A Stroll With Stu: moorland walk from Grosmont to Goathland takes in waterfall and one of 'best pubs in Yorkshire'

We’re off to the Birch Hall Inn again at Beck Hole, then having a look at Mallyan Spout waterfall before gulping in some fresh air on a stiff climb up to Goathland for the bus home.

Make your way to Grosmont station by train or on the Arriva bus, and on the Station Inn side of the level crossing head up a path opposite, alongside the tracks.

Soon, divert left up a muddier track to reach a gate.

Turn right, and after 100 yards it’s left through another gate - but not before taking in the fabulous views over Grosmont from a little clearing (and bench) just beyond that gate.

The path snakes back down to the trackside beyond the steam railway workshops and quickly reaches the little community of Esk Valley – a collection of cottages that date back to an ironstone mine, the site of which can be visited by taking a marked path to your right a few hundred yards short of the cottages.

Carry straight on over the road, then along the rail trail to Goathland.

This is the old trackbed of the original railway line and there is much old railway architecture to be seen along the way, some of it having been cocooned by advancing vegetation.

We’ve been along here several times, and it is easy to follow so I won’t warble on about railway history – just enjoy the scenery on what is a flat and popular walking route for canines and their pet humans.

After a mile or so, well beyond a couple of bridges and after ignoring paths going off up the hill or into the woods, bear left at a signposted junction.

Pass a house or two to get to the idyllic little village of Beck Hole, and go right along the road, over the bridge across Eller Beck and into the heaven on earth that is the Birch Hall Inn. (Er, check opening times first!)

The pub has existed since the mid-19th Century and is largely unchanged for nearly 100 years.

There are two tiny bars – the main bar sporting a welcoming coal fire, with drinks served by your hosts Neil and Glenys through a square hatch in the wall.

I recommend the Beckwatter – a brew made especially for the pub – but other tipples are available.

Food is limited to sandwiches and pork pies, but if you are feeling as though the Xmas roasties, that slab of cheese you had for supper and the tub of chocolates that only lasted till half-way through Morecambe and Wise have caused a rumpus with your sugar levels, there is a little sweet shop in

between the bars from which a quarter of wine gums will sort you out.

There is a lovely beer garden too, but global warming has some distance to go to make this an attractive option in January.

One remarkable feature of the pub, is that while you are in there talking to strangers or staring glassy-eyed at the fire, someone drags the entire building and all the surrounding landscape about a mile along the road.

You won’t know they are doing it, or why, but on several visits it has taken me at least 20 minutes more to walk back to Grosmont than it did on the way there, resulting in a very long wait for the next train.

Weird, or what?

Go left outside the pub, then quickly right down a clear path taking you back to the old railway line.

This starts climbing steadily up to Goathland on what was a winched incline, but you need to follow the signs that stick to field paths alongside woods that hide the river on your right.

After maybe 1.5 miles you’ll reach the Mallyan Spout waterfall.

It is fed by what is a small beck, but it can be quite spectacular if there has been recent heavy rain, as the drop is an impressive 70-plus feet.

There’s a bit of scrambling to get close up to the falls, but after you’ve had your fill, double back, soon going right up a steep path that emerges on the road in Goathland next to the Mallyan Spout Hotel.

After absorbing some heartbeat nostalgia (Scripps Garage, a Ford Anglia dressed up as a Police car, that sort of thing), the two-hourly Coastliner bus will take you and your wine gums back to Whitby.

I hope you enjoy reading these strolls around our little corner of the planet.

I hope to go on for a little while yet and in the meantime, may I wish you all a peaceful and happy new year.