The Nidderdale Way is a circular long distance footpath in

Nidderdale Nidderdale, historically also known as Netherdale, is one of the Yorkshire Dales (although outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park) in North Yorkshire, England. It is the upper valley of the River Nidd, which flows east from its source, the ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...

, England. The trail can be started and completed anywhere on the route, but the usual starting points are Ripley, linked by the frequent route 36 bus to

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

and

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Within the boundaries of the historic West Riding of Yorkshire, the ...

, and

Pateley Bridge Pateley Bridge (known locally as Pateley) is a market town in the civil parish of High and Low Bishopside, in Nidderdale, in the county and district of North Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies on the ...

, the only town on the route. The route follows the northern side of the dale on the outward leg and returns on the southern side. Consequently, the outward and return legs are never far apart. From Ripley the path follows a series of side valleys on the northern side of Nidderdale and then climbs to Brimham Rocks. It then descends to the hamlet of Smelthouses and climbs to Blazefield before descending to Pateley Bridge. From Pateley the path keeps close to the

River Nidd The River Nidd is a tributary of the River Ouse in the English county of North Yorkshire. It rises in Nidderdale at Nidd Head Spring on the slopes of Great Whernside. In its first few miles it has been dammed three times, creating Angram Rese ...

, passing

Wath WATH (970 AM broadcasting, AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Sports radio, Sports format. Licensed to Athens, Ohio, United States, the station is currently owned by Total Media Group and features programming from CBS News Radio, Fox Sports R ...

Gouthwaite Reservoir Gouthwaite Reservoir is in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England. It is one of many reservoirs in the area, others include Roundhill Reservoir and Angram Reservoir. Gouthwaite is a compensation reservoir for the River Nidd, i.e. it maintains t ...

and Bouthwaite to Lofthouse. The path then takes a route high above the Nidd to reach the dam of

Scar House Reservoir Scar House Reservoir is the second of the three reservoirs in Nidderdale, Upper Nidderdale, North Yorkshire, England, the others are Angram Reservoir and Gouthwaite Reservoir. Between them they attract around 150,000 visitors a year. Angram an ...

, where it crosses to the right or south bank of the river. From the dam the path climbs an old track to reach its highest point at , before descending to the village of

Middlesmoor Middlesmoor is a small hill village at the head of Nidderdale in the county of North Yorkshire, England. Middlesmoor is the principal settlement in the civil parish of Stonebeck Up, historically a township in the ancient parish of Kirkby Malz ...

. It then crosses Stean Beck to reach Stean, and descends on the western side of the valley to Ramsgill. From Ramsgill the route was changed in 2019 to avoid a section of road walking on the west side of Gouthwaite Reservoir. The Way now follows a minor road back to Bouthwaite and then returns by the outbound route on the east side of Gouthwaite Reservoir to Wath. It then recrosses the Nidd and ascends to Heathfield, and takes a long loop around the side valley of Ashfold Side Beck to reach Bewerley. The path then follows a high rocky section known as Guise Cliff, before descending to Dacre Banks. It then follows the Nidd downstream to Darley, Birstwith and

Hampsthwaite Hampsthwaite is a large village and civil parish in Nidderdale in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Nidd north west of Harrogate. In the 2011 census the parish had a population of 1,083. The ce ...

, where it crosses the Nidd to reach

Clint Clint may refer to: * Clint (name), a given name and a surname Places *Clint, North Yorkshire, a village in England *Clint, Texas, a town in the United States Fictional characters * Clint Barton, a superhero in American comic books published by ...

. Finally the path passes

Ripley Castle Ripley Castle is a Grade I listed 14th-century country house in Ripley, North Yorkshire, England, north of Harrogate. The house is built of coursed squared gritstone and ashlar with grey slate and stone slate roofs. A central two-storey block ...

to return to Ripley.

References

External links

Nidderdale Way Walking GuideLDWA website: Nidderdale Way
{{Commons category inline, Nidderdale Way Long-distance footpaths in England Footpaths in North Yorkshire Nidderdale

References

Further reading

External links