THE DRIVES OF YOUR LIFE
The Yorkshire Dales
THE ROUTE Yorkshire Dales and Brontë Country (327km)
If reading Wuthering Heights made you think that Yorkshire is all bleak moorland, the rugged landscape of the Dales will prove otherwise. You’ll see sheep grazing on green hillsides, pretty villages of stone cottages and icy rivers tumbling into valleys. In summer, there are fields of poppies, giant ferns and foxgloves; in early autumn, there’s golden bracken and purple heather. Narrow country lanes wind between mossy dry-stone walls, past farmhouses and ruined stone barns, and with peaks to climb, rivers to swim and cosy pubs to warm up in, it’s rural heaven.
Leave the Victorian spa town of Harrogate, heading west on the A59 towards beautiful Bolton Abbey, from where you go north towards Grassington. At the ruins of Barden Tower, detour right on a tiny road through Appletreewick (swim here in the River Wharfe), and back to Burnsall to continue north-west. Turn left through Linton and go towards Skipton via Rylstone and have lunch in nearby The Angel, Hetton. (Another scenic detour takes you west from Hetton and up to Malham and Malham Tarn.) Skirt Skipton to rejoin the A65 heading north through Settle, turning off towards Horton-in-ribblesdale. Continue north, turning right along the River Ribble towards Hawes, past Ribblehead Viaduct through stunning Dent Dale, and on to Sedbergh. Here, follow the A684 to Hawes to drive over the spectacular Buttertubs Pass to Thwaite and up to Tan Hill Inn, the highest pub in Britain.
Return over Buttertubs, heading east from Hawes through Bainbridge and Aysgarth (for the waterfalls). Take the B6160 past Cray towards Grassington: stop to hike up Buckden Pike or for the riverside walk between Starbotton and Kettlewell. At Grassington, go through Pateley Bridge to Fountains Abbey. A 20-minute drive further east leads you to Newby Hall, a grand finale before coasting back to Harrogate.