C 05: from Gillamoor,  map and directions

Route C 05: Gillamoor - Hutton-le-Hole – Douthwaite Dale – Gillamoor.

This walk of about 5 miles passes through a variety of scenery – fields, moorland, woods, river valleys and a picturesque village. Gillamoor village is suitable for car parking and has a pub that serves food. The paths are mainly firm, on farm tracks for more than half of the distance. There are some moderate gradients.  Sheep (with young lambs in spring) are free to wander on paths and roads.

Start from Gillamoor village, near the Royal Oak pub (OS Explorer Map OL26, North York Moors western area, grid reference SE682900)

Walk directions

1.           From the starting point (ref. 682900), walk about 150m eastwards to the church; bear right before the church and continue on a grassy track (bridleway to Hutton-le-Hole), downhill and round to the left for 400m. [ 550m]

2.           (683904)  At a junction with a larger, firm farm track, turn sharp right onto the track and follow it round a left-hand bend and continue for about 200 yards until the bridleway is waymarked through a gate onto a grassy track, just to the left of the main track, and pass a former mill to cross the River Dove. [350m]

3.           (687904)  Follow the bridleway through a wooden gate and along the side of a field with a hedge to the right for 200 yards. [350m]

4.           (690906) Cross to the other side of the hedge by way of a stile and cross two grass fields (with a stile between) veering towards the diagonal to reach a small footbridge at the far corner of the second field. [350m]

5.           (693906) Cross the small concrete bridge and ascend wooden steps and follow the narrow path to cross a wider, grass path by turning left onto it then right after about 25m onto a narrow path climbing around the side of a hill. Continue to follow the waymarked path through bracken and heather, avoiding a footpath to the left and several paths up the hill to the right. Approaching a fence, follow the path round to the left to a gate (600m from the bridge). [900m]

6.           (698905) Go through the wooden gate and continue on a slightly muddy grass path between a hedge and a fence until just after this turns left; follow the waymarked route through a gate and across a field with a hedge to the right. Go through the right of two gates and keep close to the hedge on the left and where it ends, turn left through a gate onto the road at the north of Hutton-le Hole and turn right. [total 500m]

7.           (703902) EITHER  Follow the main road through the village of Hutton-le Hole, cross a small stream, pass a footpath to the left and then turn left at a minor cross-roads just beyond. OR Take the upper, minor road around the back of the village and when it returns to the main road, cross over onto a minor tarmac road. [650m]

8.           (706896)* Follow the worn tarmac road to the right and ignore the track to the left signed to Cropton. Continue uphill (ignore a track that goes downhill on the right) on the road (now concrete) to pass Wheatend Farm then cross a cattle grid and turn right over a stile into a young plantation. [750m]

9.           (708890) Cross the narrow plantation, over another stile and meander downhill to the left of trees then right to a footbridge over Hutton Beck. Over the bridge, the path veers left up the side of the valley and emerges onto a wide grass track. Turn right, go through a gate and cross the road. [400m]

10.         (706887) Turn left along the road passing a car park and taking a path through a gate to the right of the cattle grid to a minor tarmac road. [450m]

11.         (707884) Turn right onto the tarmac road that becomes a compacted gravel track (with views up Douthwaite Dale). Continue to a ford and footbridge. [850m]

12.         (706876) Where the track passes through a ford, use the footbridge and turn left to rejoin the track, following it uphill for about 200m. [250m]

13.         (707875) Turn right at a footpath sign onto a muddy track leading uphill through a small, wooded valley and continue (where vehicle track goes sharp left) on the narrower path that comes out onto a tarmac road. [400m]

14.         (703875) Turn right onto the tarmac road and follow this road until it turns left. [300m]

15.         (702878)* Do not turn left but continue along a compacted soil and gravel track with woodland on the right and fields on the left for about 600m. [600m]

16.         (700884) Continue along the main track to the point where trees begin to the left of the track. [300m]

17.         (698886) Do not turn off the track to the right and continue for 900m (trees on left end at 696888, then trees end on right with views to the moors) until the track turns left at the end of a small conifer plantation. [900m]

18.         (691892) Do not follow the track to the left, but continue over a waymarked stile onto a footpath along the edge of a field, then through a gap in a hedge and across the middles of three fields to a stile into a small wooded area. [600m]

19.         (687896) Continue with a hedge to the left and a field to the right to the place where a bridleway crosses the footpath. [200m]

20.         (686898) Continue straight on along a footpath between a hedge and a fence then over a stile and continue to follow the path as it meanders through a rough grass area and through the top of a small valley then along the side of a deeper valley to emerge at Gillamoor church. [400m]

21.         (684901) Turn left onto a short piece of tarmac road and continue onto the main street of the village of Gillamoor back to the starting point (682900). [200m]

*   Indicates junction with another short walk route.

There are alternative starting points with car park and bus service close to 7 and 10.