Hawes Accessible Walk

This is an out-and-back walk of about 750 metres each way, so roughly 0.93 miles round trip, and most people take around 45 minutes with the steep start, a pause at the rest area, and normal stops. We score it 3 out of 10: easy and short, but not flat and not right for every wheelchair.

Start from the Hawes National Park car park beside the Dales Countryside Museum, walk through the village, and cross Gayle Beck. Just after the bridge, turn left onto the cobbled footpath signposted to Gayle. The path climbs, then settles into stone flags between dry-stone walls, with pasture opening out and the surrounding hills filling the skyline. You finish at the official turning area on the approach to Gayle and return the same way.

The first 70 metres or so after the bridge are cobbled at a gradient of about 1:7, which is the hardest part of the day. After that the path is mostly about a metre wide, laid with stone flags, with gentler gradients up to about 1:10 and a rest area roughly halfway. There are no stiles along this stretch. Stone flags and cobbles get slick in wet weather and the surface is uneven in places, so flat-soled shoes are a poor choice.

The route is not suitable for manual wheelchairs because of that steep cobbled opening. Powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters may manage it, and the rest of the path is comparatively gentle once you are past the cobbles. Part of the walk runs through Hawes, so you will be crossing or walking alongside a public road before you reach the field path. If you want a level waterside outing instead, Cotter Force nearby is the better pick, though it is a separate walk rather than an extension of this one.

Ordinary dogs are welcome on these public rights of way. Keep them on a lead on rights of way and around livestock, use a short lead from March through July for ground-nesting birds, and stay on the path.

Use the Hawes National Park car park at the Dales Countryside Museum on the site of the former station. There are public toilets including a RADAR facility, plus designated Blue Badge bays. Town-centre pay-and-display parking is an alternative if the main car park is full.

Expect livestock in the fields, so close gates behind you and give animals room. The walk is village and farmland in character, so come for stone flags, beck, walls and hill views rather than anything remote.