Nidderdalw Way - Information for Walkers

Nidderdale Way

Start: Ripley
Grid Ref: SE 284604
End: Ripley (circular route)
Distance: 85 km
Walking Time: 4 days
Counties Traversed: Yorkshire
Explorer™ Maps: 298

The Nidderdale Way makes an absorbing circuit of the heart of Nidderdale, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales near Harrogate. The way begins at Ripley and encircles the valley of the River Nidd by means of a wide and varied range of footpaths, bridleways and country roads, taking a course up one side of the valley and returning down the other. As such the outward and return legs are never far apart, making it very accessible to the day walker; the finest means of tackling it, however, is as a four day walk.

Nidderdale is probably the least known of the Yorkshire Dales and as such offers peace and solitude. It is renowned for a number of attractions, notably the natural features of Brimham Rocks, How Stean Gorge and, further up the dale, Goyden Pot hole. Add to this Gouthwaite Reservoir, York's Folly and Guise Cliff, the sleepy villages of Ramsgill and Wath and it soon becomes clear why Nidderdale is such a jewel in the Dales.

The Nidderdale Way guidebook by Rucksack Readers published in 2019 starts the walk at Pateley Bridge with a four day itinerary as follows:

Pateley Bridge to Middlesmoor – 14.7 miles
Middlesmoor to Bewerley – 11.7 miles
Bewerley to Ripley – 13.4 miles
Ripley to Pateley Bridge – 14.2 miles

You can purchase this guide from our bookshop here or click on the cover image.

As this is a circular route it could be started at any convenient point of your own choosing.