Walks near York by train
MapA day hike in the countryside is just a simple train journey away — explore the most charmingly located railway stations near York and plan your next day of green.
Sheffield to Meadowhall Interchange (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from York.
Flat urban canal towpaths and riverside paths along the Sheffield & Tinsley Canal and Five Weirs Walk, past Victoria Quays and the Tinsley locks. An easy waterside start to the trail.
Victoria Quays: A large canal basin in Sheffield constructed 1816-1819 as the terminus of the Sheffield Canal.
The Sheffield & Tinsley Canal: A canal opened in 1819 to link the city with the navigable River Don, famous for featuring in the opening scenes of the film The Full Monty.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Sheffield to Bamford (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from York.
Urban streets, landscaped Victorian cemetery, municipal parkland, narrow wooded valley, open moorland, rugged gritstone edges and a scenic descent into lush valley.
Time: 6h30
Warnings: Can be muddy.
Walk details: the Saturday Walkers Club (tips, local insights and turn-by-turn directions).
Hunmanby to Filey (Yorkshire)
1 hour from York, with one change.
Quiet lanes, field paths, a broad beach walk along Filey Bay, the smart seafront town and Filey Brigg.
Warnings: Check tide times; the sea reaches the cliffs at high tide and covers Filey Brigg. Do not attempt cliff descents to the beach.
Walk details: Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (PDF).
Scarborough Circular via Hayburn Wyke (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from York.
Out along the Cleveland Way clifftops past Cloughton Wyke and Hayburn Wyke through woodland, back on the old Scarborough to Whitby railway trackbed.
Warnings: Cliffs are unfenced; supervise children. The shared Rail Trail can be busy with cyclists and horse riders.
Walk details: Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (PDF).
Meadowhall Interchange to Chapeltown (Yorkshire)
45 minutes from York, with one change.
Disused railway trackbed and the Blackburn Valley Trail through ancient Woolley Wood, following the Blackburn Brook past old mill sites into Chapeltown.
Woolley Wood: An ancient woodland continuously wooded since at least 1600, noted for its hornbeam trees and the locally uncommon Hawfinch.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Barnsley Interchange to Dodworth (Yorkshire)
1 hour from York, with one change.
Derelict Barnsley Canal towpath, riverside paths, a stillwater fishery and field paths into Dodworth. Industrial heritage of coal and glassmaking.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Wombwell to Barnsley Interchange (Yorkshire)
1 hour from York, with one change.
Trans Pennine Trail through ancient woods, farmland and disused railway viaducts, past Dearne Valley Park (good for kingfishers), Monk Bretton Priory ruins and the old Barnsley Canal aqueduct.
Monk Bretton Priory: The ruins of a monastery founded in 1154 as a Cluniac house, now in the care of English Heritage.
Dearne Valley Park: A green corridor extending two miles along the River Dearne and one of the best places to see kingfishers in the valley.
Walk details: Penistone Line Trail / Penistone Line Partnership (PDF).
Hadfield to Marsden (Derbyshire)
1 hour from York, with one change.
Spectacular views of valley while crossing dams. Primarily along the Pennine Way. Pennine Way since 1965. Hadfield = Royston Vassey in League of Gentlemen TV series. Longdendale Chain reservoirs (1830s-1884) supplied Manchester. Derelict textile mill at walk's end.
Time: 6h30–13h30
Warnings: Steep section beside Rakes Rocks; cliff edge high above clough; long flight of stone steps to descend near Marsden.
Walk details: Walk Midlands (tips, photos and local insights).
Scarborough to Filey (Yorkshire)
45 minutes direct from York.
Recommended: A walk with a fair amount of climbing and descending.
Coastal: almost all along the coast.
Time: 5h–10h
Warnings: A fair amount of climbing and descending.
Walk details: Railwalks.
Reverse direction: Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (PDF).
Filey to Bempton (Yorkshire)
1 hour from York, with one change.
Recommended: A walk with some climbing, taking the beach to avoid going inland at Hunmanby.
Coastal: four fifths along the coast.
Time: 5h–10h
Walk details: Railwalks.
Reverse direction: Yorkshire Coast Community Rail Partnership (PDF).
Horden to Hartlepool (Durham)
1 hour from York, with one change.
Selby to Snaith (Yorkshire)
30 minutes direct from York.
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: 4h–7h30
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.