This is the weekend to do if you have never been. It strings together the greatest hits in a sensible order, with a base in Pickering on the first night and Whitby on the second.
Saturday morning: Helmsley and Rievaulx
Arrive in Helmsley by ten. Coffee in the market square, then the three-mile walk along the Cleveland Way to Rievaulx Abbey. Give the ruins an hour. Walk back, or take the lane up to Rievaulx Terrace first for the view from above.
Saturday afternoon: Sutton Bank
Drive west to Sutton Bank. The view from the escarpment edge is the one James Herriot called the finest in England, and the level walk to the White Horse takes an hour and a half. Cafe at the National Park Centre.
Saturday night: Pickering
Pub supper in Pickering. If it is an autumn weekend, check for late-running trains at the railway.
Sunday: steam, waterfall and the coast
Board the North Yorkshire Moors Railway at Pickering. Get off at Goathland and walk to Mallyan Spout and back, an hour and a half with a stop for the waterfall. Reboard for Grosmont and on to Whitby.
In Whitby, climb the 199 steps to the abbey, then come down for fish and chips on the harbourside. If you are staying, walk the West Pier at dusk and come back to the abbey when it is floodlit.
Book the railway in advance in summer and on gala weekends
Pickering and Whitby car parks fill by mid-morning at weekends
Swap Sutton Bank for Nunnington Hall if the weather is poor
