Lyke Wake Walk

Lyke Wake Walk
Live Moor: looking west across Scugdale towards Near Moor (left of centre, mid-distance) and the start on Scarth Wood Moor (at centre, on the horizon)
Length	40 mi (64 km)
Location	North Yorkshire, England
Designation	Challenge walks
Trailheads	Scarth Wood Moor, Osmotherley Beacon Howes/Ravenscar
Use	Hiking
Elevation
Highest point	Botton Head, Urra Moor, 1,489 ft (454 m)
Lowest point	Scugdale Beck, 410 ft (120 m)
Hiking details
Trail difficulty	Moderate to strenuous
Season	Year round
Hazards	Bad weather

Scarth Wood Moor, Osmotherley

The Lyke Wake Walk is a 40-mile (64 km) challenge walk across the highest and widest part of the North York Moors National Park in north-east Yorkshire, England. Its associated club has its own social structure, culture and rituals based on the walk and Christian and folklore traditions from the area of North Yorkshire through which it passes.

The idea of a walk originated from an article in the Dalesman magazine in August 1955. Its author, Bill Cowley, pointed out that it was possible to walk 40 miles (64 km) across the North York Moors from east to west (or vice versa) on heather all the way except for crossing one or two roads and that, given the remoteness of the area, a lone walker might not encounter another during the one to two days a journey might take. In the article Cowley issued a challenge to see if anyone could walk from Scarth Wood Moor at the western extremity of the moors to Ravenscar on the coast, keeping on or close to the main watershed of the moorland, in a twenty-four-hour period. The first crossing was completed shortly afterwards on 1 and 2 October 1955. Cowley was in the party that made the crossing in 23 hours and he wrote a book, Lyke Wake Walk, which he kept up to date by frequent revision. The book ran to twelve editions in the author's lifetime and sold many thousands of copies. It was revised in 2001 by Paul Sherwood.

Cowley's idea for the walk developed over the years before he issued the challenge in 1955. He wrote a poem in 1935/6, Storming Along, describing traversing the moors and mentions a number of the walk's landmarks. His early contributions to the Dalesman, appear in retrospect, to hint at the idea of the walk drawing on his appreciation of the works of Frank Elgee (archaeologist), Canon John Christopher Atkinson (antiquarian and folklore expert) and Alfred Brown (author and rambler).

The walk is usually done from west to east although it can be done in either direction. A successful crossing must be completed within 24 hours (a ski crossing in 24 hours daylight is also acceptable). There is no exact route but the Lyke Wake Club and its successor have rules regarding what can be considered a successful crossing. For record purposes the walk starts at its original departure point, the Ordnance Survey Trig point on Scarth Wood Moor, near Osmotherley, (NGR: SE 459 997) and finishes in the bar of the Raven Hall Hotel in Ravenscar. (NGR: NZ 981 018) For practical purposes the acceptable end points are the Lyke Wake Stone adjacent to Sheep Wash car park at Osmotherley Reservoir at the western end and Beacon Howes car park where there is a second Lyke Wake Stone at the eastern end. Successful crossings must stick to the moorland summits as far as is practicable and walkers straying into Eskdale are disqualified. The route has to cross the Stokesley-Helmsley road (B1257) between Point 842 (Clay Bank Top) and Point 945 (Orterley Lane end), the Whitby-Pickering road (A169) between Point 945 (Sil Howe) and Point 701 (near Saltergate) and the Scarborough-Whitby road (A171) between Point 538 (Evan Howe) and Point 579 (Falcon Inn). Point numbers are the height in feet above sea level as given on the one inch Ordnance Survey Tourist Map of the North York Moors (1970 edition); the metric equivalents are identified on the Landranger and Explorer Series maps.