Parking
Park at Sandholme car park for the Cavendish Pavilion start; designated Blue Badge spaces and accessible toilets are available. The estate admission fee applies to Blue Badge holders.
Overview
About Bolton Abbey Accessible Walk
Why go
- Flat, wide compact-stone path to a dramatic river destination
- Benches and passing places along the route
Heads up
- The Strid has a serious, non-negotiable river hazard
- The core route is a linear return walk, not a loop
You set off from the Pavilion and follow the river upstream into Strid Wood, where the path threads through steep-sided woodland with the Wharfe below. The destination is The Strid, the point where the wide river squeezes into a narrow, fast channel through rock. It is the obvious turning point, and the sound and force of the water are the reason people come.
Parkwolf’s verdictThe walk and the payoffMap & elevation
The route
Loading the Yorkshire Dales map
Full mapElevation117–168 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
Best time to go
Safety
1 active Yorkshire Dales alert
- ClosureTemporary closures on public rights of wayAvoid the listed sections of public rights of way while their temporary closures or pedestrian prohibition are in force. - Public Bridleway No. 52 (05.Official details
The highest, rockiest slopes around here are a summer buffet for grizzly bears.
Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide
Your drive to Bolton Abbey Accessible Walk, narrated.
Parkwolf is a GPS audio tour guide for Yorkshire Dales National Park. As you drive, it chimes in with what’s ahead: hidden gems, upcoming stops, history, geology, and wildlife, right through your car’s speakers.
Recorded for this trailhead
Cavendish Pavilion and Strid Wood0:00 / 0:30
“You're coming up on Cavendish Pavilion, the riverside starting point for two very different walks.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Bolton Abbey and the River Wharfe
- The Barn That Took the Tithes
- The Bridge That Hides a Pipe
- The Marks on the Fleece
- 298 audio storiesacross Yorkshire Dales’s roads, triggered by GPS as you drive
- Wildlife heatmapsfor Eurasian Otter, Atlantic Salmon, Short-eared Owl, and 13 more
- Works offlinemaps, 99 trails, 63 places, and audio download before you lose signal
- CarPlay readysimple controls built for the drive
“Fantastic app with many points of information… It’s great to just turn on while you’re driving and it gives you an audio tour of the national Park. We love it!!!!”
Trail guide
Hiking Bolton Abbey Accessible Walk
The route in shortThis is a linear out-and-back walk beside the River Wharfe, from the Cavendish Pavilion to The…
This is a linear out-and-back walk beside the River Wharfe, from the Cavendish Pavilion to The Strid and back the same way. The official distance is 1.8 km each way, so 3.6 km (2.2 miles) in total, though the physical corridor is measured once rather than doubled.
Surface and gradientsThe core route is graded as an accessible "route for many": compact stone, at least 2 m wide,…
The core route is graded as an accessible "route for many": compact stone, at least 2 m wide, with passing places and benches along the full length. It is mostly flat with some sections up to 1:10. Easy in practical terms, but a stone surface with occasional gentle rises can still feel less smooth than it sounds, so judge it against your own chair, pushchair or walking pace rather than assuming it suits everyone.
Strid WoodStrid Wood is ancient semi-natural sessile oak woodland and an SSSI, with a delicate ground…
Strid Wood is ancient semi-natural sessile oak woodland and an SSSI, with a delicate ground layer that includes bluebells, dog's mercury, ramsons and sanicle, plus mosses, liverworts, fungi and lichens. Woodland birds here include pied flycatcher, wood warbler and goosander, though nothing is guaranteed on any given day. Stay on the trails so the woodland floor is left intact.
The river hazardThe Strid is a genuinely dangerous river feature.
The Strid is a genuinely dangerous river feature. Keep well back from the water and stay on the path, including with children and dogs. This is the one part of the walk that deserves real caution despite the easy grading.
DogsDogs are welcome on the estate.
Dogs are welcome on the estate. Keep them on lead in wooded areas, close and under control, and use a short lead around livestock and from March to July for ground-nesting birds.
The optional extensionA separate red "route for some" continues past The Strid to Barden Bridge, 3.
A separate red "route for some" continues past The Strid to Barden Bridge, 3.7 km each way, on unsurfaced ground with gradients up to 1:6. That is a harder, much less accessible walk and is not part of this route or its stated distance. Treat it as a decision you make at The Strid, not a continuation of the accessible path.
Wildlife
Wildlife in Yorkshire Dales
10 sightingsEurasian OtterMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
11 sightingsAtlantic SalmonMost seen around 7 AMSighting map
12 sightingsShort-eared OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
22 sightingsWestern Barn OwlMost seen around 6 AMSighting map
27 sightingsTawny OwlMost seen around 7 PMSighting map
34 sightingsCommon KingfisherMost seen around 7 AMSighting mapSighting maps show where each species has been reported across Yorkshire Dales. Wildlife moves, so no sighting is guaranteed.
