Yorkshire Dales Cycleway
The Yorkshire Dales Cycleway (YDCW) is a superb but challenging 210km (130 mile) circular route visiting most of the major dales in the Yorkshire Dales ational Park. It is designed to be started and finished in Skipton, but it can be started at any point, or divided into sections to suit your fitness. Many will find it is ideal for a leisurely six day tour, while others may wish to cover more than one section in a day.Route Info
The Yorkshire Dales Cycleway is a stunning circular tour of the National Park taking in most of the main Dales and many that are rarely visited. It is a tougher proposition than something like the C2C route with a number of challenging climbs, but the stunning scenery and warm welcome make up for this. The route is all on road and is signed with the logo of the National Park – a sheep’s head.
You pass through a string of charming villages and so it is easy to plan overnight stops and find plenty of cafĂ© breaks. The route takes you through the lovely limestone areas in the south of the National Park including famous sights such as Malham Cove and Tarn. You visit lesser known Kingsdale which is riddled with cave systems and climb over a gated road into Dentdale. You can then either follow the extended route taking in the Westmorland Dales or head to Hawes – home of Wensleydale Cheese. The two routes reunite in Swaledale with its fabulous barns and walls scenery.
You will then be heading for the lesser known Coverdale which links back to the Wharfedale valley at Kettlewell. It is then back down the valley for a well deserved finish.
Please note that you’ll need to follow your browser instructions for downloading of GPX files:
- Google Chrome: Right click on the icon, and choose save link as…
- Firefox: Right click on the icon, and choose save link as…
- Safari: Right click on the icon, and choose Download linked file as . . .
- A Microsoft browser: Right click on the icon, and choose save target as…
- For mobile devices, you can use an app such as Trails – GPS tracker for hiking, biking and running to import the GPX files directly into the app.
Once the GPX file has been saved on your computer, use the software provided by your GPS device maker or Expert GPS to load it onto your device.

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Alternative starts:
Ilkley
Downloads
If available, the 'GPX' (or GPS Exchange format) files for each route are text files that can be read by GPS devices as a series of waypoints along each route.