Lealholm ~ Easy Walk

 

Distance Covered: 3 miles Time to Complete Walk 2.5 hours

Suitable for dog walking: No - Sheep along the walk

A nice short walk from the Esk Valley village of Lealholm. A typical pretty village with easy access by car or train along the Esk Valley line. This walk starts at the village and then up through the station and then up on the moors passing a standing stone and then the walk is back to Lealholm on the road.

General Safety Tips: Although an easy walk, there is a steepish climb up to the moors. Be careful on the road back into Lealholm, which although not too busy, you need to keep a sharp eye out for cars. 

    

                                                                    The Lealholm Walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough follow the A171 past Guisborough and up Birk Brow towards Whitby. Then look for a turn off to Lealholm on your right. The drive is short into Lealholm and the car park is on your left before the village centre and is free of charge

Maps of the Lealholm walk

The Walk

From the car park head left and before the bridge head right up the road towards the Post Office.

Just before the Post Office head right up a driveway to a gate 

Head over the train track carefully and head into the station and through a gate

Out of the station head left and then right up to a gate.

Head up the field keeping left on the path and when you come to some gates, head left on a path which meanders down and up the slope on the other side.

When you climb up the other side go ahead as far as the fence on your right and then head left onto a path

Follow this path until you come to a gravel path which leads to a farm on your left. Head right up this track.

Eventually you come to a road, turn right and follow the road until you come to a sharp bend on the right. 

Leave the road on a narrow flagstone path across the moors which leads to a standing stone.

Keep on this path across the moors until you come to a larger path coming from the left.

Turn right and follow this path to a road.

Follow this path which eventually leads back into Lealholm and the car park on your left.

Lealholm

Lealholm is a small village in the Glaisdale civil parish, in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It is sited at a crossing point of the River Esk, in Eskdale which is within the North York Moors National Park. It is 9.5 miles (15.3 km) by road from the nearest town of Whitby, and approximately 27 miles (43 km) from both Middlesbrough and Scarborough. The village is typical of those found all across the North York Moors which straddle the main through-routes along the valley bottoms. It is mostly built of local stone with pantiled or slate roofs.

Settlement around modern-day Lealholm can be traced back to the Domesday Book of 1086, with entries concerning the Manor of Crumbeclive and "Lelum" at the site of Lealholm Hall, Lealholmside.  Lealholmside is a hamlet by Lealholm, and was a popular location with the photographer Francis Meadow Sutcliffe. A honeypot during the summer months, Lealholm is located midway along the Esk valley between the villages of Glaisdale, to the east and Danby to the west. Lealholm is on the route of the Esk valley railway line, which runs from Whitby to Middlesbrough, and is served by Lealholm railway station. A large part of the community is involved in farming due to the high fertility of the slopes in Eskdale, whilst other members of the community are involved in tourism or commute to industrial centres such as Middlesbrough. This led to the economy of the area being hard hit by the 2001 UK foot and mouth crisis.

Lealhom was a place of affection for Irish-born poet John Castillo, who wrote "Ah lovely Lealholm! Where shall I begin. To say what thou art now and once hast been?"