Walking Holidays in Northern England

The Cleveland Way, established in 1969, is both an interesting and a beautiful path. It stretches for over 100 miles from Helmsley, on the southern edge of the North York Moors National Park, to Filey on the east coast.

The way passes through two very distinct types of landscape. From Helmsley to Saltburn-by-the-Sea, it traverses classic moorland scenery, through forests and along escarpments, rewarding you with panoramic views over the Cleveland Hills and the rest of the National Park.

In the beautiful Rye Valley you can marvel at the ruins of Helmsley Castle and the medieval Rievaulx Abbey. Ahead of Sutton Bank take time to view the magnificent Kilburn White Horse. Roseberry Topping, often referred to as the Yorkshire Matterhorn is a wonderful viewpoint. Despite its relatively low height of 1000 feet it is a tremendous place from which to survey the land around you.

The other half of the route, from Saltburn-by-the-Sea to Filey, follows a dramatic coastline and runs along the top of some of the highest sea cliffs in the country. Whitby, with its fine harbour, fossil filled cliffs and connections with Bram Stoker’s Dracula is a favourite of many and a visit to the imposing remains of Whitby Abbey is a must. Robin Hood’s Bay, the end point of the Coast to Coast and the seaside towns of Scarborough and Filey complete your coastal journey.

The combination of wild moorland and dramatic coastline make the Cleveland Way an incredibly varied, thoroughly enjoyable and hugely rewarding experience.

The Coast to Coast walk was created by the celebrated fell walker and guidebook writer Alfred Wainwright. Probably best known for his legendary Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells, Wainwright completed his trek across the width of England in 1972. The following year the Westmorland Gazette published his handwritten guide. Since then the Coast to Coast Path has established itself as one of England’s classic long distance walks. It travels 193 miles, from the sea cliffs of St Bees on the Irish Sea, to the fishing village of Robin Hood’s Bay on the North Sea. The quality and variety of this walk is recognised internationally, with walkers travelling from around the globe to complete the walk.

As the route traverses the country, your two-week journey will take you through three national parks and over a real cross-section of England’s most dramatic landscapes. You’ll walk among the highest fells and alongside the largest lakes, through delightful woodland and over windswept moorland.

The Coast to Coast begins in the Lake District, taking in deep sided valleys, lake shores and tough mountain passes. There are a number of considerably steep sections here that will certainly test your stamina. Thankfully there’s a fine selection of tea rooms and cafés where you can treat yourself to a walkers reward. Next is the limestone country of the Yorkshire Dales, famous for its intricate field patterns and dry stone walls. The Dales topography is less extreme than that of the Lakes. The old market town of Richmond marks the end of the Dales, before the path crosses the Vale of York and rises over the sometimes remote, moorland hills of the North York Moors.

Sufficiently challenging and hugely rewarding, it’s little wonder that fifty years on from its conception, the Coast to Coast remains one of the most popular long distance walks in England.

The Dales High Way is a hillwalkers paradise. Stretching 94 miles from Saltaire in West Yorkshire to Appleby in Cumbria, the High Way, as the name suggests, follows the glorious high ground over the West Yorkshire Moors, the Dales limestone country, and the Howgill Fells.

The route begins in the village of Saltaire, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In the mid-19th century, on the banks of the River Aire, textile manufacturer Sir Titus Salt built not only his woolen mill, but also a village; with houses for his workers, and bath houses, a hospital, an institute for recreation and education, a school for the workers children and even a concert hall. Saltaire is a fascinating place worthy of thorough exploration.

The High Way itself could be described as having three quite differing landscapes. The first of these being the peaty, heather-clad moors that continue pretty much to fringes of Malhamdale. Your introduction to these is Rombalds Moor, a collective name for a number of local moors named according to the nearest town, such as Burley, Bingley and most famous of them all, Ilkley Moor.

On reaching Malhamdale you enter classic Dales limestone country, where there is almost as much going on beneath the ground as there is above it. Few places demand an additional day as much as Malham does. A day exploring Janet’s Foss, Gordale Scar and Malham Tarn is a day well spent. The Dales also offers up some of the most challenging terrain on the High Way, including the crossing of the mighty Ingleborough and the temptation of climbing Yorkshire’s highest peak, Whernside.

The final phase of the walk involves a traverse of the entire Howgill range in a tremendous six mile ridge walk. The imposing Howgills are a series of steep sided, round topped, grassy hills that fold smoothly into one another. The reward for your efforts are far reaching views taking in the likes of the Mallerstang-Garsdale Fells, the Yorkshire Three Peaks, the Lakeland Fells and the North Pennines. Once off the tops all that remains is a celebratory walk through the beautiful Cumbrian countryside, and with the hard work behind you, a chance to reflect on all that you’ve achieved and enjoyed on the incredible Dales High Way.

The Dales Way crosses through the internationally renowned Yorkshire Dales National Park from east to west, spending much of its time on the riverside paths bordering the Rivers Wharfe and Dee. The 81 mile route begins in the market town of Ilkley on the eastern edge of the Dales and travels through Wharfedale and Dentdale, before crossing into the foothills of the Lake District National Park to finish on the shores of Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake.

This is primarily a riverside walk through a characteristic landscape of limestone dry stone walls and isolated field barns with small villages and hamlets dotted through beautiful and peaceful steep sided valleys. Short sections of windswept peaty moorland and iconic limestone pavement add variety.

Few places, if indeed any, are as pretty as the dales, particularly in spring and summer when the trees are in leaf, the meadows are brightly decorated with wildflowers and the songbirds are at their most active.

The trail is rarely far from a river bank and the water is home to the ever-present mallard, occasionally joined by moorhen. Perched on rocks are an assortment of attractive little birds such as brown and white dippers and pied and yellow wagtails. Keeping watch over the bank will be the heron. More difficult to spot, but certainly around will be weasels and stoats. There are deer in the woods, if you are both quiet and patient, you may be lucky enough to spot them. On the uplands, with their song often heard before they are seen, are the skylark, peewit and lovely meadow pipit.

What the Dales Way does best, in addition to serving up mile upon mile of idyllic countryside, is it gains you easy access to some of the most striking scenery in the north of England. For a time, as you transition from Yorkshire Dales to Lake District, you’ll have the enormous and rounded Howgill Fells towering above you, and a stunning skyline of rugged Lakeland mountains laid out ahead of you. Simply magnificent!

Hadrian’s Wall Path was opened in 2003 and proved an immediate success with walkers from both the UK and abroad. The route follows the course of northern Europe’s largest surviving Roman monument, built on the orders of Emperor Hadrianus between AD122 and AD128 to protect the northern extreme of the Roman Empire.

The path crosses the country coast to coast from Wallsend, near Newcastle, through the rolling border countryside of Northumberland, continuing on to the historic city of Carlisle and finally to the flat plains of the Solway Coast.

Hadrian’s Wall Path was the very first National Trail to follow the course of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To ensure that the integrity of the Wall was in no way compromised, an archaeologist was on hand each time a signpost or waymark was driven into the ground. As a consequence, it took ten years to open Hadrian’s Wall to the public. Four years more than it took the 2nd and 6th legions of the Roman Army to build the actual wall. However, anyone who has ever walked the trail will testify, it was well worth all the work.

The most dramatic section of the walk is in the centre, where the landscape is at its most impressive and large stretches of the wall still remain. Here too are some of the best preserved fortresses. It’s easy to imagine how these windswept moors would have looked all those years ago as the Wall, punctuated by forts, milecastles and turrets, snaked its way through the undulating Northumberland countryside. This wilderness is bookended by the bustling City of Newcastle on the east, and on the west the breathtakingly beautiful plains at Bowness on Solway, an area of outstanding natural beauty and a haven for birdwatchers.

With the Romans gone, the wall fell into disrepair and much of the stone became the fabric of the churches, abbeys and priories you see today. The Wall’s legacy lives on in the names of the towns villages along the line of the route; Wallsend, Wallhouses, Walton and even Oldwall being just a few examples.

Despite a few bumps and hollows, the path itself is considered one of the easier national trails, a route where you can spend a week on well-trodden paths marvelling at the fascinating remains and the stunning scenery around you.

The Herriot Way is a 52 mile circular route running through some of the most beautiful scenery in the Yorkshire Dales.

It is based upon a walk taken by the well-known veterinarian and author James Herriot. It visits his favourite locations and places where he lived and worked for many years, made famous in his books ‘All Creatures Great and Small’ and ‘James Herriot’s Yorkshire’.

The walk starts and ends in the village of Aysgarth in the heart of Wensleydale, famous for its cheese as well as its waterfalls, it visits Hawes, the highest market town in Yorkshire and passes through fabulous Swaledale with its wildflower meadows and landscape of limestone dry stone walls and barns.

On your journey you’ll walk through lush green valleys, along disused railway, over high fells and across glorious heather-clad moorland. You’ll follow winding rivers, quiet country lanes, pass historic monuments, see remnants of an industrial age and visit picturesque villages.

There are few walks that better characterise the delights of walking in the Yorkshire Dales than the Herriot Way.

Lady Anne’s Way is a classic long distance walk extending for 100 miles from the rugged limestone countryside of the Yorkshire Dales, to the unspoilt villages of the Eden Valley. The trail was conceived as a tribute to Lady Anne Clifford, who devoted her life to the restoration of her castles, churches and monuments along this route in the 17th Century. From Skipton Castle in North Yorkshire the path runs north to the ruins of Brougham Castle on the outskirts of Penrith.

The Way takes in sections of the Dales Way in Wharfdale and the ancient green lane known as Lady Anne’s Highway along Mallerstang, visiting Lady Anne’s historically significant buildings along the route. The varied nature of this trail makes it appealing to both seasoned walkers and those seeking their first experience of a long distance hike. Starting with easy walking along the banks of the river Wharfe the route then takes a high path over the fells from Wensleydale into Mallerstang with its wild and dramatic scenery. Entering the Eden Valley the trail from Kirkby Stephen to Appleby is along soft flowing rivers leading through scenic villages on the way to Penrith.

In addition to the many castles, churches and monuments, the moorlands and meadows of Lady Anne’s Way are home to the likes of golden plovers and skylarks. Red kites and peregrine falcons can make an appearance too. When walking by slow flowing water, look out for Kingfishers. Early morning and again in early evening move quietly and keep an eye out for foxes or badgers, and when in woodland, watch for red squirrels and great spotted woodpeckers.

The Northumberland Coast is renowned for its sweeping beaches, spectacular castles, rolling dunes, dramatic rock formations and isolated islands. Amidst this striking landscape is the evidence of an area steeped in history, spanning 7000 years of human activity. A host of conservation sites, including two National Nature Reserves, testify to the immense variety of wildlife and habitats also found on this stunning stretch of coast.

The 64 mile route for the most part hugs the coastline, only making a detour inland between Belford and Fenwick. The terrain is generally level and as such, in clear weather, you’re rewarded with tremendously far reaching views. The majority of the paths are public rights of way, however in places beaches, minor roads and permissive paths are used.

You will journey along a wild and empty expanse of endless beaches punctuated by some of the most imposing castles in England – Warkworth reflecting magnificently in the River Aln, the dramatic ruins of Dunstanburgh, the most majestic of all Bamburgh, and the remains of the once great castle at Berwick-Upon-Tweed, famous for its Elizabethan town walls. Each has its own remarkable history and are worthy of thorough exploration.

Also deserving of exploration are the offshore attractions of Croquet Island, the Farne Islands and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. Consider factoring in a rest day or two when planning your adventure.

Nature lovers will delight in the Northumberland coast. On the river estuaries you’ll find wading birds such as ring plovers and oyster catchers, wetlands host egrets, herons and a variety of waterfowl, while the offshore islands are home to puffins, razorbills and guillemots. The dune systems, saltmarshes and grasslands support an amazing array of plant life including the southern marsh orchid, marsh helleborine, sea campion, common rock-rose and fairy flax.

The Pennine Way is Britain’s oldest and perhaps most iconic National Trail. Every long-distance walker will no doubt at some stage in their lives have this famous route in their sights. Stretching some 265 miles along the backbone of England and into the Scottish Borders, the Pennine Way passes through three national parks and a vast Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty as it takes you on a tour of some of the most scenic upland landscapes in the country.

The trail begins in the picturesque village of Edale in the Derbyshire Peak District and winds its way north along the Pennine spine crossing wild and desolate moorlands, through charming dales, over rugged limestone hills, and even on historic Roman roads, finally reaching the Scottish Borders and the town of Kirk Yetholm. The rewards for taking up the challenge of the Pennine Way are plentiful; the sight of the dramatic Kinder Scout plateau, the limestone cliffs of Malham Cove, the awe-inspiring High Force waterfall, the magnificent High Cup Nick, the best preserved stretch of Hadrian’s Wall and the sweeping vistas from the Cheviot Hills to name but a few.

Delightful though they are, don’t think for a moment that the Pennine Way is all heather-clad moorland and the cry of the curlew. These lands are rich with cultural and historical significance, shaped by centuries of human activity. Expect to see prehistoric monuments, Roman forts, and medieval packhorse routes. Take time to connect with the stories of those who have traversed these lands throughout history.

Completing the Pennine Way is both an amazing achievement and an unforgettable experience. Perhaps you are a seasoned long-distance walker looking to fulfil a long held ambition, or maybe a nature lover hoping to witness the ever-changing untamed beauty of the countryside? Whatever the reason, the Pennine Way is sure to leave an indelible mark on all those who venture along its path.

The Settle to Carlisle Railway is without doubt one of the most scenic rail journeys in the land. In an astonishing feat of Victorian engineering the line was built in just seven years and involved the construction of no fewer than 14 tunnels and more than 20 viaducts. The line has many remarkable landmarks, perhaps most notably Ribblehead Viaduct, spanning a distance of 400 metres and boasting 24 magnificent arches towering 30 metres above the ground.

For almost 150 years passengers have been enjoying the delights of the Yorkshire Dales and Eden Valley through their carriage windows. Now, thanks to the Settle to Carlisle Way, you can experience this same stunning landscape at a much slower pace.

From the limestone country of the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the pleasant farmlands of Cumbria’s Eden Valley, the Settle to Carlisle Way links together each of the stations along the much loved line. The terrain you walk over is as varied as landscapes you pass through. Fascinating limestone grassland, moorland tracks, enchanting woodland trails, riverside paths and delightful bridleways all play their part on this spectacular journey.

The early part of the walk is dominated by the famous Yorkshire Three Peaks of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough as you weave your way to Garsdale before entering the narrow glacial valley of Mallerstang. From here the River Eden becomes your near constant companion as you wind your way along the valley floor to Carlisle, watched over by the magnificent North Pennine hills.

In spring the woods are bright with bluebells and giant bellflowers and in summer wildflower meadows fill the landscape with vibrant colour. Take a stroll at dusk and you may be treated to the sight of foxes or badgers. When walking in woodland look carefully for red squirrels and great spotted woodpeckers. Moorland and meadows are home to skylarks and golden plovers. Buzzards are common, but peregrine falcons and red kites can make an appearance and on the Eden, look for kingfishers and oystercatchers.

Awe-inspiring landscapes, incredible examples of Victorian engineering, picturesque towns and villages, and a wealth of wildlife combine to make the Settle to Carlisle Way a truly memorable walking experience.

This walking holiday traces the footsteps of St Oswald, the Anglo Saxon King who played a significant role in the introduction of Christianity to England. Covering a distance of 97 miles, St Oswald’s Way starts on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne. It follows the spectacular Northumberland coastline to Warkworth before heading inland along the beautiful River Coquet to the ancient town of Rothbury. From there it heads south over heather-clad moors, through forest and rolling countryside, finishing at the World Heritage Site of Hadrian’s Wall.

St Oswald’s Way has everything: stunning coastal walking, wild expansive moorland, spectacular geology, quiet fishing villages and picturesque market towns. This walking holiday takes you through centuries of history, passing Neolithic rock art, Iron Age forts, Roman sites, medieval castles, eighteenth century limekilns, and coastal defences from World War Two.

It is a straightforward walk, with its highest point at just over 300m (990ft). With a rich variety of birdlife, seals and dolphins, red squirrels, rare butterflies and plants, this walking holiday is the perfect one to choose if you want a taste of all the best bits of England’s best kept secret, Northumberland.

The Yorkshire Wolds offer a peaceful setting for a walking holiday away from it all. With rolling countryside and far reaching views, the trail follows good paths and tracks over higher ground, dipping in and out of the dry valleys which were carved into this landscape after the Ice Age, and which give the area its unique appearance.

The route begins on the Humber Estuary and follows a band of chalk which runs through a very rural and unspoilt corner of Britain, all the way to Filey on the North Coast.

On a clear day the views over the patchwork of fields stretch for miles to the Pennines and the North Yorkshire Moors. You may be able to spot the distinctive landmarks of York Minster, and your starting point the Humber Bridge as you walk through this very rural landscape.

The hedgerows and grassy valleys are the perfect habitat for an abundance of wild flowers, birds and butterflies and you may be lucky enough to see Red Kites on the central part of the route.

The area also has a strong connection with the arts. Hull, close to the start of the route, was the UK City of Culture from 2017 until 2020. Along the route, a project known as ‘WANDER – Art on the Yorkshire Wolds Way’ has seen a number of works of art springing up along the trail, so be sure to look out for these on your journey.