Distance: 8 miles Time to complete walk: 4 hours
Safety Tips: Part of the second half of the walk is on a road, keep on the right of the road to see oncoming traffic. The last part of the walk over the moors can be muddy after rain, a walking stick is required if unsure about the ground beneath. For the walk in general keep an eye out for bicycles and motorbikes as the route can be popular with both.
A walk of two contrasting halves. The first half of the walk from Danby makes its way through a wood and then beside the Esk Valley Railway. After climbing up the road from the village of Commondale, the walk then enters the sparse but beautiful moors. The walk encapsulates everything there is to love about the North York Moors.
The Danby Walk
Getting There
From Middlesbrough head to the top of Ormesby Bank. Turn left at the roundabout at the top of the bank. Follow this road - the A171 past Guisborough and up Birk Brow. Look for the second turn off on the right for Danby. Follow this road into Danby. Parking can be found on the roadside and there are no parking charges.
Map of the Danby walk
From where you parked the car in the village centre look for a road heading West signposted to Castleton.
Signpost to Castleton
Follow this road until you pass the entrance to Winsley Hill Farm. Look to the right for a road which has a track bearing to the left. Take this track.
Join the track to the left
Follow the track keeping on the middle track when it diverges and head towards Danby Woods in the distance.
Head towards Danby Woods
Head into the woods through a gate.
Gate into Danby Woods
Danby Woods
Head out of the woods through another gate and the path then passes the back of houses.
Gate out of the woods
At the end of the path is a road- take care on the road and head up the road to the right. As it turns to the right look for a gravel path on the left signposted to Commondale. Join the path.
Turn right onto the road
Turn left onto the gravel path
Keep on the track and pass by Box Hall. The Esk Valley Railway is to your left.
Esk Valley Railway
Look for a bench on the track for a quick pitstop. A great place to watch the trains pass by.
Bench on the path
Pass by Cobble Hall and head up the path towards the trees
Head towards the trees at Cobble Hall
Keeping to the path you will soon come to Commondale station. Head past the station and onwards towards Commondale village centre and a T junction.
T-Junction at Commondale Village
Turn right at the junction and climb the steep road out of the village. This is the only significant climb of the walk.
Take care on the road and follow the road until it comes to a T junction. Cross over the road and follow the track ahead.
Cross the road and follow the track
Track on the moors
Keep on the track ahead
Keep ahead on the track which gently dips and climbs. Look to the right after a good distance for a cairn and a marker post. Join the track to the right.
Cairn at start of the path
Marker Post to the right
This path meanders through the heather on the moors. It is a well defined path and if you keep to it you will be fine. Be aware of the path you are on and test it carefully if it is wet work your way around it. Soon you will pass Siss Cross.
Siss Cross
Keep an eye on the road ahead as this is the road back to Danby. Keep on the moor track and eventually it will become grassier and you will then meet the road.
Track through the heather
Road back to Danby
Turn right onto the road and follow it back into Danby and your car.
Danby
Danby is located within the North York Moors National Park and is home to the Moors National Park Centre.
Danby is served by a rail network between Middlesbrough and Whitby and an Arriva bus service. Danby village incorporates the Duke of Wellington pub and the neighbouring post office. The village lies on the Esk Valley Walk
The Danby Agricultural Show is held every year in August, with traditional country entertainments and activities such as show jumping, sheepdog trials, exhibitions of farm animals and machinery as well as horticultural, craft and produce competitions
A little over a mile to the south-east are the remains of Danby Castle.
Danby Castle occupies a commanding position on the far slopes of Danby Rigg. It was built in the 14th century for Lord Latimer as a sign of his great wealth and, in its day, was of pioneering architectural design, combining both defence and comfortable living. Catherine Parr once lived at the castle, before she became the sixth wife of Henry VIII. The castle is now a wedding venue; part of the building is now a farmhouse and the venue owners' family home. Danby court leet, the all male, baronial court whose origins were as a manorial court, but whose functions are now restricted to the management of common land, regularly meets in the castle's courtroom
The Danby Beacon was one of a line of beacons up to 20 miles apart, and dates back to the 1600s when the country was living under the threat of invasion from France. It was to have been lit when the soldier stationed nearby had sight of a foreign fleet.
Danby Beacon is now a national landmark, which is used as a reference point by thousands of visitors and walkers each year. Over the years, the old wooden beacon aged so much that it eventually disintegrated and fell down – the landmark was lost.
A new beacon was unveiled in 2008 by Lord Downe, President of the Danby Beacon Trust. The flame-shaped basket is made out of blued stainless steel, blending in with the sky. The flames are mounted around a cup that is decorated with bronze – a reminder of the Bronze Age burial mound which part occupies the site.
During the Second World War, the site became home to one of the first radar stations guarding the north-east coast. The station was responsible for guiding Group Captain Peter Townsend, when he intercepted and shot down the first enemy aircraft to fall on English soil during the war.
The radar station, which continued to function until 1957, was the precursor of the RAF Fylingdales early warning station, 15 miles south-east, whose three giant golf balls became one of the North York Moors National Park's biggest attractions.
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