Carlton in Coverdale to Arkleside

Starting point  and OS Grid reference: Village Hall car park at Carlton (honesty box) (SE 069847)		Ordnance Survey Map OL30 Yorkshire Dales – Northern and Central Buy this map from List of OS Maps     Note: If you use OS Maps on-line, you can download this route via this link.
Distance: 8.26 miles	Date of Walk: 5 March 2025
Ascent: Descent: See Walking Time Calculator	1008ft (307m) 1008 ft (307m)
Traffic light rating: (For explanation see My Walks page)
For advice on .gpx files see My Walks page	Click the PDF logo above to give a printable version of this walk without the photos.

To view route as a dynamic Ordnance Survey map click here.

Introduction: This walk explores the beautiful Yorkshire Dale of Coverdale named not surprisingly after  the River Cover which flows through it. There are great views to the south-west to Great Whernside and Little Whernside, craggy Caldberg Moor and Roova Crags to the east and Carlton Moor to the west.

It is as if time has passed the place by. The road through it remains a single track road for miles and is not for the faint hearted!

The route starts on the outskirts of Carlton but you can easily divert to have a more in depth look at the place. It is an attractive, linear village usually known by its full title or Carlton Town to distinguish it from several other Carltons and only marginally differently spelled villages in Yorkshire. A number of prehistoric sites suggest a long history, well predating even the Domesday Book. It has a number of listed buildings and a pub, the Forester’s Arms (recommended).

This walk passes through West Scrafton, again a most attractive and tranquil place. It has appeared in TV episodes of All Creatures Great and Small. Its name may come from ‘Scræf tun’ meaning ‘village near caves’. The mainstay of its economy was and is farming but there has also been a spinning and weaving trade and mining and quarrying. In the 19^th Century, coal was mined at West Scrafton Colliery, about a mile and a half south west of the hamlet. This lasted until 1914.

The route also passes through Arkleside, a tiny hamlet of equal antiquity.

There is little steep ground. Between West Scrafton and Arkleside, the way is across Swineside and Hindlewthwaite  Moors which provide something of a navigational challenges. It is Access Land, so you can wander at will but trodden paths have been created all over the place either by animals or people and sticking to the ‘official’ bridleway can be quite difficult. On the plus side, the surrounding topography makes it fairly obvious that you are going in the right direction and the contours are well spread so there is little ascent/descent apart from the initial modest climb to West Scrafton. However the tufted nature of the grass can make it quite hard going. Where I can, I have mentioned landmarks to help you.

The route starts from the village hall on the outskirts of Carlton in Coverdale where there is an honesty box. In these days of electronic payment, please take some ‘real money’!

There is no particularly easy route to get there. The road from Kettlewell in particular is a stunning drive but as it is single track, it can be hard work especially if you meet anything coming the other way! Drive slowly!  Best advice is to use sat. nav. according to where you start from.

Start: Leave the car park and turn right along the road.

After about a hundred and fifth yards, look out for a public footpath fingerpost on the right  for “West Scrafton via Quaker Lane ¾ mile” (SE 070848).

Follow this track for about two hundred and fifty yards, then turn right by a cottage (Quaker Garth) down a walled/hedged path (SE 072846).

Ignore another footpath off to the right and stay on the narrow enclosed path.

When the path opens into a field, keep straight ahead to a corner of the wall then follow the right hand boundary.

At the corner of the field, turn right. As a point of interest, note the unusual terracing on the fields opposite, shown on the OS map as “Granny Bank”.

Follow the obvious path down towards the river, passing through two walkers’ gates and cross a stream and the river via two footbridges (SE 071842). Keep to the left hand boundary as you walk up the field. You are following the course of the stream.

Follow the path as it turns away from the stream (SE 072841). To begin with it is obvious but as it fades, turn left heading to a walkers’ gate at the top of the slope where there is a two way fingerpost. Keep ahead in the direction of the arrow.

Follow the right hand boundary to the top of the field and at a two way fingerpost, turn right.

Emerge in the hamlet of West Scrafton and turn right along the lane. It is worth spending a few moments having a look around this pretty hamlet but then head out of the village along the road, following the road sign for “Carlton 1 mile”.

You now have about a mile of tarmac lane to follow at which point the it turns sharp right down to Swinside, just after a cattle grid. Here, instead of following the lane, you fork off across the open moor (in effect straight ahead).

After about a hundred and fifty yards, fork left following the sign for “Swinside only 1 mile”.

The path across the moor is faint but you should be able to make out a fingerpost ahead. From this, follow the direction of the arrow. You will see a stone barn ahead. Aim to be a couple of hundred yards to the left of this.

Beyond here, in the absence of GPS, your best friend is likely to be a compass, though you can tell from the landscape that you are heading roughly the right way and the terrain is fairly level. Direction of travel is approximately 198° magnetic. If in doubt, head slightly more west (right) than east (left) because you will meet a fence at which you can turn left to find a gate at SE 060813. This is about a hundred yards to the left of the small plantation ahead.

From the gate, walk roughly parallel with the wall until you get to the end of the small woodland ahead. Here you have to do a bit of a dogleg to get across the steep little valley and stream.

From here the best trodden path and the official Right of Way position seemed to bear little relationship to each other. Best advice is to head roughly south west on the best path but look out for a simple shelter ahead which is your aiming point (see photo). You also pass a fingerpost.

Go through a gate at SE 053800 and continue to follow the obvious path straight ahead (not the one branching right).

Pass through another gate at SE 050796

Close to the shelter, you have to navigate a very steep section down to a stream, cross it (there are rocks) and climb the other side to a gate to the left of the shelter (SE 048795). Through this, turn right down a broad track to Arkleside.

As you approach Arkleside, there is a footpath off to the left which cuts of a small corner but it is worth staying on the main track to see this very old hamlet.

 The mapped Right of Way seems to vary once more to reality, having obviously been diverted to avoid Croft Farm. Continue along the lane and over the bridge where the parapet makes a handy picnic spot! Just after the bridge, turn right to follow a “Hindlethwaite Hall ¾ mile”.

In the diagonally opposite corner of the field, go through a walkers’ gate and cross a stone step stile ahead. Head for the far right corner of the next field and through another walkers’ gate.

Go through the five bar gate on the right then follow the left hand boundary to yet another walkers’ gate where there is a two way fingerpost. Bear right following the direction of the ‘finger’. In the far corner of the field is another fingerpost indicating the way. The path follows the edge of the woods. Cross a stile and the way ahead is obvious.

Reach a broad track (SE 051813) and turn left along it as far as a stone barn. Turn immediately left and cross the river via a footbridge, then turn right to follow the riverbank.

About a quarter of a mile after an attractive stone bridge, there is a path off to the left (SE 054820). This takes you to Gammersgill where my route goes anyway but I thought it more attractive to follow the river a bit further.

At SE 052818 you have to cross a stile on the left then turn right. There is not a path right by the river as the trodden ground appears to indicate.

At SE 056826, the path bears away from the river to Hall Farm at Gammersgill. Go through the second gate just down from the farm in the right hand boundary of the field.

Head for the far left hand corner of the next field and turn left through the gate. Ahead is a fingerpost next to a gate. Go through the gate and turn right along the road for about three hundred yards.

Turn right through a slit stile following the fingerpost for “Carlton 1½ miles via Turnbeck Lane”.

There is a power pole at the far side of the field. Go through the stile alongside it.

Cross a footbridge and bear slightly right to the gate ahead. The route is now a straight line to a road.

Turn left along the road and as it bends left, turn of right through a gated stile following a fingerpost “Carlton 1 mile”.

Follow the right hand boundary of the field and after going through a very narrow gated slit stile, head for the left hand corner of the field and through the stile turn right.

At the end of the field, go through another slit stile and head for the far left corner.

Through another slit stile, head for the gap in the wall opposite to the right of a large barn. There is a fingerpost just to the left of the gap. Follow its direction.

At the far side of the field, turn left briefly along a track then right over a footbridge. Over the bridge and up the far side and you will see Carlton ahead. Keep straight ahead through a walker’s gate and yet another slit stile 

At the far side of the field, join the path which started your journey. Turn left to the road and left again to return to the village hall.

If you need to buy any hiking equipment/clothing before your trip see the Hiking Store

All information on this site is given in good faith and no liability is accepted in respect of any damage, loss or injury which might result from acting on it.