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The Yorkshire Dales has a reputation as car country: narrow lanes, small car parks, villages separated by miles of moor. Look closer and there's a working spine of trains and buses running right through it. This route uses the Settle–Carlisle line and the DalesBus network to string together two days of walking in Wharfedale, with one rucksack instead of a boot full of luggage and a couple of pub stops worth planning the day around.
Two services do the heavy lifting. The first is the Leeds–Skipton line, which becomes the Settle–Carlisle railway north of Skipton and calls at Gargrave, Hellifield, Settle, Horton-in-Ribblesdale, Ribblehead, Dent and Garsdale. The second is DalesBus, the network that runs from Skipton up Wharfedale to Grassington, Kettlewell and Buckden, and over the tops into Wensleydale.
Be realistic about the second one. Many Dales services run on Sundays and bank holidays only, several are seasonal, and the last bus back down the valley tends to go in the late afternoon. Check the current timetable on the DalesBus site or Traveline a week before you travel, then check it again the day before. If a service is cancelled, you want a plan B that isn't a taxi you can't get.
Two days is short enough to travel with one bag, and much more enjoyable if that bag never leaves your back.
Ask your accommodation whether you can drop a bag before check-in or leave one after checkout. Many places will, which buys you a free afternoon at either end of the trip.
Take an early train from Leeds to Skipton — under an hour — and give yourself an hour in town before the bus. The castle, the market on the high street and the canal basin are all minutes from the station, and Skipton is the best place on the route to buy a packed lunch.
Then catch the bus up Wharfedale to Grassington, roughly forty minutes. Sit on the right if you can; the view opens out as the valley narrows.
From Grassington, follow the Dales Way east along the river. It's a gentle, mostly level eight miles to Kettlewell, climbing a little above Conistone before dropping back to the water. If you have time, detour at the start to Linton Falls — a proper limestone cascade, about a mile out and back.
The path is well trodden, but keep the map out. Side paths lead off towards the moor, and it's easy to drift onto the wrong one while you're busy talking.
Kettlewell is small, and its pubs keep country hours: food often stops by early evening, and closures early in the week aren't unusual. Ring ahead before you set off, or carry something for supper. A pint outside after a long walk is one of the better reasons to be here.
Walk north from Kettlewell along the river to Starbotton, then on to Buckden — about three miles, flat, with the Wharfe for company the whole way. Carry on another mile to Hubberholme, where the church of St Michael and All Angels sits beside a bend in the river and J. B. Priestley's ashes are buried in the churchyard. The pub next door is a good lunch stop, but check its hours first.
From Buckden you can climb Buckden Pike, a proper pull of around four miles there and back. The summit carries a memorial to the Polish aircrew whose Wellington crashed on the fell in 1942. Save it for a clear day: the ground is rough and there's little shelter.
Catch the afternoon bus back down Wharfedale from Buckden to Skipton, then the train. Don't cut it fine. Miss the last bus and your options shrink quickly, because the valley is a long way from anywhere on foot at dusk.
If visibility drops, stay low. The tops here are exposed, paths braid and vanish, and a wrong line off the moor costs hours. There's no shame in a valley day with an early finish in a pub.
The Craven Arms at Appletreewick does the sort of thing you want after six miles, with a cruck barn across the yard. The Fountaine Inn at Linton sits right where the path crosses the beck, and the pub at Hubberholme is the natural lunch stop on day two. Grassington and Kettlewell both have cafés for breakfast and shops for supplies, but village shops close early, often by five or six.
Country pubs aren't restaurants with a bar. Phone ahead, ask what time the kitchen stops, and you'll eat well. Turn up at eight expecting a table and you'll be walking home hungry.
Sunday lunches need booking, sometimes days in advance. If you're vegetarian or have an allergy, say so when you ring.
If you're new to hill walking, or you have a heart, lung or joint condition, speak to your GP before taking on the bigger climbs. Two days of walking in the Dales is a moderate undertaking, not a stroll.
Do those checks and the weekend runs itself: train, bus, boots, pub. No car park, no parking charges, no argument about who's driving home.
Photo: Igor Passchier / Pexels
