Swaledale, Yorkshire Dales
Distance 22.7km (14.1 miles) Climbing 750m (2,460ft) Time 2hrs to 3hrs
Route summary A great all-weather route, riding out into the remote, rocky scenery of the Yorkshire Dales, with fast and lowing trails, and a bit of technical stuff mixed in
Start/ inish Dales Bike Centre (grid ref 045/987, postcode DL11 6AW)
1
Turn left out of the Bike Centre and follow the B6270, through Reeth, to Healaugh. Go right by the 30mph sign, into a cul-de-sac, steeply uphill. Keep ahead/left at a fork by a farmhouse, then right at another fork, and continue ahead/ left on this soft, rutted moorland track with rocky sections.
2
After passing a field on the left, the main track goes right and climbs. Ride for 200m then bear right and climb away from the main track. Take a grassy track running parallel with another walled enclosure on your right. After 2km, go through the (Fore Gill) gate, descend to the road and go left on it.
3
Proceed down, then uphill and right on a stone bridleway before the bridge. Climb, then descend past the ruined building and start ascending again. Keep ahead/right at the fork, staying on the right-hand side of the valley and ignoring a track joining from the right. Bear left at a fork further up and go left over Level House Bridge.
4
Keep ahead on this track for 2km, to the top. Look for a small cairn and bear left at a fork by a footpath signpost, on an easily-missed trail. Keep right, down into the deep, rocky valley, for a steep and technical descent. At the bottom, in the main valley, turn left by the marker post to ‘Gunnerside’. 5
After the mine ruins, the bridleway bears left up a grassy track to traverse the side of the hill. Pass a couple of farmhouses, then keep left at a fork, staying on the left-hand side of the wall, along the side of the hill. At the next lone farmhouse (Barf End), the bridleway keeps straight ahead along the wall, but it’s lumpy, grassy moorland and the landowner doesn’t mind riders going through the gate (to the right), then diagonally left along the wide, grassy track to rejoin the bridleway further ahead at a gate in the wall.
6
Keep ahead until the track comes close to a wall and a lone tree on the right, then turn right, along the wall. Head down a technical rocky track, by a spring known as Little Malham. Proceed between the walls, joining a track to the right, to a farmhouse. Then bear left o through a small gate, across a field. Pass through a gate, to the corner of a minor road. Go right on this, continuing downhill to the main road. Turn right on this. Soon after, bear o left, signposted ‘Crackpot 1m’.
7
Cross the bridge, then turn o left as the road bears right, signposted ‘Low Houses only’. Keep left to join The Swale Trail and follow it all the way back, along the valley, parallel to the river, to Grinton. Make a left, over the bridge and back to the Dales Bike Centre to finish.