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.
Three miles and a little over an hour and a half round a worked-out limestone quarry that has gone back to nature, with turquoise pools, old kilns and a rubble waterfall that only runs after heavy rain; the tracks are firm and it stays walkable in winter when the river meadows are under water. Park on Skirethorns Lane on the western edge of Threshfield, a short walk from Grassington and its bus links. This is one of the few places round Grassington with no sheep in it, so a steady dog can be off the lead on the quarry floor, but the pools are the catch - far deeper than they look, bitterly cold and rimmed with loose scree - and the linking field paths back towards Skirethorns are grazed and carry two narrow wall stiles that a big dog will need help with.
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.
Eight and a half miles and about four and a half hours along the Dales Way terrace above Wharfedale to the rock knuckle of Conistone Pie, then down the narrow limestone slot of Conistone Dib, which needs a short scramble on polished rock, and back by the river past Ghaistrill's Strid. Start at the National Park Centre in Grassington, where the car park is large and the 72 bus from Skipton pulls in alongside. Lea Green is unfenced ancient pasture full of sheep and the riverside meadows are grazed too, so keep the dog on the lead; the Wharfe gives a good drink and a safe paddle at Ghaistrill's Strid, though the Strid itself is deep and fast and no place for a swim, and the wall crossings on Lea Green are narrow stone squeeze stiles that a broad dog will not get through, while the Dib needs a dog that can be lifted down a short polished-rock scramble.
One of the largest broadleaved woodlands in the Dales, an ash wood on limestone terraces a mile up the lane from Grassington. Dogs are welcome but must be on a lead throughout this Yorkshire Wildlife Trust reserve, which shelters rare woodland flowers. Public footpaths and a well-surfaced access track, though steep and rocky in places and slippery when wet.
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