Walks around Pateley & Nidderdale

There is no limit to the number of different walks you can enjoy in Pateley Bridge and around Nidderdale National Landscape; with hundreds of miles of footpaths and vast swathes of Access Land, you can combine those key elements of distance, solitude, beauty and altitude to make the perfect walk.

Nidderdale walks Angram sign post, (credit Paul Skirrow)

Nidderdale Walks by Nidderdale experts

The Nidderdale National Landscape office has prepared and way-marked a variety of walks that offer informative and intriguing introductions to some of the lesser well-known areas of the area, with useful and interesting information on the surrounding landscape to help you get the most from your walk.

Many of our Nidderdale Walks will take in some of the top landmarks around the area, as well as a selection of smaller curiosities that the team at the National Landscape office have detailed in their walks leaflets, be it in the dry stone walls around the village of Dacre or the trees of Blubberhouses.

See how mankind has changed Nidderdale

Nidderdale may be a stunning natural landscape but hundreds of years of human activity has left its mark across the hills and valleys.

A number of walks explore the industrial heritage of the areas around Pateley Bridge, the village of Bewerley and Greenhow Hill, where you can explore the Coldstones Cut and look down into the last working quarry in Nidderdale, you can see the remnants of Victorian industry at the Toft Gate Lime Kiln and looks across the valley and see the scars of Victorian industry.

Many of the Reservoirs in the valley offer walks both around their shores and across the hills above them, as well as providing thriving habitats to birds and wildlife. Their dams stand as a proud testament to the impressive engineering of the early 1900s.

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Pateley Bridge

The Nidderdale Way

The Nidderdale Way is a 53 mile circular walk beginning and ending in Pateley Bridge in the heart of...

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Pateley Bridge

Six Dales Trail

This 38 mile route takes in the entire length of the Nidderdale AONB from Otley in Wharfedale to Middleham...

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Ripon

Ripon Rowel Walk

This route around the City of Ripon roves far and wide, taking in historic monuments and follies, the rolling...

Go Long…

The most popular long-distance walking route is The Nidderdale Way, 54 miles of climbs, desolate moorland, and idyllic riverside and rolling farmland. Many accommodation providers will offer a shuttle service for groups walking to complete the way which can be undertaken in a relaxing 7 days, a steady 4 days, or an ambitious 2 days for those with pace and stamina.

Other long routes include the Six Dales Trail and historically rich Ripon Rowel route.

Explore Further

If you prefer to be the master of your own fate, you can find all of Nidderdale on the Ordinance Survey’s Explorer 298, which shows footpaths, bridleway and access land.