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.
Seven miles and about three and three quarter hours, climbing the old Roman line of Buckden Rake to the waterfalls at Cray, then following a three-mile limestone terrace west to Yockenthwaite before coming back down the Dales Way along the young Wharfe through Hubberholme. Park in the National Park car park in Buckden, which is the only sensible parking in upper Wharfedale; the 72 bus from Grassington terminates here on the days it runs. Cray Gill and the Wharfe both give excellent water and there are safe shallow pools for a swim at Hubberholme, but sheep are on the Rake and the terrace all year and there are cattle in the Langstrothdale fields so the dog stays on the lead; gates handle most of the wall crossings, though the riverside path near Hubberholme has two tight squeeze stiles a broad dog will need lifting through.
Seven miles and some 500 metres of ascent, five hours or so, up Buckden Rake and the old lead mine track to the 702-metre summit, south along the wall to the Polish airmen's memorial cross, then down to Starbotton and back on the Dales Way. The top is peat bog and can be genuinely wet and featureless in cloud; start from the National Park car park in Buckden, the last reliable parking in upper Wharfedale. This is fell walking with sheep on every part of it, and the summit plateau is open access land where dogs must be on a short lead from 1 March to 31 July; there is no water on the ridge at all, so carry your own for the dog and top up at Buckden Beck on the way up.
Five gentle miles in two and a half hours along the floor of Langstrothdale on the Dales Way, past Hubberholme's Norman church to the Bronze Age stone circle at Yockenthwaite, returning on the opposite bank of the infant Wharfe. Almost flat, on grass and stone paths, and one of the few upper Wharfedale walks that stays sensible on a hot day; start at the National Park car park in Buckden. The Wharfe here is broad, shallow and clean with gravel bars every few hundred yards, which makes it the best dog-swimming water in the dale, but the fields are grazed by sheep the whole way and the wall crossings are Dales stone stiles, several of them tight squeezes without a dog gate.
A handsome Georgian inn sitting below Buckden Pike at the head of Wharfedale, straight on the Dales Way and Lady Anne's Way. Dogs are welcome throughout the pub, from the contemporary bar to the snug seating, provided they stay on a lead. Dog-friendly rooms must be booked ahead and carry a charge.
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