Discover 300 miles of waymarked walking, mountain biking and horse riding across wild and wonderful Yorkshire landscapes. Read what David Else, coordinating author of Lonely Planet's Walking in Britain guide, has to say about Yorkshire's National Trails »

Blog Updates

Fun & Games
Geocaching

New geocache trail
Our Ranger in the Yorkshire Dales has set up a new geocache trail though 52 miles of some awesome limestone scenery. 

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by outdoor adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers (called geocaches) and then share your experiences of finding them online.

Geocaching in YorkshireThis Pennine Way Geocache Trail has been designed for novices as well as seasoned pros. There's a total of ten geocaches of varying difficulty between Malham and Hawes.

Take it easy and look for just one a day or, if your feeling energetic, the whole trail can be done in two days, but remember you'll need to have found the first eight caches to access either one of the final two caches�crack the combination code and a final reward could be yours.

These are the geocaches; you can see them and the questions that need to be answered by logging onto http://www.geocaching.com/ and using the GC codes:-


cave and karst    GC1P2JX
cistercian           GC1P2P3
sinkhole             GC1P2PT
hill of the winds  GC1P3F6
greenlanes          GC1P2JX
sssi                     GC1P2RK
devils causeway   GC1P2R6
turburary            GC1P3EW
Malham finale      GC1P3D4
Hawes finale       GC13EM
 

GPS receivers can be hired from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Information Centres at Hawes (tel: 01969 666210) and Malham (tel: 01969 652380).

UK's first earthcaches
Cleveland WayThe Cleveland Way has become the first long distance route in the UK to have a series of educational earthcaches. Earthcaching, an off-shoot of the adventure game Geocaching (pronounced geo-cashing), is treasure hunting for caches that the Earth has stored and, unlike geocaching, does not use stored containers - their treasure is what people learn about our planet when they visit the site. Anyone with a GPS unit can try to locate each of the eight caches, collecting the geological and industrial heritage information (and photographs) necessary to 'claim a find', without having to leave the well marked trail.

These earthcaches are listed below; you can see them and the questions that need to be answered by logging onto http://www.geocaching.com/ and using the GC codes


1. GC1G4TX - THE GLACIER HAS GONE
2. GC1G4VA - THE WAINSTONES
3. GC1G4VE - IRONSTONE MINING
4. GC1HGB7 - ALUM WORKING AT
                       BOULBY
5. GC1HNE2 - DEFENDING RUNSWICK
6. GC1JA3P - IT'S RAVENSCAR'S FAULT
7. GC1JNXJ - CORNELIAN BAY
8. GC1JNZV - FILEY BRIGG
 

Nobody has yet claimed them all while walking the whole route - a special place is reserved for their name in the "Roll of Honour", part of the Filey Brigg earthcache.


FileyRelay Race
The Cleveland Way also has a relay race along it on the 28th June. Starting in Filey and finishing in Helmsley 109 miles (176km) later, teams of up to 16 people (with at least one female) run a series of legs of different lengths and difficulty. The event is aimed at running and orienteering clubs, though other clubs with a fit and active membership are welcome to participate. Each runner must cover a distance of at least five kilometres. The North York Moors Athletic Club are the organizers and you can find out more on their website 


Try a Trail
If you are eager to get out into the fresh air and sample some outdoor activities, but are unsure what to do, how far to go or how fit you are then the Try a Trail routes are perfect for you and give a fine example of the fuller trails.

Click here to see the full walking, cycling and horse riding routes available.