The Yorkshire Dales became a national park in 1954 and was substantially enlarged in August 2016, extending west to take in the Orton Fells, Wild Boar Fell and the northern Howgills, which means a decent portion of a park named after Yorkshire now sits in Cumbria. What it is, geologically, is carboniferous limestone: pale rock that water dissolves, which produces the whole character of the place. The dales themselves are broad glaciated valleys, green and walled and grazed, with flat-topped fells between them. Above the valley floors, horizontal bands of exposed rock called scars run along the hillsides. And under it all is the most extensive cave system in Britain.
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The human landscape is as distinctive as the rock. There are something like eight thousand kilometres of dry stone wall in this park, built mostly during the enclosures of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, running up hillsides and over summits in patterns that make no sense until you learn the field boundaries they follow. Stone field barns stand alone in the middle of meadows, one per field, because hay was stored and cattle wintered where they were cut rather than hauled to a farmyard. It is a working agricultural landscape rather than a wilderness, and the Swaledale sheep with the black faces and curled horns are the local breed.
What you pack is decided by wet ground and exposure. This is high country, mostly 200 to 700 metres, sitting in the path of weather coming off the Irish Sea, and it rains a great deal: the fell tops receive very roughly twice what the Yorkshire coast does. Limestone drains fast, so the valley paths dry, but the millstone grit on the summits holds water in peat exactly as the Pennines do further south, and the Three Peaks route is famous for mud as much as for height.
This guide covers the dales, the Three Peaks, the caves, the railway, the hazards and the full packing list.
The Dales and the Limestone
Each dale has its own character, and the limestone features between them are what make this park unlike anywhere else in England.
Malham is the obvious starting point. Malham Cove is a curved limestone cliff about 80 metres high, formed as a waterfall that no longer runs, and the top of it is a sheet of bare limestone pavement, cracked into blocks called clints with deep fissures called grikes between them. It is beautiful and it is genuinely dangerous to walk across carelessly, because a grike will take a leg. Gordale Scar, twenty minutes away, is a limestone gorge with a waterfall you can scramble up, and Janet's Foss is a small fall in woodland on the way.
Wharfedale is the softest and most visited, running up from Bolton Abbey through Grassington to Kettlewell. The Strid, near Bolton Abbey, is a place where the whole River Wharfe squeezes into a channel a couple of metres wide and many metres deep, and it has killed people who tried to jump it. Kilnsey Crag overhangs the road further up.
Swaledale in the north is the narrowest and, for many people, the finest: steep sides, the densest concentration of field barns anywhere, hay meadows that are still cut late and are full of wildflowers in June, and the lead mining remains above Gunnerside. Wensleydale is broader, with Aysgarth Falls stepping down through woodland, Hardraw Force dropping about 30 metres in a single unbroken fall behind an inn, Bolton Castle where Mary Queen of Scots was held, and Hawes, where Wensleydale cheese is still made and sold.
Dentdale and the Howgills in the west are the quietest part of the park, with smooth grassy fells quite unlike the limestone country and almost nobody on them.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Three Peaks, the Caves and the Railway
The Yorkshire Three Peaks is the park's signature walk and it is a much bigger day than most people expect.
Whernside at 736 metres, Ingleborough at 723 and Pen-y-ghent at 694 are linked by a circuit of roughly 24 miles with around 1,600 metres of ascent, traditionally done inside twelve hours from Horton-in-Ribblesdale. It is not technical and it is not to be underestimated: it is a very long day on wet ground, and the middle of it is remote. Any one of the three on its own is an excellent half day, and Pen-y-ghent from Horton is the friendliest introduction.
The caving here is world class and it is not a casual activity. Gaping Gill, on the flank of Ingleborough, is a shaft where a stream falls around 100 metres into what is one of the largest natural underground chambers in Britain, and twice a year local caving clubs rig a winch that lowers members of the public into it, which is the only realistic way for a non-caver to see it. White Scar Caves and Ingleborough Cave are commercial show caves you walk into with a guide, needing nothing but a warm layer. Everything else down there requires a club, a guide and equipment, and cave flooding after rain is the specific thing that kills people in this park.
The Settle to Carlisle railway crosses the park and is one of the great train journeys in England: 73 miles of Victorian engineering built through terrain nobody should reasonably have built a railway through. The Ribblehead Viaduct, 24 arches striding across a bare valley under Whernside, is the image of the line, and Dent is the highest mainline station in England at around 350 metres. You can take the train to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Ribblehead or Dent and walk from the platform, which makes a car unnecessary for a great deal of the best walking.
When to Go
June and September are the best months. May and June give the hay meadows, and nothing here is reliably dry.
Late spring, May and June, is the strongest window. The hay meadows in Swaledale and upper Wharfedale are at their best in June, which is a genuinely special sight because late-cut traditional meadows have become rare, the days are long, and lambing is finished so paths are easier with dogs. Temperatures sit around 14 to 18C.
Summer, July and August, is warm rather than hot, around 18 to 21C, and busy at Malham, Aysgarth and Bolton Abbey, though the fells absorb people well and Swaledale stays quiet. This is when the Three Peaks is walked most and when the paths on it are most worn. Afternoon thunderstorms build over the high ground.
Autumn, September and October, is excellent: quieter, often drier than August, with the bracken turning orange across the fellsides and low light on the limestone scars. October brings the first serious weather.
Winter, December to March, is cold, dark and beautiful. Valley temperatures sit around 2 to 6C with hard frosts, the fells get real snow several times a season, and limestone pavement under ice is not walkable. Daylight is gone before four in December. The dales in snow are one of the best things in England and the caves and show caves stay open, but the Three Peaks in winter is a mountaineering day rather than a walk, and roads over the tops close.
Is the Yorkshire Dales Safe for Women Travelers
The Dales are a very safe place to walk alone, and the genuine hazards are underfoot: wet ground, limestone pavement, open potholes and water.
The US State Department publishes a United Kingdom advisory and the UK's own FCDO publishes nothing for its own territory, because it advises on travel abroad only. Neither records advised-against areas for ordinary visitors. The named risks are terrorism, which the UK assesses at a national threat level published by MI5 and which is a general rather than a localised concern, and the usual urban property crime in the big cities.
Crime is not the issue. These are small villages and market towns thoroughly used to walkers, women walk here alone constantly, and the realistic property risk is theft from a vehicle at a remote trailhead, so leave nothing visible at Malham, Horton or Ribblehead. Pubs are welcoming to solo walkers and it is entirely normal to eat alone in one.
The limestone creates hazards that do not exist in most walking country. Limestone pavement, like the expanse on top of Malham Cove, has fissures between the blocks that are often deep, sometimes hidden by grass, and quite capable of breaking a leg: cross it slowly and deliberately, and do not cross it at all in the wet or in poor light, because wet limestone is extremely slippery. Open potholes and shake holes are scattered across the fells, especially around Ingleborough, and they are natural shafts in the ground, frequently unfenced and sometimes screened by vegetation. Fell walking here means looking where you put your feet in a way that hill walking on grit does not.
Water is the other one. Rivers rise very fast here because limestone country drains through the rock and then discharges suddenly, so a beck that was a trickle in the morning can be impassable in the afternoon after rain on the tops. Do not attempt a ford in spate. The Strid at Bolton Abbey has drowned people who underestimated it, and the undercut rock means it is far deeper and faster than it appears. If you go into a cave with a club or a guide, the flooding risk after rain is the thing everyone plans around, and it is the reason to go with people who know the system.
Navigation matters on the fells. Ingleborough and Whernside have broad summits and cloud sits on them, and the Three Peaks route crosses genuinely remote ground where there is no quick way off. Carry a paper map and compass alongside a phone, tell someone your route, and start early: a great many people on that circuit end up finishing in the dark. Ticks are present in the bracken and long grass, Lyme disease is present in England, and cows with calves in the valley fields are the animals that most often injure British walkers.
Emergency treatment in an NHS accident and emergency department is free to everyone regardless of nationality or insurance. Beyond that, overseas visitors can be charged for NHS hospital care, so travel insurance still matters, and a UK GHIC or EU EHIC covers medically necessary state care for eligible visitors. Prescriptions are charged in England and free in Scotland and Wales. Pharmacies can advise on minor problems without an appointment, and NHS 111 is the free triage line for anything you are unsure about.
The Yorkshire Dales Packing List
Base layers, because this is a damp cold
Dales weather is rarely extreme and very often around 8 to 10C with rain and wind, which is the combination that takes heat out of you fastest and the case merino answers best. Wool keeps insulating when it is wet through, stops the sudden chill when you sit down on a summit, and stays wearable for several days of a walking trip without becoming unpleasant, which matters if you are moving between inns with one small bag. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron and 160gsm with no synthetic blend. A merino wool base layer for women belongs in the pack in every month here, and merino leggings under walking trousers earn their place from November to March.
Waterproof boots, and grip matters as much as waterproofing
The Three Peaks and the fell paths are wet for most of the year and the valley paths cross farmland, so waterproof hiking boots with ankle support are the right footwear rather than trail shoes. Sole grip matters unusually much in this park because wet limestone is genuinely slick, and so are the flagstone paths laid across the peat on the Three Peaks route. Pack merino wool socks and a spare pair.
Waterproofs
A packable rain jacket for women in every season, with a hood that stays put in wind. On the fells you want over-trousers too, and this is a park where a lot of walking is done in light rain rather than postponed because of it.
Mid layer and warmth
A fleece mid layer year round. The summits run five to eight degrees colder than the dale and much windier, and the show caves sit at a constant temperature around 8C all year, so the layer you wear into White Scar in August is the same one you want on Ingleborough.
Hat and gloves, from October
A merino beanie and merino glove liners from October through April, and worth having in the pack in September. Wind on Whernside in February is the kind that makes bare hands useless for opening a rucksack, which is a real problem rather than a discomfort.
Navigation, light and the small things
A paper Ordnance Survey map of the area you are walking and a compass, plus offline mapping, because signal is absent across much of the high ground and in the dale bottoms. A head torch for any winter walk and for the Three Peaks in any season. A refillable bottle and more food than you plan to eat, because on the fells there is nothing to buy. And a pack liner or dry bag, since rucksacks leak in sustained rain.
Essential Resources for Women in the Yorkshire Dales
Emergency numbers: 999 for police, ambulance, fire and mountain rescue, free from any phone including a locked mobile. 112 also works everywhere in the UK. For a health problem that is not an emergency, NHS 111 gives free advice 24 hours a day and will direct you to the right service, which is the number most visitors actually need.
Mountain and cave rescue: call 999, ask for the police, then ask for mountain rescue. The teams here include the Cave Rescue Organisation based at Clapham, which covers both fell and underground incidents, along with Upper Wharfedale Fell Rescue and Swaledale Mountain Rescue. All are volunteers and all would rather be called early. The emergency SMS service works where voice does not, from a phone registered in advance, which takes a minute and is worth doing before you travel.
Non-emergency police: 101 for North Yorkshire Police, and for the western dales now inside Cumbria, Cumbria Police on the same number. A theft from a car needs a crime reference number for insurance.
Main hospital or clinic: Airedale General Hospital at Steeton near Keighley has the nearest emergency department to the southern dales. Lancaster Royal Infirmary covers the west, Harrogate District Hospital the south-east, and the Friarage at Northallerton the north, though its emergency provision changed in 2019 so check before relying on it. James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough and Leeds General Infirmary are the regional major trauma centres. NHS 111 will direct you for anything short of an emergency and a pharmacy can deal with minor problems.
Official health authority: the NHS, with the UK Health Security Agency publishing the national tick and Lyme disease guidance that is worth reading before a walking trip.
Weather and conditions: the Met Office mountain forecast for the Pennines gives cloud base, wind at height and visibility, which is the forecast that determines whether the Three Peaks is sensible. River levels after heavy rain matter for any route with a ford.
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in London, uk.usembassy.gov, covers the whole of the United Kingdom.
US State Department travel advisory: the United Kingdom advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: there is none, and this is not an omission. The FCDO advises British nationals on travel abroad, so it publishes nothing for the United Kingdom itself and both gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/united-kingdom and /uk return 404. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United Kingdom gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
Official tourism authority: VisitEngland and VisitBritain at national level, with the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority for access, path conditions, parking and the current position on the Three Peaks route.
Transport: National Rail for the Settle to Carlisle line, which puts you at Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Ribblehead and Dent with walking from the platform and is the best way into the park without a car.
Solo women safety assessment: the Yorkshire Dales is one of the most comfortable places in England for a woman walking alone. The villages are small and entirely used to walkers, eating alone in a dale pub is unremarkable, and the Settle to Carlisle railway means you can reach excellent walking without a car. Crime is not the concern; theft from a vehicle at a remote trailhead is the only realistic property risk, so leave nothing visible. The hazards here are geological and they are specific. Limestone pavement, including the famous expanse on top of Malham Cove, has deep fissures that will take a leg, and wet limestone is extremely slippery, so cross it slowly and not at all in rain or poor light. Open potholes and shake holes are scattered across the fells around Ingleborough, often unfenced and sometimes hidden in vegetation, which means watching your feet in a way grit moorland does not require. Rivers rise very fast in limestone country, so never attempt a ford in spate, and the Strid at Bolton Abbey is far deeper and faster than it looks and has drowned people. The Three Peaks is a 24 mile day over remote wet ground and a common reason for a mountain rescue call-out: start early, carry a paper map and compass, and accept that turning back is a normal decision. Caving needs a club or a guide because flooding after rain is the real killer underground. Check for ticks after walking, and give cows with calves a wide berth.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the UK travel guide for women. For why wool is the right answer to a wet Pennine wind, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
