A 30-45 minute circular walk from The Swan Inn to play Pooh Sticks on the River Aire.
Wander past some historic sites in the village before heading out to maybe see Redshanks, Lapwing and Curlew on the floodplain of the River AIre. The gatekeeper for Skipton Castle used to live here – I wonder if there is a key anywhere?
Accessibility: this walk is on unmade footpaths including styles and narrow bridges. It is unsuitable for buggies or wheelchairs.
An exhilarating and enjoyable half hour (or more if you dawdle by the river) walk around Gargrave village. The village greens provide an excellent opportunity to be able to get up close and personal with the River Aire. Our walk starts at the Summer Seat at the bus stop on the High Street before taking you past the iconic Dalesman Cafe (do stop off for tea and scones) and into the village to the old Sanitary Laundry! Late Iron Age/early Roman skeletons were found on your route, although they may not have ranted as much as the Methodists.
Back to the River Aire and you have options over the stepping stones or alongside the river before meeting up again before returning to your starting point.
Accessibility: This walk includes two sets of stepping stones. These require confidence and balance (and the river level to be low enough) They can be avoided by crossing the river using the bridge both ways. The rest of the walk is on pavements and the grass greens.
You can travel to Gargrave by bike along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from Skipton. The 580 bus connects the village to Skipton, Settle and Kirkby Lonsdale and trains connect to Leeds, Bradford, Settle and Carlisle. Alternatively, travel by car along the A65. There is a small free car park at the bridge and more within the village.
A 5km easy stroll through spectacular scenery along the river and the Leeds/Liverpool Canal.
Start and finish at The White Lion pub (got to be good), past the site where there has been a church for over 1000 years (no typo!), along the magnificent canal built by hand in 1773. Look out for alien invaders and the return of otters before crossing one of the oldest bridges on the river, built in the early 14th century (although it replaced an even earlier one).
Accessibility – mostly unmade paths with a number of slopes and a couple of stiles. Bikes are not allowed on riverside paths. Unsuitable for wheelchairs, etc
Spend and hour or so exploring the River Worth, so often hidden from view in Keighley.
Starting at Ingrow West station, you will walk part of the route of it taking in a series of viewpoints and riverside paths. Dragonflies and damselflies may be seen hunting over the water. Kingfishers can be glimpsed waiting in overhanging trees watching for fish. So every so often pause, listen and look. There is more wildlife on this lovely river than you might imagine.
You’ll find Dalton Mills on your way by the River Worth, once the largest textile mills in Yorkshire, employing over 2000 workers. Everything from Peaky Blinders to Downtown Abbey has been filmed there.
Accessibility – this walk includes riverside footpaths, many of which are unmade and muddy. It has several flights of steps.
Keighley town centre can be easily reached by train and bus.
Starting at Bingley Arts Cente, this hour long walk takes you through Myrtle Park to Harden Beck, where you cross the river to return via Holme House and Bell Bank Woods. The home of the Airedale Terrier and 17th and 18th Century bridges are on your route. Look out for the plentiful river life as you walk – if you are lucky you might see an otter or kingfisher.
Accessibility – this walk is over mostly unmade paths with a number of slopes and therefore not suitable for wheelchairs, children’s buggies, etc
This walk is in Apperley Bridge, Bradford.
Starting at the location of a bridge across the river that was there a thousand years ago, this one hour loop starting and finishing at Apperley Bridge takes you past 14th Century pub, Bradford City’s training grounds, a disused airfield and railway station and wildlife galore.
As you walk along riverside paths, look out for herons, kingfishers and, if you’re really lucky, maybe an otter too.
Fish and otters swim in the water, birds fly over it, but John Wroe couldn’t walk on it!
You will need sturdy shoes and we are sorry but this walk is not suitable for buggies or wheelchairs.
Easy public transport links.
Start this 5km circular walk along the River AIre starting in the grounds of Kirkstall Abbey, a weir built here in the 1100s was one of the earliest built on the river and allowed stone to be floated downstream for building. See if you can spot a salmon coming back from Greenland to find somewhere to spawn, thanks to the fish passes we have built on the river. Stop off for a bit of shopping en route before you join the goitside walk and maybe even discover the platform where Hindus and Sikhs from all over the North come to dispose of their loved one’s ashes in the traditional way.
Accessibility – unsuitable for wheelchairs, pushcairs, etc unless sections are missed. See notes at the end of the walk
Starting from the one and only Leeds Bridge, this lunchtime stroll will show you lots of interesting aspects of the river that formed Leeds.
Did you know that the world’s first moving picture was shot here? That herons and kingfishers are regular visitors and that there is a video of an otter having a crafty look into the old Tetley’s building? That Leeds Minster has existed in some for or other since around 600AD? Or that salmon have already been caught below Leeds?
What was once described as ‘a reservoir of poison, kept for the purpose of breeding pestilence in the town’ is now a vibrant blue corridor bringing life back to the city.
Accessibility – All this route is on pavements and avoids steps.
Transport links: The starting point of this walk is easily accessible by train and bus, with Leeds station a 7-minute walk away. Car parking is available in Brewery Wharf Car Park or Trinity Leeds Car Park. Spend a pound to take one of the yellow water taxis (Twie and Drie) that run between Leeds Armouries and the train station.