10.1 miles.

Explorer Map OL27, - North York Moors (Eastern Area)

This is one of the few linear walks that the Grey Panthers have done. The walk depends on returning using the North Yorks Moors Railway train from Levisham Station to Goathland, - so check the timetable before planning your journey.
The walk can be done, obviously, from Levisham to Goathland, but the timing of this will also depend on what trains are running.
The outward leg, as described, crosses Goathland Moor. Although the track is reasonably well defined, there are several sections where it lies in deep heather and is sometimes hard to make out. The usual precautions apply for walking on moorland.
The route then makes use of Forestry Commission tracks to reach Needle Point. There is a very steep and slippery (when wet) descent here to the Forestry track beside the railway line.
The Forestry track is then followed past Newton Dale Halt to Levisham Station.

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For a Memory Map overlay of the walk described, please select the above link.
(Overlay made with Version 5 of Memory Map)

Some new mapping software is now available which you may want to try, - QUO mapping. You can download the software for free from the link below, complete with demonstration maps. Having installed QUO, you can import and export Memory Map overlays. Thus YOU DON'T NEED Memory Map to use any of the overlays provided on the Grey Panthers website, - just use QUO!!

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Start from the car park in Goathland, maintained by the North York Moors Park Authority (NZ 83349 01346). A small charge applies.
Head Westwards, then South Westwards down Goathland's main street. Past the Church there is a road junction which you cross to then taken the footpath that heads South to Two Howes Rigg. The footpath is mostly fairly clear, but there are sections where it lies deep within heather and you need to keep a careful watch out for it.
Continue Southwards to cross Simon Howe Rigg using this footpath.
You leave the moorland at a gate near a plantation. There is a "Skelton Tower footpath" sign on this gate.
Continue South Westwards on the footpath across pastures, until you come to a Forestry Commission track, beyond a gate. Cross this track to take the footpath beside a plantation that heads due South.
Where the footpath meets the Forestry Commission Drive, turn left and follow the road for a few hundred yards. Just past a road sign indicating a right hand bend, take the (gated) fork track that heads almost due East. Continue along this track until there is a left hand bend; at this point you will see a footpath on your right that takes to to Needle Point.
From Needle Point there is a waymarked footpath that drops you steeply down to the valley floor.
At the foot of this path, turn right and follow the Forestry Commission track to Levisham Station.