Sutton Bank Mountain Bike Trails

Sutton Bank Mountain Bike Trails are based at Sutton Bank National Park Centre in the North York Moors National Park, run by Sutton Bank Bikes in partnership with the National Park Authority. Perched 1,000 feet up on the moorland escarpment beside the "Finest View in England", the network covers five graded routes (one green, three blue and one red), a skills area, pump track and family loop, plus three waymarked gravel explorer routes running out to 50km. Expect fast, flowing singletrack and bridleway riding across open moorland rather than a typical tree-lined trail centre.

The Trails

• Cliff Trail (Green), 3.5 miles (5.6km): a family-friendly, mostly level loop through woods and farmland along Sutton Bank's cliff edge, starting from the visitor centre car park.
• Fort Short (Blue), 6 miles (9.7km): a shorter version of the Fort route, avoiding the ascent and descent of Fort Long, and taking in a stretch of Cliff Trail along the cliff edge. A good step up from Cliff Trail for families.
• Fort Long (Blue), 9 miles (14.5km): the full Fort route, with 361m of ascent and descent, around 70% stone surface and 30% natural, passing the site of the Iron Age fort at Boltby Scar.
• Drovers Trail (Blue), 11 miles (17.7km): a figure-of-eight extension that adds distance and variety without raising the difficulty.
• Paradise Trail (Red), 18 miles (29km): the venue's toughest waymarked loop, with rocky, flowing singletrack, a few technical features and a couple of steep climbs, through some of the best scenery in the National Park.

Skills Area, Pump Track and Family Loop

• A skills area for building confidence and technique, on the moor alongside the main road into the National Park.
• An all-weather pump track with a loop of banked turns and rollers.
• A 2.5km all-weather family loop that widens and extends the start of Cliff Trail, so riders can go side-by-side through the woods. It also gives better access for adapted cycles such as handcycles, and doubles as a cyclocross course for autumn and winter events.

Gravel Riding

Sutton Bank Bikes also publishes three waymarked gravel explorer routes, all starting from the National Park Centre car park and heading out across open moorland, through forest tracks and into quiet valleys of the wider North York Moors. Route guides are available from the shop.

• Moorland Meander, 25km (easy): stays largely on the moorland plateau, heading out along the Fort Trail and the Cleveland Way before turning east through Little Moor towards Arden Hall, with around 200m of climbing.
• Rievaulx Raider, 38km (moderate): follows the Fort Trail and Cleveland Way through Boltby Forest before dropping into Hawnby, with around 600m of climbing on the return through Nettle Dale and Old Byland.
• Hambleton Horizon, 50km (moderate to hard): the longest of the three, tracing the former Drovers' Road and the Cleveland Way escarpment to Osmotherley and back via Kepwick and Boltby Forest, with 865m of climbing.

Beyond the Trails

Sutton Bank National Park Centre is the main gateway into the North York Moors, with hands-on exhibits, a play area, a shop and a cafe. Admission to the centre is free, though a small parking charge applies (see Getting Here below). From the car park it's a short walk to the White Horse of Kilburn, a turf-cut hillside figure, and to the viewpoint over Roulston Scar and Lake Gormire known as the "Finest View in England". Sutton Bank Bikes runs its own shop, workshop and bike hire on site, hires out Whyte and Amflow electric mountain bikes, and is a demo centre for Amflow, Whyte and Pace Cycles. The Truffled Hog cafe sits next door for a post-ride stop, and Hawnby Tea Rooms is a popular stop for riders out on the gravel explorer routes.

Getting Here

• Park at Sutton Bank National Park Centre, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 2EH, six miles (9.5km) east of Thirsk or 7.5 miles (12km) west of Helmsley on the A170. There is a small parking charge; check the National Park Authority's car park page for current rates.
• Sutton Bank Bikes' shop, hire desk and workshop are on site at the car park. Check the operator's website for current opening days before travelling.

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