November 2025 - Trail of the Month

For full navigation data download the GPX file and watch the Strava fly through. Then watch our ride video for a highlights preview of the route.

Route information

Lordstones to Cold Moor 0 - 5km

Heading out from Lordstones you wiggle through the woods, keeping left into the trees rather than along the bridleway alongside the fence. Wake your legs up on the short climb that brings you out into the open with panoramic views west to Roseberry topping and north across Teeside. Don’t gawp at the scenery too often though, as the twisting roller coaster singletrack is lined with sniper rocks that’ll have your front wheel away from you or clobber a toe if you don’t pay attention. Don’t be shy with the speed either as this is a super fun section if you can keep the pace high enough to pop and play off the lips and launchers.

Join the slabbed footpath coming in from the right, watching your tyres on the sharp edges, and then curve right to the field gate. Cross the grass to join the tennis court red track down to Beak Hills farm. Start regretting our advice about sprinting the first section, as the route turns up through another field gate onto an increasingly steep and then loose and rocky track that most mortals will end up walking.

Presuming the weather is OK, it’s the first appearance of ‘the views are well worth the climb’ as you crest onto the ridge line of Cold Moor, with its 360 vantage point of the whole route and beyond.

Cold Moor to Chop Gate 5 - 7km

Rolling south on the sandy track spine of Cold Moor takes you past the burial mounds of prehistoric ancestors who clearly valued the view too. It also brings you to one of the best descents in the whole North York Moors. As we mentioned in the intro, we do it twice so make sure you pay attention on run 1 as it’s a proper pick and mix of different segments and surfaces.

Things get spicy as the short sandy run in drops into what’s basically a rocky riverbed with multiple line choices to tackle, assorted small drops, and random boulders which get re-arranged with every rainstorm. Again, this is an absolute blast at speed but you’re best saving that for the second run, and if you’re not feeling ‘sendy’ then everything is rollable as long as you leave the front brake alone.

Presuming you survive the rockery, the line shifts out of the trough and swerves onto a singletrack on the left-hand side after a couple hundred metres. The singletrack then snakes left and right across open moorland, gathering speed for as long as you dare stay off the brakes. Be ready to pop the front wheel over a few wet sections if it’s been raining too. This brings you down towards a dry-stone wall coming in from the left, and at this point things get tighter and the singletrack Scalextric slot gets deeper. Expect deep bracken in summer too. This fires you out into a more open section where you need to take one of the lines left, and maybe one of the optional small jumps for a bit of air time, before the field gate.

There’s a few more gates on the sunken lane from here and expect it to be a sloppy slip and slide in wet weather. Still a lot of fun though and the final tunnel down under the trees gets amazing light in the right weather. Slow down before the end of it as it delivers you straight into someone’s back yard and then onto the road at a blind T junction and we don’t want any accidents. If you just want to do the first loop this is where you fast forward to the final part of the route guide.

Chop Gate to Clay Bank 7 - 13km

Chop Gate is a tiny hamlet by most standards but it’s the biggest settlement on the route. Most importantly it has a pub so it’s potentially the only spot to get some food on the whole loop. There are loos and a car park just down the road to the south too if you want to do the full route - or either half - from the southern end.

Join the B road (careful here as it can be busy) and head north through the village, looking for the right turn to the church as you curve right down the hill. If it’s dry then it’s worth taking the right fork across the ford and then up through the woodland of East Bank plantation. That gets really soggy in wet weather though, so if in doubt stay left on the road and then onto the track round the right-hand side of Bilsdale Hall.

This is another siege climb, with a consistently steep gradient all the way up and a couple of gates to open. With the right ground conditions, legs, and a bit of luck it is doable though. You won’t be surprised to hear that the views west across Bilsdale back to Cold Moor are worth the effort too. History fans might be fascinated to know the bank and ditch you cross at the top are the remains of an ancient linear earthwork that our route follows all the way north along the edge of Urra Moor. It’s classic old school moorland singletrack too, with some soggy bits to grunt across, rocky sections to swerve through, stone flagged bits across swamp, and a couple of stream crossing situations to get you thinking.

While the old sign suggesting bike and horse riders should dismount has gone, the stone stepped descent off the top of the moor still needs treating with respect. In fact, the combination of tight corners, steep pitches, and sharp rock edge water bars means walking is the wisest option if you’re unsure. Especially as it can be busy with walkers on a weekend. Don’t relax too much after the gate either, as the final cobbled section can be really slippery in the wet, as Neal demonstrated with an unplanned sit down on our recce ride.

Clay Bank to Chop Gate 13 - 19km

Cross the road - again carefully as it’s an unofficial TT race track for motorcyclists - and roll a few meters north to where you can sneak left onto the fire road climbing up through the forest. A couple hundred meters slog gets you up onto the contouring track that rolls into and out of the trees. Landslips a few years ago have added some up and down interest but otherwise it’s an easy cruise, and a good opportunity to get some drink and snacks down your neck for the next bit of climbing. Alternatively, if you’ve had enough this is the track to follow back along the front to Lordstones which is just 3.5km from here.

Despite it being an almost identical 100m vertical gain to the first climb, this always seems the easier one. The first bit is a steep challenge up to the field gate, then however far up the stone section, and then left hand singletrack fork afterwards. Then it’s almost certainly a short bit of hike a bike up a notch in the hillside before you pop onto the plateau. Here a really nice bit of gradually climbing singletrack takes you back onto the ridgeline of Cold Moor, and south to the awesome Chop Gate descent again.