Grass Wood Nature Reserve

A small independent coffee house in the middle of Grassington doing breakfasts, proper hot drinks and cakes. Listed by the regional tourist board as a dog-friendly cafe, so dogs may come in with you rather than waiting outside. A useful first stop before the walk down to the river.

Six and a half miles and about three hours, down the Dales Way beside the Wharfe past Linton Falls and the 1885 Hebden suspension bridge to Burnsall, returning on the far bank and the lane through Hebden village. The going is easy riverside meadow with a few short pulls, though it floods in winter; start from the National Park Centre car park in Grassington, where the Dales Bus from Ilkley and Skipton stops. Sheep graze almost every field and there are stone stiles and step stiles the length of the route, most with a dog hole but a few without; the Wharfe gives shallow gravel entries near Burnsall for a swim, but Loup Scar is a rock gorge with a deep fast channel and no way out.

Three level miles in an hour and a half from Grassington down Sedber Lane to the roaring limestone steps of Linton Falls, on to Linton's green and its packhorse bridge, and back by field paths. The going is easy and mostly surfaced or grassy, though the falls footbridge steps are slippery in wet weather; park at the National Park Centre in Grassington, where the Dales Bus from Skipton and Ilkley calls. A good short outing for a stiff old dog with almost no climbing, and the Wharfe above the falls has quiet shallows for a drink, but the falls themselves are a violent chute with no exit and the field paths carry sheep and a handful of stone stiles.