Trail running routes in North York Moors · 7

Heather moorland and sea cliffs. Big skies and honest running.

7
Routes
23.9km
Avg distance
3,574m
Total ascent

Areas

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7 routes

EXPERT
Fryupdale Trail Marathon Route
48.3km · 1,015m climb · Loop
This crosses a string of side dales that most visitors to the Moors never see, so instead of the honeypot villages you get genuinely remote heather moorland and steep-sided dales one after another.
No car neededDog friendly
VERY HARD
Great Fryup Dale from Yorkshire Cycle Hub
25.4km · 660m climb · Loop
You get both halves of the Moors in one loop: the green, sheltered dale of Great Fryup with its old farms, and the wide purple heather ridges that separate it from Little Fryup.
No car neededDog friendly
Checked Jul 2026
EXPERT
Helmsley, Cleveland Way, White Horse and Rievaulx Abbey
40.3km · 651m climb · Loop
Three proper North Yorkshire landmarks - a market town, a chalk-cut white horse and a genuinely beautiful ruined abbey - linked by one of the best waymarked trails in the country.
No car neededDog friendly
MODERATE
Hole of Horcum
11.0km · 239m climb · Loop
A genuinely dramatic piece of landscape - a mile-wide natural amphitheatre - covered properly on foot rather than just glimpsed from the roadside viewpoint everyone else stops at.
Dog friendly
MODERATE
Osmotherley, Cleveland Way and Cod Beck Reservoir
8.7km · 193m climb · Loop
A short loop with serious pedigree - this is where the legendary Lyke Wake Challenge begins - through a proper North York Moors village and around a genuinely peaceful reservoir.
Good for beginnersDog friendly
HARD
Roseberry Topping from Guisborough
17.3km · 514m climb · Loop
A summit with a genuinely unusual profile - half sharp peak, half sheared-off cliff face - that Captain Cook is said to have climbed as a boy from the village right below it.
No car neededDog friendly
HARD
Whitby and Sandsend Coast
16.1km · 302m climb · Loop
You run the clifftop Cleveland Way from Whitby to Sandsend, high above the North Sea, with the ruined abbey behind you and the wide sweep of the bay ahead the whole way.
No car neededDog friendly

About running in North York Moors

Heather moorland and sea cliffs. Big skies and honest running.

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