It’s not always about dragging yourself up a hill in order to enjoy the great outdoors. Sometimes, a nice, easy, low level walk is just what you need. With all the chaos and rushing around of the festive season, we fancied a stress-free short stroll, so we drove down to Kettlewell in the Dales to amble along the river to Starbotton. This area is a bit of a tourist honeypot in the summer months so we only ever venture down here in winter, when it’s a lot quieter!
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of walks which start from the charming Dales village of Kettlewell. We picked a four and a half mile walk from the OS Maps app (map on Yorkshire Footsteps), parking in the large National Park pay and display car park (which has both toilets and charging for electric cars) and setting off along the river on the Dales Way.
The Dales Way is an eighty mile long distance trail which starts in Ilkley and runs through the heart of the Yorkshire Dales to Bowness-on-Windermere. We’ve done a lot more Pennine Way walking in the Dales, but this was enough to convince me that we need to do more along the Dales Way! We followed it along the river from Kettlewell all the way to Starbotton and it was lovely: easy, flat walking along field edges and on riverside paths (although I don’t suppose it’s like that all the way from Ilkley to Bowness). I was especially thrilled by the field which had a diversion around the edge so you could avoid any cows present!
It took us a little over an hour (with plenty of photo stops) to reach Starbotton – spotting a kestrel, heron and cattle egret along the way. Crossing the road in Starbotton, a short stretch uphill takes you to the footpath which returns along the fields to Kettlewell. There are a few stiles to navigate along the way, but these were mostly the easy kind built into drystone walls.
I was pleasantly surprised by this walk: while there weren’t any views that I’d put in the ‘show stopper’ category, there’s no denying that this is an incredibly scenic and picturesque part of the Dales. Despite the greys and browns of winter being out in full force, it was still more than worth the drive down, and I’d definitely come back (probably on a slightly warmer day) to do one of the longer walks starting in the area.
Dog friendly rating – 3/5. It feels harsh giving this walk only 3/5, as the entire outward leg was completely livestock free and the dogs loved being able to get in the river, but in spring and summer it’s highly likely that all of the fields will have livestock in and you will need to keep them on a lead at all times. The accessibility of the river is a great bonus, whether your pup loves swimming or just to keep cool on a hot day, and the stiles were all easily managed by our dogs without any assistance from us.
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This was one of the few dry sections we had on a very wet Dales Way trip a few years ago, enjoyed the cafe at Kettlewell!
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Would love to walk the whole thing one day!