Dales Way: Bolton Abbey to Grassington

We walked the second leg of the Dales Way a couple of weekends back. Bolton Abbey up to Grassington, ten and a half miles along the Wharfe. Did it on a Sunday and got lucky with the weather.

Here’s the trick that made the logistics easy: drive to Grassington, park up, get the bus down to Bolton Abbey, then walk back to the car. No second car. No taxi. No doubling back. You’re always walking towards home.

Starting in Grassington

We parked at the big National Park car park just outside town — visitor centre, toilets, and it doubles as the bus station, so it’s the obvious place to start. Inside the toilets there’s a sign asking you not to move the lambs, and a little bird had actually nested in one of the holes in the wall, right there above the sinks. Made me smile.

The bus down to Bolton Abbey is the 74, and it doesn’t leave until late morning, so we had time to kill. No bad thing.

Grassington’s a lovely little town. You might recognise bits of it — a lot of All Creatures Great and Small was filmed here. We stopped for a coffee at the Spanish tapas place and just watched the world go by. Morris dancers, walkers, luggage-transfer vans, the odd tractor, and Dales Outdoor, a brilliant old-fashioned walking shop. Proper hustle and bustle for somewhere this size.

The bus down

Then back to the car park for the bus. It’s a lovely ride down through the rolling Dales hills — sit back and enjoy it. We passed Barden Tower on the way — an old ruin where, from the bus at least, it looked like someone was having a glorious wedding.

It was a hot one, so the first thing I did at Bolton Abbey was buy an ice cream from the van near the stepping stones. View of the river, ice cream in hand. Then across the water and onto the path.

Walking back to Grassington

The first stretch doubles up as a kids’ walk — the Welly Trail, I think — with slides, rope climbs, telehandlers, all sorts. After that it settles into what this walk is really about: the river.

It’s riverside almost the whole way. Woodland paths, the Wharfe alongside you, and on a sunny day it’s packed with people making the most of it. We passed grass car parks owned by the Bolton Abbey estate where families were barbecuing on stone flags built for the job (£15 to park a car on the grass) — proper marinated-meat operations, kids running about on the grass in the middle. With all the news about antisocial behaviour lately, it was lovely to see. Heartwarming, even.

A few campsites sit in what look like farmers’ fields along the way — Masons, Grassington, Howgill Lodge. School holidays, so they were rammed.

You cross the Wharfe at Barden Bridge, a handsome old arched crossing, with Barden Tower up on the slope above — the ruin we’d clocked from the bus.

Burnsall is the next village, and a proper riverside one. The Red Lion sits right by the bridge, and it was sizeable and absolutely heaving as we walked past. The grassy bank before the bridge was full of people making a day of it — swimming, fishing, canoeing, generally enjoying life.

Partway along you cross the Hebden suspension bridge, and it’s the bit I keep thinking about. It bounces as you walk over it. Properly bouncy. I loved it.

I’d been clocking all the stepping stones along the Wharfe by this point too, and made a note to look into both when I got home. Here’s what we found.

The bridge went up in 1885, built by a local blacksmith called William Bell from secondhand steel rope bought off the Hebden Moor mining company and paid for by a public whip-round. Before it, people crossed on the stepping stones just downstream — fine in low water, treacherous in flood. It had a central pier once; that came out in 1937 when the span was raised after a flood. So the bounce is sort of the whole point. (Hebden History has the full account.)

And the stepping stones are everywhere because for centuries they were simply the cheap way across. The famous run at Bolton Abbey is medieval — sixty-odd stones laid so the Priory’s lay workers could cross without fording the river or building a bridge (Bolton Abbey Estate tells the story). Bridges like Hebden’s came later, usually after one too many soakings.

From there it’s not far. Grassington edges into view — buildings through the trees — then a short pull up a walled path brings you out at the back of the car park. Leg done.

Practical notes

Parking, the bus and fares are all in the Before you go box near the top of the page.

Food and water: Plenty in Grassington at both ends, a tearoom and ice cream at Bolton Abbey, and the Red Lion at Burnsall roughly halfway. Still worth carrying water and a snack.

The path: Easy to follow, mostly flat, one short climb at the end. The GPX above will keep you right.

Doing the Dales Way in sections

We did this one the weekend after Dales Way: Ilkley to Bolton Abbey, both times from Bolton Abbey campsite. Two sections gets you miles 0–18 of the route up from Ilkley — no week off work required.

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Walked May 2026. Dales Bus timetables are seasonal — always check dalesbus.org for current times.