Glaisdale Rigg Trig Point – Beggar's Bridge loop from Ruswarp

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United Kingdom

England

Yorkshire And The Humber

North Yorkshire

Scarborough

Whitby

Glaisdale Rigg Trig Point – Beggar's Bridge loop from Ruswarp

Hard

riders

Glaisdale Rigg Trig Point – Beggar's Bridge loop from Ruswarp

04:39

83.3km

1,580m

Road cycling

Hard road ride. Very good fitness required. Mostly well-paved surfaces and easy to ride. The starting point of the route is accessible with public transport.

Last updated: November 7, 2026

Tips

Your route passes through protected areas

Please check local regulations for:

North York Moors National Park

Waypoints

Start point

Train Station

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5.03 km

Sandsend Beach

Highlight • Beach

Just a short distance from Whitby, Sandsend has a completely different feel and is a place of calm compared to the hustle and bustle of Yorkshire's other resorts south along the coast from here.

There are a couple of cafes, Tides and Sandside Cafe and public toilets a short way south east from the Sandside Cafe on the A174.

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28.7 km

Lawns Road – Flat Road Along the River Esk

Highlight (Segment) • Trail

Lawns Road is a rare find in Eskdale - Flat! Feel the breeze in your hair and relish in the opportunity to neither go up nor down, just along.

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30.8 km

Danby Lodge National Park Centre

Highlight • Parking

Danby Lodge was previously known as the Moors National Park Centre. There is plenty of parking here if you want to use it as a base for a ride, plus the Park Life Café, open daily from 10-5pm.

For further details, have a look at their website northyorkmoors.org.uk/visiting/see-and-do/danby-lodge-national-park-centre

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31.8 km

Danby Village Green

Highlight • Settlement

Danby is a great village and a terrific place from which to start your cycling adventure. It has a train station, so if you don't drive, you can still easily get into here on public transportation. In the beautiful Esk Valley, the moors, the dales and the hills here are practically immediately accessible from here in any direction. Danby Beacon and Danby Castle are two places of interest that immediately spring to mind.

The village has a good pub, The Duke of Wellington, right in the centre of the village, with a good green nearby with seats provided.

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36.6 km

Broad Ings Wood

Forest

48.1 km

Knottside Plantation

Forest

50.6 km

Rosedale Abbey: Village Green and Graze on the Green Café

Highlight • Historical Site

Rosedale Abbey is a must to stop at. It is a village right in the centre of North York Moors National Park: descent into it from just about any direction is always spectacular, whether via Spaunton Moor (south) or Rosedale Moor (north), the views just do not stop giving.

The village is picturesque in itself, particularly the village green. There used to be a Cistercian Priory here, originally established here in 1158. Little remains nowadays, except for a staircase turret, a sundial and a single stone pillar. More recently, in the 19th century, the iron ore industry thrived here, but that came to an end in the 1920s.

If you like super-steep ascents, you would probably like to go up the Rosedale Chimney Bank road, south of the village, but be warned: it is actually notorious for how steep that is!

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52.1 km

Millennium Cross, Heygate Bank

Highlight • Religious Site

The Millennium Cross was erected by the residents of Rosedale Abbey to commemorate the year 2000. It adds to the tradition of crosses on the North York Moors

From here you can look down to Rosedale Abbey and across to the infamous climb of Chimney Bank.

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62.4 km

Glaisdale Rigg Trig Point

Highlight • Natural Monument

Amazing moorland views from here: Great Fryup Dale to the west, Glaisdale Moor to the east, Egton High Moor to the south, Eskdale to the north, and heathery paradise wherever you look, basically. If you find yourself here in the spring and summer, the purple colours of the moors will amaze you.

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68.9 km

Beggar's Bridge

Highlight • Historical Site

The romantic Beggar's Bridge, a beautiful arched structure across the River Esk, has a telling inscription. It suggests that it was built in 1619 by 'TF': Thomas Ferries, the son of a local farmer.

Thomas used to ford the river to meet his young sweetheart, Agnes, the daughter of a wealthy squire. Her father thought Thomas too poor for his daughter and disapproved. Determined to seek his fortune at sea, he set sail from Whitby. Though on the day he departed Glaisdale, the Esk was in spate and he was unable to kiss Agnes goodbye.

When he returned years later as a wealthy man, Thomas married Agnes and built this bridge in tribute to her and so that no future lovers would be separated by the river. Today, the bridge is Grade II-listed.

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