4.11mi Cliffe Circular Walk

Sep 10, 2022

3 min read

Updated: Oct 23

Cliffe is an old village to the north-east of Selby, with fields stretching away towards the River Ouse. Our original 4.11-mile circular walk takes in countryside around Cliffe. The recorded Komoot track and map immediately above provide the route and its actual start and finish; the article is about the place, not a second set of turn-by-turn directions.

Walk at a Glance

Distance: 4.11 miles, from the original GPS track.

Route: Circular.

Location: Cliffe, near Selby, North Yorkshire.

Start and finish: See the original Komoot map at the top of this article.

Navigation: The Komoot recording is the route reference. Do not assume that every place mentioned in the local history is a stop on the circuit.

Cliffe and the River Ouse

Cliffe sits in agricultural country on the north side of the River Ouse. North Yorkshire Council's planning history describes the oldest part of the village as standing on a slight rise above the river's former course. That helps explain its position in what is otherwise a notably flat landscape.

The village stretches along older roads and former farm plots. Council records describe a mixture of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cottages, farmhouses and later development. The old route of the A63 once went through the village streets; the road was bypassed in the 1920s, according to the former Selby District Local Plan.

This is Cliffe near Selby, within modern North Yorkshire. Older railway and historical sources may describe it as part of the East Riding of Yorkshire, reflecting the county boundaries of earlier times.

Cliffe's Railway History

Two different railway stories meet in this area. The railway between Selby and Hull opened in 1840 and crosses the Cliffe parish. It helped connect Selby and the Humber-side towns with the developing railway network. The former Selby District Local Plan records the line as a feature of the settlement.

Cliffe Common also had a station on the Selby and Market Weighton Railway. Historic England's railway research records the station opening in 1848. The Derwent Valley Light Railway later reached Cliffe Common, with its terminus adjoining the station.

The Derwent Valley Light Railway was unusual because it remained independent when so many other lines became part of larger railway companies. Its southern connection at Cliffe Common was eventually lost, and railway services and goods operations at the station ended during the twentieth century. It is a piece of local transport history rather than an attraction we can guarantee is on the Komoot circuit.

Cliffe Today

North Yorkshire Council describes Cliffe as a long, largely linear village on the A63 corridor. Its published planning information also confirms that National Cycle Network route 65 and the Trans Pennine Trail pass through the settlement. Those routes are part of the wider local network; they are not substitutes for the original White Shire walking track.

The rural land between Cliffe and neighbouring Hemingbrough has been recognised in local planning as a countryside gap between the two settlements. That separation is part of why this area still has a village-and-fields character despite being close to major transport routes.

For source material, see North Yorkshire Council's published Selby Local Plan, Historic England's Cliffe Common Station record and the council's earlier Cliffe settlement history. They explain the area's development without claiming that our route visits every feature.

Explore More Yorkshire

For another countryside walk around a River Ouse village near Selby, see our 5.75mi Cawood Circular Walk.

Explore our North Yorkshire Walks or the full Yorkshire Walks collection for other routes recorded on Komoot. This 4.11-mile circular is navigated using the original map above.