It started well from Northallerton High Street, on footpaths, to the pretty village of Brompton. From Welbury to West Rounton and then to Picton it was more of the same with thick vegetation hiding bridge crossings, broken or no stiles, locked gates, waist high grass in some places. From here the route was easy to follow across fields, woods and footpaths through Kirklevington, ending in Yarm High Street....

Jeanne Hetherington

However, there was no signage to show the right of way, and the field we needed to cross ( and the route suggested straight through the middle of the field was the way to go) was just just thigh high long grass all the way. We were left having to circumnavigate a huge slurry heap and pools of stinking ‘liquid’, which was sat right across the suggested public right of way, on quite uneven land and yet more extremely long grass, and then between the farm and the house there were 2 5-bar gates to walk through about 20 yds apart, both of which clearly hadn’t been opened for some time and the overgrowth between the two ( now waist-high), made it quite a tricky part of the walk.. Once safely past Northfield House we then stayed on the Coast to Coast path along the farm access track down to meet Long Lane and continue on. The Slow Ways route actually takes you over a field to access Long Lane via a stile, but once again there was no stile to be found just heavy hedge planting so the farm access track was our preferred option here. We both agreed on reflection that actually a better option would be to have stayed on Fullicar Lane, pass Stobthorns Farm and stay on that farm access road until you meet Long Lane, turn left at this junction and walk up to Wray House, where you are back on track, avoiding all obstacles, missing stiles, and locked and/or blocked gates. A small length of road walking here again before crossing Low Lane to climb up through a couple of fields ( both with disinterested cattle) and passed Carrbridge Farm....

Rosemary McNulty

One last obstacle: on crossing the Tees bridge, with my destination Hurworth in sight, I found the gate padlocked. Update: I returned to the Tees bridge at Hurworth again this morning, and found the gate open....

Andrew Davies

A good route although the two obstacles previously mentioned (broken bridge and the impassable hedge) are still blocking this route....

Andrew Davies

The original route would have taken us onto this road for a shorter walk before joining field tracks. Field walking resumes on the far side of the bridge and the route crosses a farmed field. From here there is field walking to the outskirts of Scruton Village. Following a walk along paths to the edge Scruton, the route takes you through a field of cows (not inquisitive at all) and through a very short overgrown section before joining the lane. Back on field walking we followed the edge of a field as there was no discernible path across the planted field....

Jeanne Hetherington

Walked this route yesterday with my walking Pal, just a few days after Storm Babet called by - needless to say there was a LOT of standing water about! We crossed the railway line and then entered Romanby Golf Course - where the path we wanted was clearly in sight over the river Wiske. At the end of the lane we walked into Morton on Swale and through the village on excellent footpaths until we crossed over Morton Bridge and the river Swale. We opted this time to walk around the perimeter of this field on the grassed river defence and it took us exactly to where we needed to be alongside the farm, Alternatively here you could also have just walked a little further along the road after having crossed the Swale and walked up the access road to Morton Flatts Farm and be back on track too. We then walked through a housing estate before we found a delightful leafy track that took us all the way into Bedale, meeting the main road almost at the railway crossing for the Wensleydale Railway - we had crossed this line a couple of times already on our travels....

Rosemary McNulty

There is a path from Thirsk that joins the route heading north out of Thirsk (going behind the Church) and it is an alternative which avoids roads....

Markdecosemo

The farm one mile in (Low Hall Farm) takes you through a slurry filled yard , and on the day I walked, young cows....

Markdecosemo

This was a good route for me as a whole, though I'm assuming the closure mentioned by the previous reviewer is still in place....

Philip Le Marquand

It was here I had my first diversion as the path was closed to repair footbridges. After this there was a short section of corn field which was fun but the a section along the railway line which was gruelling as There was no clear path as the farmer had ploughed.right to the edge leaving you a choice of wading through long wet grass and nettles or collecting mud on your boots from his field....

Philip Le Marquand

More than half of this route is on road, with two short sections being busy local main roads. The path closure and a route with a mile less road would be possible by going Danby Wiske to Birkby and then on to White House between Great Smeaton and East Crowton. On balance this route, once the path is officially reopened, is a good compromise of directness versus off road. The B6271 was pretty busy but again much of the route has grass verges that can be safely walk on (pic 5). The route from the village is due north on a road signposted to Danby Wiske. Leaving the village to north, the road turns in to farm track. The path branches off just before you get to North Farm. The route then crosses field after field - sometimes following a farm track (pic 9), other times hacking through 4ft high grass or finding overgrown styles (pic 10). Didn't see any shops on the route through the village, but Google says there is a shop, post office and pub off to the left when the route turns right....

Andy Redfern

It can be avoided by going down Brockholme lane onto the road and on to the farm lane at Martin's Folly Cottages and following until back on the way south of Thornborough farm....

Tim Ryan