Accommodation & Resources

Updates & Outtakes

Reviews

Six Peaks Trail

Accommodation, Resources and Links are shown here for the area covered by the book. Inclusion is not a recommendation. The listing isn't exhaustive - if you want anything adding, please get in touch.

The Settle-Carlisle Line runs from Leeds to Carlisle. Timetables are updated twice a year. Both Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line (FoSCL) and Friends of DalesRail (FDR) run regular free guided walks from stations along the line. The line is also the venue for ride2stride - the Settle-Carlisle Walking Festival.  Dalesbus services link to other dales villages.

Much of the area covered by the book falls within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Tourist Information for other areas along the line can be found for Leeds, Skipton, Sedbergh, Appleby and Carlisle.

Section One: Settle & the South West

Settle

Settle is an attractive little market town with plenty of accommodation, shops and food. On a Tuesday there’s a lively market in the town square. You may like to visit the Museum of North Craven Life in the Folly, or Settle Station where the Friends of the Settle-Carlisle line have restored the old signal box (open Saturdays or by arrangement). 

Giggleswick

Giggleswick is a small village across the river from Settle. Giggleswick Station is a mile from the village. Most famous for its public school with its copper-domed chapel.

Clapham

Clapham is beautiful little village with shops and restaurants and the nearby Ingleborough Show Cave. Ingleborough Hall, former home of the Farrer family, is now an outdoor education centre. Clapham Station is just over a mile south-west of the village it serves.

Feizor

Watch out for Elaine's famous farmhouse tea shop where you’ll get the best mug of milky coffee you’ll find on the whole area.

Austwick

Austwick is a small prosperous village between Clapham and Settle.

Stainforth

Stainforth Force is a series of lovely waterfalls where in October you can watch salmon leaping. There’s a campsite near the river and a few minutes walk away in the village of Stainforth a pub that does food and bed and breakfast.

Helwith Bridge

A former quarrying hamlet, it is served by the Helwith Bridge Inn, where occasional camping may be available - contact the pub for details..

Horton-in-Ribblesdale

Horton-in-Ribblesdale, with its fine railway station, is a popular base for walkers and the village has a campsite, bunkbarn and two pubs as well as Bed and Breakfast accommodation. Pen-y-ghent Cafe in the centre of the village is the traditional starting point for the Three Peaks Challenge Walk and the many walkers taking part in challenges can put accommodation in the village under pressure, especially at weekends in summer. 

Ribblehead

The railway station by Ribblehead Viaduct is very isolated, but a popular spot for walkers.

Chapel-le-Dale

Just down the road from Ribblehead is the tiny hamlet of Chapel-le-Dale, best known for St. Leonard’s Church where navvies and their families who died building the Settle-Carlisle railway line are buried. There are now a few b&b's in or near the hamlet. The Old Hill Inn has two letting bedrooms and is a splendid traditional pub with a reputation for good food. 

Cowgill

Dent Station, the highest mainline station in England, is 4½  miles from Dent village, in the parish of Cowgill in Upper Dentdale.

Dent

Dent is a beautiful village with a cobbled main street in one of the loveliest of all of the Dales. There are two pubs, b&bs, camping, cafes and shops in the village. The Heritage Centre is packed with exhibits and information about life in the dale and is well worth a visit. Dent’s a lively village with a lot going on. Check the notice board for events like Dentdale Show and the Dentdale Music and Beer Festival but don’t forget there will be pressure on accommodation at these times.

Garsdale

Garsdale is not a village but a valley. There are a cluster of houses around the railway station at Garsdale Head, formerly known as Hawes Junction. as it linked with the former Wensleydale line, now being restored by the Wensleydale Railway Association.

Hawes

Hawes is the highest market town in the Dales, with plenty of shops, cafes, pubs and accommodation. Market day is Tuesday. Hawes is the home of the Dales Countryside Museum, Hawes Ropemakers and the Wensleydale Creamery where the cheese is made.

Nateby

A small farming village on the outskirts of Kirkby Stephen, a mile from the railway station.

Kirkby Stephen

Kirkby Stephen is a Walkers are Welcome town and has all the facilities a walker could need, including banks, shops, cafes and pubs. The railway station is 1½ miles from the town centre. The former Stainmore Railway Station is now being restored, and much of the old railway trackbed is open to walkers, courtesy of the Northern Viaducts Trust and the Cumbria Wildlife Trust .

Long Distance Trails

The Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) list over 700 long distance trails, including several which pass through the area covered by this book. These include:

The Dales Way - 78 miles from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere (see LDWA entry).

A Dales High Way - 90 miles from Saltaire to Appleby-in-Westmoreland (see LDWA entry).

A Coast to Coast Walk - 183 miles from St, Bees to robin Hoods Bay (see LDWA entry).

The Pennine Way - 268 miles from Edale to Kirk Yeltholm (see LDWA entry).

The Pennine Bridleway - eventually 347 miles from Middleton Top to Byrness (see LDWA entry).

The Ribble Way - 65 miles from Longton to Gayle Moor (see LDWA entry).

Lady Annes Way - 100 miles from Skipton to Penrith (see LDWA entry).

The Settle to Carlisle Walking Route - 86 miles from Settle to Carlisle.

A Pennine Journey - 247 miles Settle circular via Hadrians Wall (see LDWA entry).

The Yoredale Way - 100 miles from York to Kirkby Stephen (see LDWA entry).

The Six Peaks Trail - 48 miles from Settle to Kirkby Stephen (see LDWA entry)..