Kirkby Stephen → Robin Hood's Bay · ~110 miles
The west side was point-to-point with a tent. This half is done differently — nine legs, each walked out from a public transport link and finished by catching a bus or train back rather than carrying camp gear over Swaledale and the Moors. Start at one end, walk to the next, ride back. Repeat until Robin Hood's Bay.
Everything here needs checking before you go. Most of these are small community or seasonal services — minibuses run by volunteers, summer-Sunday-only buses, weekend-only Moorsbus routes — and they change or get cut with little warning. Treat every timetable below as a starting point, not a promise, and re-check on Traveline, dalesbus.org or moorsbus.org the week you actually walk.
The coloured tag on each leg is how reliable the return trip is, not how hard the walking is: easy means a proper daily bus or train, moderate means a real service but limited days or booking, tricky means there's no good scheduled option and you should plan a lift, a taxi, or two cars.
Leg 1 of 9
Straight out of Kirkby Stephen and up onto the moor to the Nine Standards — the cairns on the watershed where the C2C splits into red, green and blue routes to keep the peat from being walked to bits. Long, open, and one of the wettest stretches of the whole route; the green (summer) or blue (winter) alternatives avoid the worst of Whitsundale Beck if it's been wet. Drops down into Keld at the head of Swaledale.
This is the one genuine gap. Nothing runs Keld → Kirkby Stephen directly, scheduled or otherwise.
Best option: a taxi from Keld (arrange it before you set off — signal is poor up there and non-existent on the moor). Alternative: treat it as there-and-back to the Nine Standards and skip Keld itself. If you don't mind a longer day: push on and do Leg 2 as well, then ride the Little White Bus 30 all the way back to Richmond and get a lift or taxi the last stretch to Kirkby Stephen — still shorter than Keld–Kirkby Stephen alone.
Leg 2 of 9
The classic Swaledale stretch: Kisdon Force, Muker's stepping stones, the old lead mining ground above Gunnerside Gill, then the river meadows into Reeth. Wainwright's high-level route over Kisdon adds height and view for very little extra distance if the weather's kind.
The Little White Bus, Route 1 — Keld → Thwaite → Muker → Gunnerside → Low Row → Reeth → Richmond — runs this exact line, so you can start at either end and ride the other way back.
Monday–Saturday, several journeys a day. No Sunday service on the Shuttle itself, but a summer-Sunday DalesBus 830 (Ribblehead–Hawes–Muker–Reeth–Richmond) and 831 (Middlesbrough–Darlington–Richmond–Reeth–Muker–Hawes) run the dale on Sundays and bank holidays from April to October, crossing Buttertubs Pass. Book ahead if you can — it's a small bus.
Leg 3 of 9
Downhill in feel if not always underfoot — out of Reeth, past Marrick Priory, through Marske, and down into Richmond with the castle on its crag above the Swale. A good day to do with the dog off the lead where paths allow; plenty of shade if it's a hot one.
Same Little White Bus, Route 1 continues Reeth → Richmond, so it works for this leg too — start in Richmond, bus out to Reeth, walk back, or the other way round.
Monday–Saturday. On summer Sundays and bank holidays, DalesBus 831 covers the same section. Richmond is also the hub stop, so once you're back there you're already set up for Leg 4.
Leg 4 of 9
The C2C's acknowledged low point for scenery — flat arable land and lane walking out of Richmond towards Catterick and Bolton-on-Swale. Worth doing for the completeness of the line more than the view; a good one to do in poor weather since there's no exposure. Full stage continues to Danby Wiske (~14 miles) if you'd rather join it with Leg 5.
Thinner than the dale services either side of it. The Little White Bus, Route 4 (Catterick → Scotton → Richmond) passes close to Bolton-on-Swale but runs Wednesdays only, and must be pre-booked by phone the day before.
More reliable: a taxi from Bolton-on-Swale back to Richmond (it's a short, cheap hop), or park a second car / arrange a lift for this one and the next leg together, which is what most C2C walkers without a support vehicle end up doing for the Vale of Mowbray crossing.
Leg 5 of 9
More Vale of Mowbray — Danby Wiske itself, then east across the A19 towards Ingleby Arncliffe and Ingleby Cross, where the ground finally starts to lift towards the Cleveland Hills. This is the last of the flat country before the Moors begin in earnest.
No scheduled bus follows this line. Northallerton, a few miles south, is the nearest proper transport hub — mainline trains and local buses — but getting from Danby Wiske or Ingleby Cross to Northallerton itself is the same problem in miniature.
Best option: a taxi from Northallerton (they will come out to Ingleby Cross or Danby Wiske) or a pre-arranged lift. Some walkers base themselves in Northallerton for this stretch and taxi both ends of the day.
Leg 6 of 9
The Moors announce themselves properly — a switchback along the Cleveland Way over a string of named tops, gliders overhead from the Sutton Bank club on a good day, big views back to the Vale. Clay Bank Top is a road crossing (B1257) below Urra Moor, not a village — there's nothing there but the car park and the moor.
Not a direct hit, but workable. Service 80/89 (Northallerton – Brompton – Osmotherley – Swainby – Carlton in Cleveland – Great Broughton – Stokesley) passes through Carlton, about a mile's road walk down off Carlton Bank, and Great Broughton, a similar drop from the Clay Bank end.
Monday–Saturday. Plan on a short extra walk down to the bus at either end — check the current 80/89 timetable for which villages it actually calls at, since minor reroutes happen. A taxi from Great Broughton or Stokesley is a solid fallback.
Leg 7 of 9
Up onto Urra Moor and along the old Rosedale ironstone railway trackbed — flat, fast, slightly eerie walking with huge sky, past the Bronze Age Face Stone and other waymark stones, to the Lion Inn at Blakey Ridge, one of the highest and most remote pubs in England.
Moorsbus M3 (Pickering / Kirkbymoorside / Hutton-le-Hole / Blakey / Castleton / Danby) calls at the Lion Inn and is the obvious link — but it's a summer weekend and bank-holiday service only, so this leg needs planning around a Saturday or Sunday.
Saturdays, Sundays & bank holidays, roughly April–September. Off those days, the fallback is a taxi from Kirkbymoorside or Castleton, both a fair drive from Blakey — worth booking well ahead as it's a genuinely remote spot.
Leg 8 of 9
A long, satisfying moor crossing over Glaisdale Rigg, dropping through Glaisdale village, along the wooded Esk valley path past Egton Bridge, to Grosmont — where the steam railway and the Esk Valley line share a station.
The best-connected leg of the lot. The Esk Valley Line (Northern Trains, Middlesbrough ↔ Whitby) stops at Glaisdale, Egton and Grosmont itself, so you can shorten or lengthen the walking day and still find a station near the end of it.
Around 6 trains a day Monday–Saturday, 4 on Sundays. Cheap, scenic, and it runs right along the valley you've just walked down — worth taking the window seat.
Leg 9 of 9 · The finish
Out of Grosmont, over to Sleights, then the lovely wooded stretch by Little Beck to Falling Foss waterfall, out across high fields to Hawsker, and down the coast path into Robin Hood's Bay — boots in the North Sea, the second pebble thrown, done. Long, so worth an early start; can be split at Sleights or Littlebeck if needed.
Two good options. If you started the day at Grosmont station: the Esk Valley Line back from Whitby covers the Grosmont end directly — walk Grosmont → Robin Hood's Bay, then Arriva X93/X94 (Scarborough–Robin Hood's Bay–Whitby–Middlesbrough) from Robin Hood's Bay back into Whitby, then the train on to Grosmont.
X93/X94 runs every 30–60 minutes, daily. If you left a car at Grosmont, this combination gets you all the way back to it in well under an hour from the finish line.
A pattern worth knowing: Little White Bus, DalesBus, Moorsbus and the Esk Valley Railway are all run by small operators or volunteers, several part-funded year to year — the Dales Jumper over Buttertubs and the Moorsbus network in particular are worth double-checking still exist in their current form before you build a day around them, especially outside the core summer season.
Booking numbers, roughly: Little White Bus 01969 667400 (Mon–Fri, 9am–5pm) for Swaledale/Wensleydale services and pre-bookable routes; Moorsbus and DalesBus both publish current PDFs and contact details on their own sites each season, since routes shift year to year.