The best hike in North York Moors: Cold Moor, Urra Moor & The Wainstones

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Are you heading to the North York Moors for the first time and looking for the best hike in North York Moors? Well, of course, the best hike is subjective, but we really loved the Cold Moor and Urra Moor hike that starts and finishes in the village called Chop Gate and passes through stunning places, including The Wainstones. Curious to find out more? Keep reading!

Here’s what you can expect to find in this post:

Without further ado, let’s get started!

How to get to Chop Gate? Do you need a car to be able to access the best hike in North York Moors?

Unfortunately, it’s really complicated and tiresome to get to this hike if you don’t have a car. If you don’t have a car, I recommend renting one (you can use Rentalcars.com – they have really good prices & include full insurance for a very competitive rate). In this case, you can easily drive to some of the most beautiful villages in North York Moors and maybe also explore a bit of the Yorkshire coast. If you’re interested in exploring the Yorkshire coast, here’s a post I’ve written about our road trip around Yorkshire, including the Yorkshire coast (Bempton cliffs, where we managed to see puffins, Robin Hood’s Bay, Staithes and Whitby).

Chop Gate (while being a very small village) has a decently sized car park, where you can leave your car for the entire day for just £2. You can pay with cash or through the app (or through the phone as well), and the car park has toilets as well.

Hiking North York Moors

Is there a place where you can eat on this hike in North York Moors?

Unfortunately, there is no place where you can eat along the hiking route. Hence, I recommend buying some snacks / preparing some sandwiches in advance.

Alternatively, you can eat either before or after the hike – there is a lovely pub in the heart of the Chop gate! However, we haven’t spotted any shops, so make sure to bring enough water with you and some snacks that you bought somewhere else.

Is Chop Gate, Cold Moor & Urra Moor a complicated hike? The duration and the route of the best hike in North York Moors!

Now, after we talked about all the logistics, let’s talk about the hike! Well, if you’re wondering whether this hike is a complicated one, I can say that it’s not too easy, as it involves going up and down multiple hills; however, none of the hills requires any advanced skills or even any walking sticks. I would categorise this hike as a moderate one.

Depending on your speed and the number of breaks you take, it might take from 3.5 to 5 hours to complete this hike. We completed it in 4 hours and 20 minutes with a 20-minute break (so it would have been 4 hours sharp without a break). However, at the start, our pace was very slow, as we were taking a lot of photos/videos.

Now let’s talk about the route of the hike! We found the route on the free version of All Trails; however, you need an Internet connection along most of the route to be able to use the free version of the app (we have Vodafone and had connection everywhere, so for us, it wasn’t a problem). Here’s the route you can follow on All Trails (you need to create a free account to be able to view the route). I recommend downloading the app on your smartphone to be able to follow the route easily (again, the free version was enough for us).

The hike with the most impressive views in North York Moors: the photos we took while hiking

Overall, we found this hike truly amazing – the views of North York Moors were stunning. It was the nesting season for the grouses, and other game birds & the route passes through the grouse moors, so you will be able to see a lot of birds in April & May. Unfortunately, the main purpose of the grouse moors is for certain people to shoot them during the game season and grouse moors are horrible for the environment (all vegetation is basically destroyed by setting the heather fields on fire, which creates a wasteland for the purpose of growing one bird for the unethical reasons). Here’s an article you can read to find out more.

However, if you don’t think about the disheartening purpose of the moors too much and just enjoy the hike, you will be able to see beautiful landscapes, especially from the highest hills along the route!

Summary of the best hike in North York Moors: Cold Moor & Urra Moor hike

Overall, we really enjoyed this hike – it was not too challenging, but at the same time, it was refreshing to finally be able to hike again. The views were really beautiful and unique, and I can admit that hike wasn’t similar to any hike we’ve done before. I think it’s amazing how diverse is nature in the United Kingdom – no hike/walk is the same!

If you liked this post, here are some other hikes/walks we really enjoyed:

Seaford to Eastbourne – a beautiful scenic day hike near London (accessible by public transport)

The most beautiful walk near London: Sevenoaks & Knole Park day walk

The best hike in Peak District: Castleton, Mam Tor & Great Ridge

Lovely day hike near London: Dorking to Leith Hill (Surrey Hills AONB day walk)

Chilterns AONB Circular walk: Ashridge Forest, Bluebells & Union Canal

Amersham to Chesham circular walk

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