Self Guide Walk – Pennine Bridleway – Yorkshire Dales Section
A recent guest that stayed with us gave us inspiration to share his walk/stay with us. As previously mentioned in another addition of “King Billys News” many Long Distance PathsLong Distance Walks or Cycle? come either through or very close to our town of Settle. The Pennine Bridleway does pass very close to our front door, which is kind of nice to have horses occasionally riding through town! The great advantage with a Bridleway is that there are no stiles or awkward terrain to negociate. So if you walking with your dog, or as some guest did use a walking trolley to carry your luggage you are in luck! Personnelly we know the sections well near us, as we are keen Mountain Bikers. Therefore the trail has many useful uses and is pretty quiet, as the Yorkshire Dales can be remote.
So the idea is to book into the King William the Fourth Guest House for 3 / 4 Nights, this can be done in either direction but this is what was done. The advance is that you don’t have to carry your luggage – just a day pack!
There are two options – North to South and South to North
This is what our guest did as they were walking the whole route – 174miles approx!
This is the North to South Option but has longer stretches;
Day 1 Departing from Kirby Stephen walking to Dent Station (19 Miles) then catch the Train to Settle – Night 1
Day 2 Catch train back to Dent Station (departure time 8.50am*) pick up the route (Mile away) back up onto the Pennine Bridleway way to Clapham (20miles) catch the Bus (near enough hourly but not on a Sunday) – back to Settle Night 2
Day 3 Catch the bus back to Clapham (Bus departure 9.30am) and walk to either Settle (12miles) or further on to Long Preston (15.4miles) and get the train back- Night 3
The other option is to use the one on the National Trails website and do South to North
Day 1 Depart Settle – walk to Clapham (12miles)- use the Bus to return back to Settle for Night 1
Day 2 Catch the bus back to Clapham walk to Horton-In-Ribblesdale (9miles) – catch the Train (the limited bus service also passes the station too) back to Settle – Night 2
Day 3 Take the Train to to Horton-In-Ribblesdale and walk to Garsdale Head (18miles) then catch the train back – Night 3
Day 4 – Catch the Train to Garsdale head and walk to Kirby Stephen (12miles Trail with 1.5mile to get to the station at the end) – Catching the Train back again to Settle for Night 4
* General Train Times – subject to the usual seasonal changes – May/December
