This is the second of our two visits to the North Yorkshire Moors this year. Our first was to Pickering in April and now its the turn of Swainby in August. The North York Moors National Park covers an area of 554 sq miles. Way to the south is the large town of Pickering which makes it one of our most distant places to visit on the Moors but up in the north-east corner is the small village of Swainby which is one of our most easily accessible places. As the A19 road comes south from Middlesborough the A172 road swings across it and continues around part of the north-eastern section of the Moors. It's along this road that two of the routes will get dropped-off, the third route gets dropped off on the B1257 road at Great Broughton.

First to be dropped-off is the 11-mile route which starts at a place called Ingleby Arncliffe. This route goes south-east into a small valley called Scugdale. Along the valley is a farm called Scugdale Hall and behind the farm is a small series of crags called Barker's Crags. It's here that the route climbs out of Scugdale and heads over the moor to the old disused Gliding Club where it turns back towards Swainby on the Cleveland Way.

The 10-mile route goes further along the A172 road and gets dropped off at the junction of the B1365 road that goes into the town of Stoksley. This route heads south through farmland towards the edge of the North York Moors and starts to climb on to the Cleveland Way at Busby Moor. Once on the Cleveland Way the route continues to Swainby.

Last to start is the 8.5-mile route that begins in the village of Great Broughton and also goes south through farmland to the edge of the North York Moors. Beyond the farm called Soloman's Porch there is a footpath that leads up Broughton Bank to the Cleveland Way. Once on the Cleveland Way this route is also heading towards Swainby.
 
All three routes include a short climb onto the Cleveland Way but this part of their routes puts them high on the North York Moors looking north towards Middleborough and west towards the Yorkshire Dales. The weather is still looking good as we go into the middle part of August so if you fancy a walk on the high ground of this part of the North York Moors you can get in touch with us from our Contact Page, you can also download the walk descriptions here and the GPS route here.

The image for this post was taken on our last visit to Swainby in May 2023. One of the groups is at the top of Carlton Bank along the Cleveland Way.