Accessible North York Moors: where can you actually go?

How the National Park grades an accessible route

The National Park Authority grades its accessible routes under a scheme called Miles without Stiles, in three tiers. The tier names mean nothing on their own, which is the whole problem, so here is what each one actually tells you, according to the National Park Authority's own grading.

For all

Suitable for everyone, including pushchairs and people operating their own wheelchairs. Gradients no steeper than 1:10. Smooth tarmac or compacted stone, maximum 10mm. Minimum path width one metre.

For many

For assisted wheelchair users and robust buggies. Gradients up to 1:10, or 1:8 on newly built paths. Rougher stone surfaces, up to 4cm.

For some

For confident wheelchair users and off-road mobility scooters. Gradients unrestricted, though slopes steeper than 1:8 have improved surfacing or handrails. May include low steps up to 10cm and stone up to 10cm.

Two things are worth saying in plain terms. First, the tier tells you about the surface and the gradient, not about the length or the remoteness of a route, so a graded path can still run for miles through open country. Second, For some is a real grading that assumes a confident user and decent equipment, not a gentle stroll. If the person pushing, or the chair, is going to be tested, that is the tier where it happens.

We are explaining their scheme and adding to it, not replacing it. The National Park adds and regrades routes, so its own Miles without Stiles page is the live list. Ours is the page that explains what the gradings mean and adds what we know first-hand.

The accessible walks we can name

Runswick Bay, graded For some. About 1.2 miles out and back, starting from the top car park at Runswick Bay, which is pay and display. It follows the Cleveland Way from near the Runswick Bay Hotel towards the cliff edge, on a smooth aggregate path that becomes grassy and sometimes rough along the cliffside, passing through two fields. It is reasonably level with a few slight rises, and there is a bench on the cliff path. The nearest accessible toilets are at the Staithes top car park. This description comes from the National Trails route notes rather than our own feet.

Sutton Bank and the White Horse, graded For many. This is also one of the National Park's accessible viewpoints, with an accessible path, a viewing platform and a wheelchair and pushchair route towards the Kilburn White Horse, and a National Park Centre with a café on site. The bank itself, the centre and the walk are covered in our Sutton Bank guide and our White Horse walk.

The Farndale daffodil path, graded For some. A largely surfaced path with gates rather than stiles and a few short gradients, which is where the wild daffodils draw the crowds in spring. The field-path return has occasional stiles and is not part of the accessible route. The full detail is in our Farndale daffodils walk.

Thornton-le-Dale to Ellerburn, graded For some: gentle gradients and no steps or stiles, though kissing gates make it unsuitable for mobility scooters and Trampers. That caveat is exactly the kind of detail that decides a day out, and it is why we say which of these routes we have judged ourselves. Details in our Thornton-le-Dale walk, and the village's own walks page describes a wheelchair-friendly village pond loop too.

Rosedale Mineral Railway is graded For many, covers 1.5km in about 20 minutes and starts at Bank Top in the lower car park. Outdooractive, where the National Park is shown as the verified content partner, describes a firm, level surface of compacted aggregate, with the roasting kilns close to the car park.

A second route must not be confused with it. Rosedale Railway and Kilns is graded For some, covers 14.6km in about 3 hours 55 minutes and starts at Blakey Junction car park. The National Park's verified Outdooractive entry describes a level, even stone and cinder surface with gentle inclines, ending at the sixteen-arch kilns. The two published Rosedale routes differ by a grade, a start point and thirteen kilometres. It remains unclear which one the National Park's accessible viewpoints page means by “Rosedale Bank Top”.

Ravenscar is graded For some, covers 2.4km in about 45 minutes and starts at Station Square. The National Park's verified Outdooractive entry says the surface is mainly compact earth, short grass or aggregate and is a little rough in places. It gives a maximum gradient of 1:10 over 100 metres on the southern loop and calls the northern loop fairly level and suitable for mobility scooters.

This is deliberately not a definitive list of every Miles without Stiles route in the park. The National Park adds and regrades them, and a stale list is worse than a link. Their own page is the complete and current one.

Viewpoints you can reach without walking far

This, we suspect, is the question people actually have: where can I take my mother, or my husband, and still see the view? The National Park's accessible viewpoints page answers it, and these are its ten, with their grid references, so you can find them on a paper map where phone signal will not help you.

Tramper hire at all six locations

The National Park says Trampers are available at six locations across the North York Moors. At Sutton Bank National Park Centre, it publishes two machines available daily, one at 11am and another at 12 noon. The two routes are Cliff Plantation, about 3.5km, and White Horse and Gliding Club, about 4.5km. At Danby Lodge National Park Centre, the route is about 1.6km, with two-hour sessions on undulating, off-road and gravel paths. These details come from the National Park's accessible outdoor activities page.

Dalby Forest is booked directly with Forestry England and may be used on the Ellerburn and Housedale Rigg trails. Forestry England says users do not need to be registered disabled. Dalby is not part of the Outdoor Mobility scheme. Cropton Forest is available through Forest Holidays at Cropton, while Keldy Forest is available through Forest Holidays at Keldy.

Scarborough Castle has a 1.9km, or 1.2-mile, route described as off-road with few steep gradients. Sessions are at 10.30am and 1.30pm. The published terms say a non-member booking must be made 48 hours in advance, and English Heritage membership or a castle ticket is needed for entry.

The scheme at the National Park sites is Outdoor Mobility, and membership is required to book. It is not Countryside Mobility, which operates in South West England. No machine count is published for Dalby, Danby Lodge, Cropton, Keldy or Scarborough Castle, and no hire price is published here. The National Park's 2023 press release included Ravenscar, but Outdoor Mobility now marks Ravenscar “NO LONGER A HIRE LOCATION”. Older articles listing it are out of date.

Adapted cycles and accessible toilets

Adapted cycles. The Dalby Forest Cycle Hub keeps adapted cycles for a range of abilities, alongside the ordinary hire fleet, which makes the forest's flat, wide forest roads a genuine option for families where a wheelchair or a bike is the only way round.

Accessible toilets. The National Park's Changing Places and accessible toilets page lists more than 30 accessible toilets and says all except Grosmont Station are in the RADAR National Key Scheme.

Its Changing Places list names three inside the National Park: Dalby Forestat Low Dalby Courtyard, where Forestry England says a RADAR key is needed; Danby Lodge National Park Centre; and Sutton Bank National Park Centre. On the boundary or nearby it lists Great Ayton at Yatton House Society Community Centre, Guisborough at Fountain Street, Malton at Cauwood Day Centre, Pickering at Eastgate car park, Saltburn by the Sea at Cat Nab, Scarborough at St Nicholas Gardens and North Bay,Skinningrove at Skinningrove Beach, Thirsk at Thirsk Leisure Centre, and Whitby at Whitby Leisure Centre and Whitby Marina. This guide has not independently checked each entry against the national Changing Places register, which is the place to confirm the current position.

Blue Badge parking depends on who runs the car park

A Blue Badge holder pays at National Park and Forestry England car parks, but not at North Yorkshire Council car parks. The National Park Authority's car park terms say Blue Badge holders are not exempt from pay-and-display charges. They add that disabled bays are for Blue Badge holders only and the badge must be clearly displayed in the windscreen.

North Yorkshire Council announced in February 2026 that Blue Badge parking would be free in every council-run car park from 1 April 2026, removing charges in the three former district areas that still had them. The Council says it made the decision after liaison with local disability groups. Forestry England, which runs Dalby, says it offers no free or discounted parking for Blue Badge holders and applies that policy across all its chargeable car parks.

Alternative formats

The National Park's accessibility statement says information on its website can be requested as an accessible PDF, large print or easy read by emailing info@northyorkmoors.org.uk with the subject “Accessibility request”, or by telephoning. The Authority commits to respond in a maximum of ten days. British Sign Language, audio-described and braille material is not published in the accessibility statement, the Access for All hub or its thirteen sub-pages. “Not published” does not mean unavailable, because the request route may provide formats that are not advertised.

Accessible accommodation

VisitBritain says the National Accessible Scheme closed to new participants and ceased on31 July 2025. It has been replaced by Accessibility Guides, developed through VisitEngland's partnership with AccessAble, in which a business describes its accessibility factually rather than receiving a rating by disability category. There is no longer a national accessibility rating for accommodation, and sites still describing one are out of date.

The National Park's Accessible places to stay page is a short curated feature rather than a searchable database. It gives no selection criteria, links several entries to AccessAble guides, and points readers onwards to Visit North Yorkshire, YHA, Euan's Guide and Tourism for All. No individual property or price is reproduced here.

Other places the National Park lists as accessible: Cod Beck Reservoir at Osmotherley, Scaling Dam Reservoir, Mulgrave Woods at Sandsend, Raincliffe Woods, the Cinder Track, and Friars Hill Riding Stables at Sinnington, which also appears in our guide to horse riding. We have no access detail for most of them beyond the listing, and we will not invent any. The National Park's own page carries what detail exists.

The steam railway carer ticket

This is the thing on the page that is ours alone, because we went and paid it. On 18 September 2026 we travelled on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway and our own tickets show a carer ticket at £15.00 alongside an adult return at £35.00. The carer fare is not published on the railway's website, and a carer can easily spend twenty minutes failing to find it. To be clear about what this figure is: it was the fare we paid on the day, not a current published price. For current fares, check the railway's own site at nymr.co.uk, and our railway guide for everything else a first visit needs.

What we do not know yet

Four gaps remain: Tramper machine counts at Dalby, Danby Lodge, Cropton, Keldy and Scarborough Castle; independent confirmation of the National Park's Changing Places list against the national register; which of the two published Rosedale routes the National Park's viewpoints page means by “Rosedale Bank Top”; and whether any British Sign Language, audio-described or braille material exists without being advertised.

If you know one of those answers, or find something here wrong on the ground, please tell us. Corrections from people who use these paths are credited.