Lonyor one

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

Very nice simple walking route in/out of York and nearby villages. Took a pushchair and didn't have that many issues at all, some ground needed a bit more effort to push!
Local shop and cafe in the villages through this route are lovely and great should you need a rest.
Would be happy to walk this route again.

I walked this route last week with colleagues from work as part of our volunteering leave. We got the bus out to Long Marston from York Station and walked the route back into the city.

The route allowed us to see some beautiful scenery and one off sights (walking down the side of a runway). The walk took us roughly 4hours with occasional stops. It was enjoyable and I would recommend, but if you are going to attempt it at this time of the year I would recommend walking trousers given the plant growth. The route on the app was very accurate.

Some parts of the walk were particularly overgrown and difficult to get through, but this may be typical for the time of year. There was also a rather busy ring road to cross which some may find difficult. I would say this isn’t the most accessible route, and would be very difficult wheelchair users.

Some more detailed comments:
We started in Long Marston, which is a quaint village and noteworthy is some of the roadside paths were particularly narrow. Some paths were quite poorly maintained too.
There is a nice coffee shop in Rufforth where you can use the toilet/get refreshments.
The walk down the side of Rufforth runway was particularly fun, light aircraft occasionally take off from here but the walk down the side is safe.

I walked this route on a scorching hot day in late June, starting in York.

This is a lovely walk and benefits from its variety and points of interest. It takes in the city walls of York, Hob Moor common, country lanes, fields, an airstrip and village churches. The route is easy to navigate, with the only drawback being the ring-road crossing near the start of the walk. This wasn't too much of an issue at the time of day I walked the route, but could be hard to negotiate at other times.

Given the time of year, many of the field tracks were overgrown but, apart from a few nettle stings, this wasn't a problem. Although the route makes for easy walking, the dryness of the ground made some of the tracks a little rutted and would be unsuitable for buggies.

The café at Rufforth makes a great stopping-off point, albeit nearer the end of the route. However, I continued this walk beyond Long Marston and onto Tadcaster, so breaking off here was very timely. Extending to Tadcaster also provided more bus opportunities back to York than the less frequent service from Long Marston could offer. The walk to Long Marston took approx. 3.25 hours.

I would recommend this walk, and would happily walk it again, although an alternative avoiding the A1237 would be preferable.

This was an enjoyable walk which I would happily do again. It starts along the city streets before reaching the countryside where it follows off road trails with wonderful views. We took about 2.5 hours to reach Rufforth, then about another 40 minutes to reach Long Marston. I'd recommend having a break in Rufforth as there is a cafe and shop there, whereas Long Marston doesn't have either.
One path through a field was quite overgrown and we had to walk single file, beware of nettle stings.
The only difficult part was crossing the A1237 Ring Road, it would be better to aim for the traffic island to cross.
We did this walk on a hot summers day, so I can't comment on conditions underfoot if it was a wet day.

York to Long Marston:
It is worth noting that I did not use the gpx. points instead relying on maps.
Superb start to the walk (photo 1), a little bit of the Bar Walls up to Micklegate. The route through to Hamilton Drive was along main roads although I would suggest a small alternative - Love Lane near Elmbank Hotel is a little quieter. We followed the route onto Hobmoor, (there is more than one path onto this huge field) and crossed in the direction of Gale Lane. Hobmoor (photo 2) was easy, quiet walking. There are 2 or 3 exits to Hobmoor very close to each other but none present a problem if you orientate yourself with the streets. More street walking down Chaloners Road and the New Lane. The public footpath was easy to find (and well marked) to take us to the A1237. I am relatively local to this area and have never done this route as the footpath drops you onto the A1237. About 400m north of this point, there is a traffic island on the A1237 which massively aids crossing the road - so I would/have walked on the path to the cycle/pedestrian crossing on the A1237. We did get across the road after about 5 mins safely but I would be very careful to do this route around rush hour. The route into Askham Bryan was straight forward (photo 3 - church). The next part of the walk is one of my favourites around York. We followed the road through Askham Bryan along a very quiet road north as it narrows to a farm. Going through the gate and following the path in the same direction, we cross 2 fields before coming to the edge of the airfield. The airfield is surrounded by wheat fields (photo 4) but has always been cut to show the footpath (I have done this route many times). The footpath at this part is single file. The walk is clearly marked and follows the edge of the runway (see photo 5 - dotted line). If you do the walk at the weekend, then if the weather is fine, you are likely to see gliders taking off and landing (they do NOT obstruct any access). For safety reasons, dogs have to be on a lead here. The walk along to Rufforth is straight forward and there is a sense of "airiness" walking alongside the airfield. We set off at 9:00 and arrived at Rufforth at about 11:30 and so made use of the wonderful old school cafe (there is a cafe on New Lane as well but it was too early for elevenses). From Rufforth to Hutton Long Marston we turned left opposite the Rufforth church and followed a small lane all the way to Hutton Wandesley. We were put off by some barking dogs at the back of a hedge at this point - there were a number of medium sized dogs behind a solid barrier. Not sure if this was a one off incidence or not. And then we followed another very narrow and partially overgrown footpath for about 400m. The footpath was very little used and was between two fences and so too narrow to be cut. After this point the footpath opened up to a track which we easily followed all the way to Hutton Wandesley and then turned onto the main road to Long Marston. We didn't see any coffee shops etc. at Long Marston - making the break at Rufforth Cafe more important.
There are parts of this route that I would definitely suggest to others:
* Walk across Hob Moor
* Walk from Askham Bryan to Rufforth (this is unique due to the runway)
There are parts of this walk that nicely tie great places together:
* York Center to Hob Moor
* Rufforth to Long Marston
There are parts that I would be very careful to recommend:
* Footpath across A1237 (there is a safer crossing 400m north if you follow the road).

We walked this route on a warm dry March day, from York towards Long Marston. After leaving the suburbs of York the route passes through the pretty villages of Askham Bryan and Rufforth before arriving at its attractive final destination. There are few views to speak of, owing to York's flat terrain, but points of interest along the way include York city walls, Hob Moor, the 3 villages and their lovely old churches, Rufforth pinfold and an operational airfield.

Route-finding was straightforward apart from having to take care to leave Hob Moor at the right exit - once on the Moor it is a lovely flat, green, open space where it is not so easy to keep your bearings! As well as the Moor, the route uses residential streets, country lanes, farm tracks, the edge of a tarmac runway (beware low-flying aircraft!) and field-edge footpaths. After a period of dry weather we were surprised to find the field edge paths between Rufforth and Long Marston very muddy, but the rest of the route was dry.

Safety-wise the only tricky bit is crossing the A1237 York ring road which is a single carriageway with a 60mph speed limit at that point - we got across straight away on this occasion but perhaps we were just lucky as it is a busy road.

The route was well supplied with benches which allowed us to take short breaks when we chose and enjoy the sunshine! We also treated ourselves to tea and cake at a cafe in Rufforth. All in all a very enjoyable day.

I think there might be a more direct Lonyor route that could be devised via Acomb, Knapton and Harewood Whin, but I'm very happy for this one to be part of the Slow Ways network.

Share your views about this route, give it a star rating, indicate whether it should be verified or not.

Include information that will be useful to others considering to walk or wheel it.

You can add up to 15 photos.