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About the Trail
The Cleveland Way National Trail is a 109 mile (175 km) walking route through beautiful and ever-changing landscapes and scenery. Officially opened on 24th May 1969, it was the second recognised National Trail in England and Wales.
Starting from the attractive market town of Helmsley, the Cleveland Way heads across the inspirational, and breathtaking heather moorland of the North York Moors National Park, before reaching the coast at Saltburn-by-the-Sea. From here it’s a visual feast along the North Yorkshire coastline to Filey, passing old fishing villages and lively coastal towns.
The National Trail runs through the famous smuggler’s village of Robin Hood’s Bay and the popular seaside resorts of Scarborough and Whitby – one of England’s best coastal towns and home to Whitby Abbey, the inspiration for Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
There are Route Descriptions in the Further Information section of
this website.
Anyone who is reasonably fit can walk the Cleveland Way. The route is challenging in places, especially on the Cleveland Hills and some of the coastal sections, but this adds to the overall experience. Whilst the route is well-signed throughout, an up-to-date map or GPS mapping is essential.
You can walk the Cleveland Way at any time of year but if you want to see the moorland heather in bloom, the best time to visit is late August and early September.
Most people walk the route in a clockwise direction from Helmsley to Filey as you are likely to have the wind behind you. But there is no right or wrong way and plenty of people enjoy walking the route in the opposite direction."
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The trail starts immediately at the exit from the car park. Overnight parking used to be allowed but was suspended on 30th July 2022.
The Cleveland Way is a trail in its own right but surprisingly is affiliated with the International Appalachian Trail.
"The International Appalachian Trail (IAT; French: Sentier international des Appalaches, SIA) was originally a hiking trail which ran from Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument, in Maine, through New Brunswick, to the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec, after which it followed a ferry route to Newfoundland, and then continued to the northern-easternmost point of the Appalachian Mountains at Belle Isle, Newfoundland and Labrador. As of July 2020, there are widely geographically dispersed IAT-branded walking trails in Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Isle of Man, Wales, England, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco...
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Extension to Europe and North Africa
Geological evidence shows that the Appalachian Mountains, certain mountains of Western Europe, and the Anti-Atlas range in North Africa are parts of the ancient Central Pangean Mountains, made when minor supercontinents collided to form the supercontinent Pangaea more than 250 million years ago. With the break-up of Pangaea, sections of the former range remained with the continents as they drifted to their present locations. Inspired by this evidence, the IAT has been extended into Western Europe and North Africa.
In 2010 and 2011, chapters of the International Appalachian Trail were established in Greenland, Scotland (the West Highland Way became the first IAT trail in Europe), Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands, England, Ulster-Ireland, Wales, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Spain and Morocco."
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