. [150m]

  8. (543898)  Follow the road (steep hills both down and up) for 1200m to a waymarked stile on the left. [1200m]

  7. (553896)  Go over the stile and across the field to a stile onto moorland. Follow the path steeply uphill to its highest point (with views over Ladhill Gill to Hawnby and Ryedale) [500m]

  6. (554901)  Continue downhill for 450m as the path widens into a track. Look out for a narrower path on the right that runs close to a field boundary and follow this path for 150m to a stile. [600m]

  5.  (557907)  Go over the stile and turn left onto a path through moorland that follows the line of a boundary wall or wall remains. The wall and path bend to the left and gradually descend. Ignore a waymarked gate through the boundary on the left and eventually reach a gate near to a ruined building (Crow Nest). [1700m]

  4. (547914)  Go through the gate and turn left onto a grassy track just beyond the ruin. After about 100m, turn right off the track downhill through a gap in a field boundary and slightly left towards the corner of a field, through a broken wall and down to a wide footbridge. [200m]

  3. (546913)  Cross the bridge and turn left up a well-defined narrow path that bends right uphill to a gap between two large trees then continue towards the far right corner of a field. Go through a gap in the stone wall, turn left over a stile and head slightly left over a rough field to cross a stile over the fence on the left. Continue slightly right to another stile over a fence. [550m]

  2. (542917)  Go over the stile and follow a winding and ill-defined path to a compacted gravel track. Turn left onto the track back to the car park. [250m]