Walk after wedding: Cotswolds vs Yorkshire Dales vs Lake District?

Both locations are great.

I would suggest looking at HF Holidays country house hotels and their walking options.

www.hfholidays.co.uk/country-houses

Where in the north is the wedding? Will you have a car or not? That could make a significant difference to which NP is more convenient.

The wedding will be in Skipton, near Bolton Abbey, and we will not have a car if we can help it.

HF Holidays have a rather nice house at Malham.

If you're at Bolton Abbey then most days of the week there are buses to Grassington or Ilkley (Saturday also to Skipton), or the steam train to Embsay (Skipton) for buses to Malham. I know you wanted self guided but there are benefits to doing one of their guided walks programmes instead.

The wedding being at Bolton Abbey you are actually on the Dales Way (from Ilkley to Bowness on Windermere) so that is the hugely obvious option.

Pretty easy to reach from Bolton Abbey is the HF House at Sedbergh- there is some very good and largely unknown walking in the Howgills, very much on the border between Westmorland and North Yorkshire. At Sedbergh you are still in Westmorland but simultaneously in the Yorkshire Dales National Park!

Hi Our Kid -

Stuart is correct, Bolton Abbey is on the Dales Way (it’s actual start is at the old pack horse bridge in Ilkley, which can be reached by rail from Skipton) which runs up to Windermere, and you can return to Leeds or Manchester (for instance) from there easily by rail. Or you could hike up Wharfedale and base yourself at a pub - as a suggestion we had a fabulous couple of days earlier this year at the Queens Arms at Litton. They have a load of suggestions for day hikes from the door.

Alternatively, you might want to consider The Herriot Way, a circular walk which traditionally starts from Aysgarth and goes clockwise to Hawes, Keld, Reeth and finally returns to Aysgarth. We had a grand short week on it in September (really lucky with weather which helped), four days of walking stopping at the places mentioned (there are other towns en route if needs be) with a day of travel at either end, although for us it’s a bit extravagant to say ‘travel day’ as we’re only an hour and a half’s drive away - you need longer by bus if you are dispensing with a car, which frankly is the sensible option. We enjoyed it thoroughly.

We booked our trip via Brigantes who were excellent to deal with and unobtrusive, but available should we have needed them on trail (we didn’t). We booked with them so we could walk with just a day sack and have our luggage shipped from accommodation to accommodation.

Feel free to ask here or by PM if there are other Yorkshire options you’d like information or opinions on.

Ian

I strongly agree with the suggestion above for the Howgills- really beautiful area and hardly any tourists compared with the rest of the Lake District. You are basically on the border of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales.

What wonderful suggestions, thanks everyone!

Ian, the bride mentioned the Devonshire Arms as a possible place to stay. Based on your comment I think that'll be my first choice!

Hey Kid -

I took reference to the Devonshire Arms out because I realised that the wedding was in Skipton. However, it’s rather nice and it should be excellent - you’ll enjoy it even if your bank account might not! If you haven’t got a car, it’s going to be a bit difficult to get to the other branch of the Devonshire Arms, the Devonshire Fell which sits above Burnsall. Smaller if similarly uneconomic, it’s superbly situated on the hillside overlooking Burnsall and the River Wharfe.

Still, you might be happy shelling out for a couple of nights at one or the other!

Ian

We've had several holidays based in Settle and having once arrived haven't used the car until we were ready to go home. There's lots of good walks you can do from Settle itself. The bus and train (on the leeds, Settle and Carlisle line) also gives access areas a bit further afield. Have a look here for some ideas.