Dales High Way

May, June and September. What makes this route different from the low level Dales Way is that it spends its days on the tops, so the ground underfoot follows the last fortnight of weather rather than the month on the calendar. Peat moor that is firm in a dry June is heavy going in a wet one. The heather on Rombalds Moor and the high ground colours through late August if you want to time it for that. Come between November and March and treat it as a mountain walk rather than a long-distance path, since Ingleborough and the Howgill ridge can sit in cloud for days and hold snow long after the valleys have cleared.

Most walkers take about eight days, though the route stretches or compresses a fair way either side of that. The official route guide divides the walk into six natural sections, and operators who run it as a supported holiday usually schedule somewhere between a week and ten days. Eight days keeps the daily effort comfortable on a route that is genuinely hilly, with the climb over Ingleborough and the ridge across the Howgills each getting a day to itself. Strong walkers combine two of the shorter sections and finish in six or seven, while anyone wanting time for Malham Cove, Dent and the Settle-Carlisle stations spreads it to nine or ten. Because this is a high route rather than a valley one, plan by ascent and exposure rather than by distance, since the tops slow you down far more than the map suggests. Traileasy carries the Howgills low level alternative alongside the main line, so a plan built around the ridge day can be swapped for the valley version to see whether Sedbergh or Ravenstonedale ends up as the overnight.

It is a demanding walk, and noticeably harder than its length alone suggests. The route is called a high way for a reason, since it takes the tops rather than the valleys, and the cumulative ascent puts it closer to a mountain route than to a typical long distance path. Ingleborough and the ridge over the Howgill Fells are the two big days, and much of the ground between them is rough moorland, tussock and peat rather than a made path. Nothing on the route is technical and there is no scrambling, so the difficulty is about stamina, rough ground and navigation rather than nerve. Hill fitness and confidence with a map and compass in poor visibility count for more here than on a waymarked valley trail, and anyone unsure of those should look at the low level alternatives the guidebook gives for the highest sections.

They are two separate trails that happen to share the Yorkshire Dales and a confusingly similar name. The Dales Way is the older and gentler of the two, running from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere largely along river valleys, and it is popular as a first long distance walk because the going is easy and the navigation straightforward. The Dales High Way runs from Saltaire to Appleby-in-Westmorland and deliberately takes the high ground instead, crossing Rombalds Moor, the limestone country above Malham, Ingleborough and the Howgill ridge. The two come close only around Dentdale, so walking one tells you very little about the other. If you want valley scenery, riverside walking and pubs at regular intervals, take the Dales Way; if you want summits, long views and a real hill day most days, take the Dales High Way.

It is waymarked in places but not consistently, so do not plan to follow signs alone. The route carries its own marker, a magenta crag on a pale blue background, and much of the line follows public footpaths and bridleways that have standard signposts, but the waymarking thins out badly on the open moorland and along the Howgill ridge where you need it most. Carry a map and compass as well as the route on your phone, and be ready to walk on a bearing if cloud comes down on Ingleborough or above Sedbergh. The official route guide includes strip maps and is the usual companion for the walk. Because the crag waymarks are the weak point rather than the paths themselves, having the line itself to hand is what counts: the free Traileasy app keeps your planned route on the phone across those open moor sections, and the same route downloads as a GPX file for a watch.

Both ends sit on the railway, which is one of the route's real conveniences. The walk starts at Victoria Square in Saltaire, a few minutes from Saltaire station on the line out of Leeds and Bradford, and finishes by the Moot Hall on Boroughgate in Appleby-in-Westmorland, which has its own station on the Settle-Carlisle line. Most walkers ride the Settle-Carlisle back south at the end, and since the route shadows that line for much of its length the journey retraces the walk in reverse past Ribblehead and Dent. That same railway is what makes the trail easy to break into separate trips, because Settle, Ribblehead, Dent, Garsdale, Kirkby Stephen and Appleby all have stations within reach of the route. Check for engineering works before you rely on it, since weekend closures on the Settle-Carlisle are common and worth confirming close to your dates.

Not as of right. England has no general legal right to wild camp, so unlike most of Scotland, pitching a tent along the Dales High Way needs the landowner's permission. In practice, discreet camping high on the fells is often tolerated if you arrive late, leave at first light, pitch out of sight of houses and roads, take everything away and light no fire, but that is tolerance rather than permission and a farmer can still move you on. The Yorkshire Dales National Park authority grants no blanket permission, and the lower ground along the route is nearly all enclosed farmland where camping is clearly not on. Most people walking it with a tent use the campsites and camping barns in the villages instead, which also solves water and resupply, and those are worth booking ahead in high summer.