Walks near Thirsk by train
MapA day hike in the countryside is just a simple train journey away — explore the most charmingly located railway stations near Thirsk and plan your next day of green.
Horden to Hartlepool (Durham)
1 hour from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: A varied route through nature reserves and beaches.
Coastal: four fifths along the coast.
Time: 7h30 (6h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: About two miles around the port alongside a main road.
Walk details: Railwalks.
Seaham to Horden (Durham)
1 hour from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: A quiet walk, separated from built-up areas, with several steep climbs and descents.
Coastal: nine tenths along the coast.
Durham Coast (National Trust)
Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Lunch: No food or drink en route after Seaham.
Warnings: Several steep climbs and descents.
Walk details: Railwalks.
Stockton to Middlesbrough (Durham)
45 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: A direct town-centre-to-town-centre route, under 20% on roads with the rest flat and well-surfaced tarmac path mostly along the riverside. Passes through a semi-industrial landscape and runs close to the river.
Waterway: two thirds along the River Tees.
Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Follows a busy road for a sixth of the walk.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Selby to Snaith (Yorkshire)
45 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: Great views. Very flat and easy walking: a canal towpath, a good-surfaced path across a former airfield, then open countryside, lanes and tracks and a flood bank and a bridge over the River Aire. Just short stretches of busy and verge-only road. Follows the Trans Pennine Trail across Burn Airfield, which has benches and interpretation boards; you may see gliders taking off and landing.
Time: 5h30 (4h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: A short stretch of busy road at the start, and a section of roadside walking with no pavement on a straight part of Hirst Road. Snaith has only around three trains a day.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Selby to Goole (Yorkshire)
45 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: An enjoyable route that is remote in parts.
Time: 7h (5h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Remote in parts.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Harrogate to Knaresborough (Yorkshire)
1 hour from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: Amazing walk especially the section through the forest following the River Nidd. A varied, scenic and remarkably rural route between two towns, with a highlight stretch through Nidd Gorge following the River Nidd through forest. Starts on the tarmacked, surfaced former-railway Greenway, easy walking and then field and woodland paths that can get quite muddy in places at wetter times of year. Passes through Nidd Gorge, a nature reserve mainly owned by the Woodland Trust, on a route via the Nidderdale Greenway (a Sustrans cycle/pedestrian path along a former railway line).
Woodland: two fifths under tree cover.
Time: 4h (2h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Featherstone to Castleford (Yorkshire)
45 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: A largely step-free, fairly clear route on roads, paths and through a pair of parks, with a brief stretch of industrial ground between them. A field path leads out of Featherstone and the road into central Castleford is quite long.
Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: The path runs close beside the M62 for about ten minutes, with heavy traffic noise; you are safely behind a hedge.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Worksop to Retford (Nottinghamshire)
1 hour from Thirsk, with one change.
Recommended: An excellent route; very enjoyable. An off-road and peaceful route using byways, the Chesterfield Canal towpath, farm tracks and with some walking through housed areas on safe pavements at either end. The canal section can get hemmed in by bracken and undergrowth; no serious hills. Follows the Chesterfield Canal towpath; passes Babworth Church, linked to the Pilgrim Fathers, with a display board; few benches in the middle third.
Mr Straw's House (National Trust)
Time: 6h (4h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Lunch: The Chequers pub at Ranby is the only refreshment option in the middle third and needs a detour off the towpath; stock up at the start otherwise.
Walk details: Slow Ways.
Knaresborough Circular (Yorkshire)
45 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Beautiful.
Woodland: half under tree cover.
Time: 3h30 (2h walking, 1h30 lunch)
Warnings: Not wheelchair-accessible — steps with no ramp alternative; Can be very muddy or boggy.
Walk details: Railwalks.
Yarm to Stockton (Yorkshire)
15 minutes direct from Thirsk.
Darlington to Yarm (Durham)
30 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Durham to Chester-le-Street (Durham)
45 minutes from Thirsk, with one change.
Amazing views all the way; this gorgeous route. A gorgeous, largely traffic-free rural route reliably walkable year-round, on good ground with limited road walking on quiet lanes. Starts uphill out of Durham; the ground is mostly good but there is quite a lot of tarmac. The sections either side of Finchale Priory are briefly very steep, with a long and steep flight of steps and a footbridge over the river. Largely coincides with other waymarked routes. Finchale Priory is an English Heritage site.
Crook Hall Gardens (National Trust)
Time: 5h (3h30 walking, 1h30 lunch)
Lunch: There is a cafe at Finchale Priory, roughly midway.
Warnings: The steps down to Finchale Priory are long and steep and can be tricky in wet weather; the quiet roads either side have no pavements and occasional fast cars.
Walk details: Slow Ways.