This 5⅓-mile walk climbs from Kepwick on the flat plain of the Vale of York through woodland to the high ground of the North York Moors (with panoramic views on a clear day) and returns through farmland.  The gradients are mainly moderate but quite long; the last field may be rather boggy.

The walk starts from Kepwick, which is approached via a series of narrow roads.  The village has a small car park next to a disused church and reading room. Map: OS Explorer map OL26, North York Moors Western Area (ref SE467908) or OS map “app”.

1.    Leave the car parking area (map reference 467908), setting off to the left, through the village.  Approaching a road junction at the end of the village, pass a terrace of cottages on the left, then turn right through a white gate just beyond a tree on the right. [300m].

2.    (470909)  Follow the grassy path, upward and bending to the right, into a wood and continue on a narrow footpath a short distance above a stone wall.  There are sometimes alternative paths.  From a point where the car park is visible, near an oak tree, keep left uphill and turn sharp left onto a well-worn muddy path. [350m].

3.    (468906)  Follow the path uphill and through a valley between rhododendron bushes, emerging onto moorland with a silver birch wood ahead to the left and a mainly conifer wood ahead to the right.  Continue on a wide grass path between these woods and follow the path to a gate. [850m].

4.    (475901) Go through the gate and follow the least muddy path following the line of the stone wall on the left for ⅜ of a mile, then, where the wall and path turn to the left, continue for a further ¼ of a mile to a gate. [total 1050m]

5.    (485899)  Beyond the gate, bridleways cross; turn left through another gate onto a rough grassy track gradually ascending over moorland, passing a wired-off area and a gate, to arrive at a gate in a stone wall. [1100m]. 

6.    (489909)  Through the gate, turn left onto a solid stony track known as Hambleton Street, part of the Cleveland Way long distance path. After a quarter of a mile, pass an information board at the end of a road from Kepwick (that continues as a track over the moor to Hawnby).  Continue for just over a quarter of a mile further to a gate in the stone wall on the left (just beyond a junction of stone walls). [total 950m]. 

7.    (490919)  Turn left through the gate and continue on a grassy path downhill (a steep section alongside the stone wall may be avoided by the wider path that deviates to the right and returns).  Eventually, the path is a stony track beside a small wood on the left. [total 1200m].

8.    (480923)  Continue on the track through a gate and round a gradual bend to the right to cross a stream then climb around a gradual bend to the left and continue to a gate at Nab Farm. [total 550m].

9.    (476921)  Go through the gate and continue downhill on the farm drive past a wood to a cattle grid near to a cottage. [850m]

10.  (469917)  Over the cattle grid, turn right onto a public road at a bend.  After about 200 yards where the road turns right, take a signed footpath across a field to the left (towards a gate between two trees). At the far side of the field, go over a stile. [total 400m].

11.  (467915)  Cross a field diagonally to the far left corner then over a wooden footbridge and continue in the previous direction across a field to the point where a ridge across the field meets the hedgerow. [300m]

12.  (468912)  Go over a stile, cross a track and go through a gate then go diagonally to the right towards a gap in the hedge.  At the gap, go over the stile and under a wire, then continue in the same direction. Head towards the right-hand side of a pile of rubble and to the far end of farm buildings (the field is boggy and there may be a better alternative to the left just before the farm buildings).  Just past the rubble heap, cross an electric fence using a stile and continue past the end of the farm diagonally to a stile and footpath sign near trees to the left of cottages.  [total 500m]

13.  (466908)  Over the stile, turn left onto the road into Kepwick village.  Beyond the disused church, turn left into the car park. [100m]