The Cleveland Way - The Perfect Walk?

By Alan Moore

Maybe you're a walker looking for something a little different. Or, maybe you happen to be staying in Whitby and have indulged in too many fish and chips (washed down by some excellent real ale!) and need some exercise to prevent that feeling of guilt. If so, the Cleveland Way might just be the ticket!

While many visitors are more than happy just to enjoy walking around the towns, villages and beaches of the Yorkshire coast, those with a more adventurous bent can stretch their legs along the Cleveland Way.

One of twelve paths designated as National Trails, the Cleveland Way stretches in an arc from Helmsley, near the foot of Sutton Bank, up to Saltburn on the coast. The Cleveland Way then follows the coastline all the way down to Filey, providing a total of 109 miles of scenic and varied walking.

The route is divided up to provide around 10 days of walking, but for those with more modest ambitions (or legs!) it is divided up into enough smaller sections to make a two-three hour circular walk possible in a number of locations up and down the coast.

The Way itself covers a huge variety of terrain - from purple heather-covered moorland to traditional farmland and of course includes some spectacular coastal scenery - including cliffs, sandy beaches and some very steep paths which join them all together!

If you feel like a walk while you are in the area, a quick visit to the nearest tourist information office will usually yield some walk routes, and they will almost certainly include some bite-sized sections of the Cleveland Way.

Alan Moore invites you to join his free email newsletter The Whitby Bite: http://www.dracula-in-whitby.com/whitby-bite.html where you can learn more about the real Dracula and his connection to Whitby, Yorkshire's unique vampire town.