Danby, Fryup and Danby Castle Walk

This is another one of those walks we tend to do when we are looking for a quick few miles to stretch our legs followed by a pub meal somewhere, in this case usually the Fox and Hounds at Ainthorpe.

It’s a nice easy walk over fields and a little bit of road, there’s a couple of small up ascents but nothing too steep or difficult. There’s a couple of pubs along the route, a couple of cafe’s, a castle, 14th century bridge and even a place called Fryup (of moonpig fame)

We usually start the walk from the car park near the Duke of Wellington and Stonehouse Bakery in Danby it’s self but if you don’t fancy walking along the road you can always park at the Danby Moors Centre, but this usually costs a few quid…although it goes to help keeping the centre up and running.

Length : 7.7 miles
Terrain: Tracks, paths, moorland and a little bit of road.
Refreshments: Cafe at the moors centre, Duke of Wellington in Danby, Fox and Hounds at Ainthorpe.
Things to look out for: Duck bridge, Danby Castle, Danby moors centre.
Start/finish: Carpark near Stonehouse bakery
Kit Taken: O/R rucksack, Aku Boots,X-socks airforce 1, X-bionic baselayer pants,  Montane Terra Convert Pant, Berghaus Smoulder Hoodie, Rab Super Dru Jacket, Montain Air Pant, First Aid Kit, Leatherman, Buff, Berghaus Tech T, 2 bottles of water, Iphone, Timex Expedition watch, Garmin GPS 60 and paper maps.

Route

From the car park follow the road towards the Danby doctors surgery, keeping the surgery on your right, follow this road until you reach the Danby moors centre, on reaching the centre look for a gate on your right, opposite the car park, go through the gate, keeping the orienteering course on your left and the hedge on your right, head for the gate and bridge, next to the statue of a man in a flat cap.

Go through this gate and over the bridge, follow the path alongside the fence up to the railway, carefully cross the track onto the road, turn right along the road, pass the farm on the right then take the first signed footpath on the left.

Follow the path around the field, climb over the stile, keep following the path until you reach a gate between two houses, go through the gate and turn left, follow the road past the excellent Fox and Hounds (if it’s open stop for a pint…the food its great too) keep following the road past the big rock on the right and the tennis courts, as the road bends left, leave the road and go straight up the hill on the public bridleway. You will soon reach a gate, go through the gate, and follow the path through the heather (keep an eye out for the cairns).

You will soon reach the other side when you need to descend along the path to the road and the sign for Fryup and Lealholme, follow the signs past the 2 farms on the left, as you reach the second farm there will be a sign for some holiday lodges called Forresters Lodge, turn left down the track here, keeping the farm on your left,  once you reach the lodges, turn right through the gate and follow the path down the fields, you will soon reach a track, when follow this for a short while until it starts to bend left, as it does, cut up across the field to the road.

Turn right along the road, passing another farm on your right, keep following the road past Danby castle on your left, when you reach the junction turn right and follow the road down, as it bends left you will reach Duck Bridge on your right, it’s worth stopping and having a look before continuing along the road.

Pass the houses on your left i think this is called oakley side, you will soon reach the gate you came through after crossing the railway line, go back through this gate and follow the path you started on, back through the moors centre and along the road to your car.

You can download the GPX file of the walk here, just unzip it and open in google earth or some mappings software like tracklogs

Click the images to make them bigger.