Pateley Bridge · 7 checked

Dog-friendly walks in Pateley Bridge

Boots on. These are the Pateley Bridge walks worth the drive, with lead rules and livestock warnings marked.

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2.4 MI · LOOP

SOME LIMITS

Bewerley Grange Chapel and the Nidd

Pateley Bridge · HG3 5HW

2.4MILES

1:15TIME

60mCLIMB

80%OFF-ROAD

Livestock — leads on

Two and a half miles over the river and round the hamlet of Bewerley, an hour and a quarter, flat riverside meadow and a short lane climb into the village with a handful of gates and one stile. Start from Southlands car park at the bottom of Pateley Bridge high street, pay and display but cheap, and the number 24 bus from Harrogate stops on Nidd Walk a minute away. The fifteenth-century Grange Chapel sits behind a gate in the village and is worth the two-minute detour; the meadow between the bridge and Bewerley carries sheep for most of the year, so leads on there, but the Nidd below Pateley Bridge is shallow, gravelly and perfect for a dog to lie down in on a hot day, and the riverside path stays passable through winter although it will be muddy.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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6.1 MI · LOOP

SOME LIMITS

Gouthwaite Reservoir Circuit

Pateley Bridge

6.1MILES

2:39TIME

100mCLIMB

60%OFF-ROAD

Livestock — leads on

A six-mile lap of the reservoir that fills the floor of upper Nidderdale, out along the quiet Wath Road on the west bank to Ramsgill and back down the eastern shore on the Nidderdale Way, with barely 100 metres of climbing and about two and a half hours of walking. Start from the small roadside car park above Wath, a mile north of the Sportsman's Arms; the summer Sunday DalesBus 821 also runs up the dale from Pateley Bridge. Gouthwaite is a Site of Special Scientific Interest full of wintering wildfowl and the shore fields are grazed, so dogs stay on the lead the whole way round and should not go in the water.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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5.8 MI · LOOP

SOME LIMITS

Guise Cliff & Yorke's Folly

Pateley Bridge

5.8MILES

2:43TIME

240mCLIMB

85%OFF-ROAD

Livestock — leads on

Five and a half miles and about two and three quarter hours, climbing out of Bewerley through Skrikes Wood to the two stone pillars of Yorke's Folly, then along the gritstone edge of Guise Cliff past the hidden tarn before dropping to Glasshouses and the riverside path home. Start at the stone bridge in Pateley Bridge where there is a long-stay car park and the Nidderdale bus stops; the climb is 240 metres and the edge path is rocky and slippery when wet. Sheep graze the moor edge and there are unfenced drops of 30 feet and more along Guisecliff, so keep dogs on the lead across the top and save the off-lead time for the woodland and the river.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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7.5 MI · LINEAR — PLAN THE RETURN

SOME LIMITS

Nidderdale Way: Pateley Bridge & Brimham stretch

Pateley Bridge

7.5MILES

4:00TIME

300mCLIMB

85%OFF-ROAD

Livestock — leads on

A classic stretch of the 53-mile Nidderdale Way circuit: roughly 7.5 miles between Brimham's gritstone outcrops and Pateley Bridge via the old lead-smelting hamlet of Smelthouses and Fell Beck. Expect moor, pasture and riverside on well-marked paths with some stiles. Sheep graze most of the route and there are ground-nesting birds on the moor, so keep dogs on a lead at all times and a short lead from March to July.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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3.1 MI · LOOP

SOME LIMITS

Pateley Bridge to Glasshouses Riverside

Pateley Bridge

3.1MILES

1:18TIME

40mCLIMB

85%OFF-ROAD

Livestock — leads on

A flat three-mile hour-and-a-quarter loop down one bank of the Nidd to the weir and old flax mill at Glasshouses and back up the other, with only 40 metres of rise and a firm, largely surfaced path that stays walkable through a Nidderdale winter. It starts at the stone bridge in the middle of Pateley Bridge, with the pay-and-display car park and the bus stands both a minute away, and the Nidderdale Museum and half a dozen cafes at the finish. This is the pick of the valley for an old dog or a buggy; the riverside fields are grazed so leads are needed through the pasture, but there are shallow gravel beaches where a dog can safely wade.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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5.4 MI · OUT & BACK

SOME LIMITS

Pateley Bridge to Wath along the old railway

Pateley Bridge · HG3 5PH

5.4MILES

2:30TIME

90mCLIMB

90%OFF-ROAD

Off-lead allowed Livestock — leads on

Five and a half miles there and back up the dale on the trackbed of the old Nidd Valley Light Railway and the Nidderdale Way, two and a half hours, level and firm the whole way with no stiles and no climb. Start from Southlands car park in Pateley Bridge and follow the river upstream past the recreation ground; the 24 bus from Harrogate and Ripon reaches Pateley, but nothing runs on to Wath, so this is an out-and-back by design. Because the railway trackbed drains properly this is one of very few Nidderdale walks that stays clean through January, dogs can be off lead along most of it, and the Nidd runs alongside for a mile with several shallow places to get in; sheep graze the fields either side of the track, so recall needs to be reliable.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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1.4 MI · OUT & BACK

SOME LIMITS

The Coldstones Cut from Toft Gate

Pateley Bridge · HG3 5JQ

1.4MILES

45mTIME

55mCLIMB

95%OFF-ROAD

A short mile and a half there and back to the great spiral viewing sculpture above Coldstones Quarry, forty minutes, on a stone footpath that climbs about forty metres in the first five hundred and is firm underfoot in any weather. Park free at the Toft Gate Lime Kiln car park on the B6265 two miles south-west of Pateley Bridge, and note there is no bus this high up; the sculpture itself is open daylight hours and free to enter. Dogs are welcome on lead throughout, and the lead matters here because the sculpture sits on the lip of a working quarry with real drops behind the walls; the ground is exposed moor with no shade and no water, so this is a walk for a cool day rather than a July afternoon.

VERIFIED 29 JUL 2026 VIEW WALK ›

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Cottages you can book near Pateley Bridge

Real dog-welcoming cottages from our booking partner holidaycottages.co.uk — live prices, booked on their site. Booking through these links supports Wagfinder and never changes the price you pay.

Ivy Cottage Lindley Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £578

Bay Tree Cottage Pateley Bridge Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £845

Birchwood Stable Cottage Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £428

Hawthorn Cottage Yorkshire Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £447

Prospect Lodge Halifax Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £453

Clover Cottage Osmotherley Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £479

Number 2 Bank Top Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £484

Havercroft Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £485

Whisper Cottage Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £520

Lavender Cottage Helmsley Yorkshire · dogs welcome 7 nights from £521

Keep exploring

Walks in Harrogate Walks in Ripon Walks in Knaresborough Pubs in Pateley Bridge Restaurants & cafés in Pateley Bridge Stays in Pateley Bridge All of Pateley Bridge

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