Route 14 Barbondale
Route 15 Black Force (Howgills)
Route 16 Bowderdale
Route 17 Wild Boar Fell
Route 18 Cautley Spout
Route 19 Pendragon Castle to Skipton Castle Ultra Leg 1 (Pendragon Castle to Hawes)
The North-East Dales, Swaledale and Wensleydale
Route 20 Asygarth
Route 21 Thornton Rust
Route 22 Bainbridge
Route 23 Maiden Castle (Reeth)
Route 24 Gunnerside Gill
Route 25 Muker
Route 26 Great Shunner Fell
Route 27 Tan Hill (from Keld)
Route 28 Arkengarthdale
Route 29 Pendragon Castle to Skipton Castle Ultra Leg 2 (Hawes to Kettlewell)
The South-East Dales and Wharfedale
Route 30 Bolton Abbey
Route 31 Simon’s Seat
Route 32 Malham Cove and Gordale Scar
Route 33 Mastiles Lane
Route 34 Grass Wood and Conistone Dib
Route 35 Troller’s Gill
Route 36 Great Whernside (from Kettlewell)
Route 37 Fountains Fell
Route 38 Buckden Pike
Route 39 Masham Moor
Route 40 Pendragon Castle to Skipton Castle Ultra Leg 3 (Kettlewell to Skipton)
Appendix A Useful contacts
Looking accross the clouds from Whernside to Ingleborough (Route 11)
ROUTE SUMMARY TABLE
Descending the grassy slopes of Arant Haw (Route 18)
Good running on the Pennine Bridleway descent from Dodd Fell (Route 8) (photo: Andy Ward)
INTRODUCTION
The long descent from Great Coum to Barbondale (Route 14)
Running is one of the most popular sports in the world, which is a reflection of its inherent simplicity and ease of participation. Running in the hills and mountains can provide us with some of our best running experiences. The benefits, motivations and incentives of running, of which there are many, include the following:
Enjoyment
Being out in the countryside in the fresh air, enjoying gorgeous views and having memorable experiences, provides an escape from the more mundane aspects of the day job and family life, and allows runners a moment to themselves, for their own enjoyment and wellbeing.
Fitness
Running burns calories, makes the lungs and heart stronger and releases chemical endorphins that provide the feel-good factor. Plenty of good research demonstrates the positive health benefits of regular exercise. Running on paths and tracks reduces the repetitive stresses and strains on the body compared with running on roads. Each footstep is planted differently; your eyes and brain must coordinate their responses to negotiate the terrain ahead. Running also strengthens mental resilience and can clear the mind, allowing you to focus on the challenges ahead. When the weather takes a turn for the worse, the mental toughness needed to complete a long day out in the hills is immense.
Competition
Fell running offers different types of races: big and small, short or long, take your pick. Other events include challenges where completion is the name of the game.
Fell racing is an excellent way to discover the Dales, and the variety of races available mean that you can race for just a couple of miles or for over twenty. Fell racing provides a different type of enjoyment and challenge and is the culmination of weeks, sometimes months, of training. Turning up on the start line with similar-minded people, all with their own version of the ‘no I am not fit at the moment’ comment or a description of a niggly injury is not uncommon. Inevitably, they will speed away from you as race begins. Most runners can usually manage a good final sprint, and the shared sense of achievement as you cross the finish line is tremendous. A shake of the hand with your fellow competitors is usually followed by a discussion of how hard it was and which sections you ran well.
Containing some of the finest running terrain in the British Isles, the Yorkshire Dales covers an area of over 2000km2 in northern England, sandwiched between the Lake District and the Pennines. The abundance of good paths and tracks make running in the Dales an amazing experience, and one that is accessible to most of us, with a mixture of medium-sized peaks and broad open moorlands to climb and run across. This book contains what I consider to be forty of the best routes in the Dales, including runs up the iconic mountains of Whernside, Ingleborough and Pen-y-ghent, as well as routes that traverse the moors in the far north of the region. From the honeypot sites of Malham and Grassington, to runs in the Howgills (the Yorkshire Dales National Park boundary was extended in August 2016 to include the northern Howgills, among other areas), there is a route in this book to suit runners of differing abilities.
Welcome to the Yorkshire Dales
THE YORKSHIRE DALES
History and geology
The word ‘dale’ comes from the ancient Norse word ‘dalr’ meaning valley. The Yorkshire Dales National Park (YDNP) covers over 800 square miles of these valleys, taking in a section of the central Pennines from Skipton and Settle in the south to Sedbergh and Reeth in the north.
Some dales, such as the Swale, Ure, Nidd and Wharfe, flow east and empty into the North Sea, while others, such as the Ribble, Lune and Eden, flow west to the Irish Sea.
The Dales rise in areas of high gritstone moorland or mountains, with the majority cutting through deep bands of limestone created 300 million years ago from the remains of marine crustaceans that lived in shallow tropical seas; the Dales at that time was positioned south of the equator. The rocks contain rich veins of minerals