Deerness Valley Railway Path overall cycle route rating:
(Colour explanation: blue = good, yellow indicates some warning, and red indicates issues to be aware of)
The Deerness Valley Railway Path is another old railway line in County Durham that was repurposed as a traffic-free cycling and walking trail, after the railway closed in the mid sixties. The path runs for 8.5 miles between Broompark near Durham, westwards to Crook.
At Broompark it links to the railway paths running north west to Consett and south west to Bishop Auckland, as well as NCN14 into Durham and eastwards. The route is a gentle gradient from east to west which gets a little steeper for the last half. The route is well signed and easy to follow
Most of the information in this guide is by Gary Dawes, with images from Geograph.
Surface of the Deerness Valley Railway Path
The path is a mix of hard compacted stone with a grit surface and some tarmac sections. The path is 2 to 3 metres wide for most of the route.
Bikes
The route is designed as a multi use access trail, and as a result the whole route can be ridden on most kinds of cycle, including trikes, tandems and cargo bikes.
Toilets
The route passes various villages including Bearpark, Ushaw Moor and Esh Winning, which have various amenities including shops, cafés, and toilets
Refreshments
You have multiple options for refreshment stops in Bearpark, Ushaw Moor and Esh Winning.
Hilliness
The route isn’t particularly hilly (as you’d expect from an old railway line) but there are nonetheless climbs of up to 11% gradient.
Safety from traffic
The whole route is traffic-free.
Points of Interest
The route passes several old mining villages, but there are few signs of that industry now. The route is a scenic ride though meadows and mature woodland.
Routes in Durham
- The Lighthouse Trail
- Reivers Route – UK Coast To Coast Routes
- C2C – UK Coast to Coast Routes
- Lanchester Valley Railway Path
- Deerness Valley Railway Path cycle route
- The Waskerley Way traffic-free cycle route
- Thorpe Thewles to Ryhope traffic-free cycle route
- Derwent Walk Cycleway
- Two Rivers Cycleway
- Consett & Sunderland Railway Path
- Bowes Railway Path Traffic-free Cycle Route
Barriers
There are no A-frame barriers along the route, although there are some lazy chicane barriers at some of the road crossings.
Child friendliness
Provided they have the stamina for the route, it is suited for even quite young children to use. However, kids will struggle with the steeper parts.
Social safety
Some parts of the route can be quite isoltaed.
Ratings
Forecast for the Deerness Valley Railway Path
What the Deerness Valley Railway Path looks like
Video of the Deerness Valley Railway Path
Getting to the Deerness Valley Railway Path
Durham has a railway station on the east coast main line. Crook is served by local buses, but they are unlikely to a cycle unless it’s a folder. As ever, read my Bikes On Trains guide for useful and helpful tips for taking your bike on the train.
More Routes
To find more routes, click this link.
DayCycle
DayCycle routes are routes can can easily be cycled by most people in a day, or part of a day. Do have a look at all the other DayCycle routes available on WillCycle.
Interactive map of the Deerness Valley Railway Path
You can download the GPX file from the map below, simply by clicking the GPX button. Hovering over the elevation profile will show the elevation for that point along the route, in both metres and feet. It will also show the gradient.
And finally…
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