Cod Beck riverside walk

Cod Beck is the stream that made Thirsk, and the reason the town sits where it does. The name comes from an old word meaning cold brook. It comes off the moors, runs about 22 miles, and loops straight through the middle of town under a series of small bridges. From the Market Place you are standing on its bank in roughly two minutes.

That closeness is the point. You can walk out after breakfast, follow the water for an hour, and be back before the square has properly filled up. The full town loop comes to two or three miles, flat the whole way, and it costs nothing. For anyone with a spare hour between a museum and lunch, it is the easiest thing on this list.

From Tea Time Cafe at 87 Market Place, cross to the corner of the square and head down Millgate, the narrow street of shops leading away from the cobbles. The beck and its bridge are at the bottom, two minutes on pavement, no climbing involved.

Turn either way at the water. North takes you along the green riverside towards The Holmes and Norby. South follows the beck out of town towards Sowerby, the lime avenue and the open ground of Sowerby Flatts. Nothing here needs a car, which makes it the obvious walk for anyone arriving by train. Thirsk station sits about a mile and a half west of the square, a flat half hour on foot.

The walk locals do goes north. Follow the water from Millgate, up through the parkland and past the playground at The Holmes, and keep going until you reach Norby Weir, which everyone here calls the waterfall. Cross the footbridge over it, then come back down the far bank into town. That is the loop, and it takes about three quarters of an hour at a gentle pace.

The weir is worth the walk in its own right. It is man-made, the last of the workings for Thirsk Mill, and the sluice gate beside it used to divert water into a leet that fed the lake in front of Thirsk Hall and then Rymers Mill. After heavy rain it turns into a genuine fall of water. Past and Present board 4 stands next to it and explains the mill.

Take bread money for the ducks if there are children in the party, because they will stall at the first bench regardless of your plans. Watch for the flood marks on the older cottages, set a step or two up from the lane for good reason. If you want more than the loop, carry straight on at the weir instead of turning back and you are on the Seven Bridges path, or head south towards the meadows and the Anglo-Saxon barrow at Pudding Pie Hill.

Flat, free and two minutes from the square, which is a rare combination in a market town. The water brings wildlife right into the middle of Thirsk, so herons work the shallows early and ducks patrol the bridges all day. It suits every pace: a twenty-minute leg-stretch, an hour's circuit, or the spine of a half-day that takes in The Holmes and Sowerby Flatts. Dogs are welcome throughout. So are picnics from the bakery.

Boots in winter, town shoes in summer. The low paths hold water and the beck floods after heavy rain on the moors, so check underfoot conditions before you commit to the full loop between November and March. Walk it in daylight, as several stretches are unlit once you leave the streets. Keep dogs on a lead where the route passes livestock south of town. If the sky opens halfway round, the indoor options are all within five minutes: the World of James Herriot, Thirsk Museum and the Ritz Cinema. Early morning gives the best light on the water and the quietest bridges.