C 05: from Gillamoor,  map and directions

Route C 05: Gillamoor - Hutton-le-Hole – Douthwaite Dale – Gillamoor (clockwise)

This walk of just over 6 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. 

1.             Start from Gillamoor village, near the Royal Oak pub (OS Explorer Map OL26, North York Moors western area, reference 682900) and walk about 150m eastwards to the church; bear right before the church and continue on a grassy track (bridleway to Hutton-le-Hole), narrowing downhill and round to the left for 300m. [450m]

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 continues to the left of the main track then waymarked left through a gate onto a grassy track to pass a former mill to cross the River Dove. [400m]

3.             (687904)  Follow the bridleway through a wooden gate and along the side of a field with a hedge to the right for 350m. [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 for 250m to reach a small footbridge at the far corner of the second field. [250m]

5.             (693906) Cross the small concrete bridge and ascend wooden steps to a wider, grass path, turning left onto it then right after about 30m onto a narrow path climbing around the side of a hill. Continue to follow the waymarked path through bracken and then heather, keeping right at a Y-junction of footpaths and ignoring several paths up the hill to the right. Approaching a fence, follow the path round to the left to a pedestrian gate beyond a metal gate. [600m]

6.             (698905) Go through the wooden pedestrian gate and continue on a gravel footpath that becomes a compacted soil and grass path between a hedge and a fence. Follow the waymarked route through a gate and across a field with a hedge to the right. Follow the path through a gate and across fields to where it turns left, through a gate, and right onto the road at the north of Hutton-le Hole. [500m]

7.             (703902)  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. [total distance on the 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 strip of woodland. [700m]

9.             (708890)  Emerging from the trees, go over another stile and meander downhill to the left of a coppice of trees, then right to cross an electric fence (blue insulation) to a footbridge over Hutton Beck. Over the bridge, the path veers left up the side of the valley and emerges onto a grass track. Turn right, and follow a narrowing path to go through a gate and then cross a road. [400m]

10.         (706887) Turn left along the road passing a small car park and through a gate to the right of the cattle grid then to a track on the right. [400m]

11.         (707884) Turn right onto the track and right on a minor tarmac road (signed to Douthwaite Dale) that becomes a gravel track (with views up Douthwaite Dale). Continue to a ford and footbridge. [750m].

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

13.         (707875) Turn right at a footpath sign onto a partially overgrown track leading uphill through a small, wooded valley and continue (where the track narrows) on a narrow footpath 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. Where the track bends left after 600m, ignore a track on the right. [600m]

16.         (700884) Continue along the main track for a further 300m 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 another half mile (trees on left end (ref. 696888)), then trees end on right with views to the moors and begin again on the left) until the track turns left at the end of a conifer plantation. [850m]

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 (if a gate is open, the track to the right may be used), 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. [total 450m].

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). [150m]

*      Indicates junction with another short walk route.

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