Helmsley is on the south side of the Yorkshire Moors. We have stopped there quite a few times over the last year, nice little town, rather busy at weekends. Good bakery to buy pies and sausage rolls :) Friends had suggested this walk to us. Nothing too strenuous, they said. Just a few miles each way to Rievaulx Abbey and back. Parking in the main square in Helmsley is possible, but you have to pay. We always park for free a few hundred meters away on the side of the A170 east of the main square. This adds a few hundred meters to the walk, as the path to Rievaulx starts on the west side of Helmsley along a street called "Cleveland Way".
(above) Helmsley - looking south along Castlegate. We had no exact directions for the walk, but it turned out the start of the path was very easy to find.
The footpath is actually very well marked and easy to follow. Starts slightly uphill along the edge of some fields and you get views back to Helmsley Castle.
(above) Footpath heading out of Helmsley. The path then gets more wooded and there are some ups and downs, but it's easy walking.
About two and a half miles from Helmsley the wooded path drops onto the side of a minor road and it's about another mile to Rievaulx Abbey. The road crosses the river Rye and just before the bridge you turn right to Rievaulx.
(above) Welcome to Rievaulx! Of course you can pay to enter the Abbey grounds - see prices here - but we are quite happy to save 20 pounds and see what we can see from the road.
(above) Rievaulx Abbey and friendly horse. And ready to walk back. By the time you've got back to Helmsley it's a good 7 miles. Probably nearly 8 miles for us because we parked east of the town center. Including all our photo stops and a little wander in Rievaulx village, it took about 3 hours.A good walk and enough to make for some achy legs!
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