Our drawing of the route, over road and path data from OpenStreetMap. It shows where the walk goes and what it goes through. It is not a survey and not a navigation aid — carry OS Explorer on the hill.
Five miles and around three hours out of the quietest village in the Dales, climbing sharply onto the limestone shoulder of Hawkswick Clowder for a long view down Littondale, then dropping to Hawkswick and returning by the field path along the Skirfare. Start on the green at Arncliffe, where there is free roadside parking and very little else; there is no bus worth planning around, so this is a car walk. Littondale is hard-working sheep country with lambing from March so the lead stays on the whole way, and be warned that the Skirfare sinks underground in summer and can be bone dry, leaving nothing for a dog to drink; the climb uses gates but the riverside return crosses a run of the narrow slotted stone stiles typical of Littondale, several too tight for a big dog to pass without being lifted.
Four and a half easy miles in a little over two hours up one side of Littondale to Litton and back down the other, on level meadow paths beside the shallow River Skirfare with barely any climbing. Start on the wide green at Arncliffe by the Falcon Inn, where roadside parking is free and the dale is quiet enough that you may not meet another walker; there is no bus. Littondale is a working sheep dale from end to end so leads are needed throughout, and the wall crossings are classic Dales stone stiles, some very narrow indeed; the Skirfare runs dry in places in high summer but there are pools by the stepping stones, and note that the ford below Litton is impassable after rain.
An ivy-clad, wonderfully unmodernised inn at the top of the Arncliffe village green, still serving beer from a jug and famous as the original Woolpack of Emmerdale. Dogs are welcome, and there is seating both inside by the fire and out on the green. A natural halt on the Littondale walks.
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