The Wheatsheaf in Wensleydale

Carperby to Bolton Castle

Five and a half miles in around three hours across the terraced north side of Wensleydale to the great fourteenth-century keep at Castle Bolton, where Mary Queen of Scots was held, returning by field paths below the moor edge. Steady gradients on green lanes and pasture with one longer pull; park on the wide village street at Carperby by the Wheatsheaf, or at Castle Bolton's own car park if you would rather start there. Sheep and some cattle graze the whole route and the wall crossings include ladder stiles that a dog cannot climb and stone squeezes that a broad one cannot pass, so expect to lift; the castle's own grounds allow dogs on leads and there is a water bowl by the tea room door.