Parking
Use the Dales Countryside Museum car park in Hawes, at grid reference SD 875 899, as the signed start. The museum has parking and toilets.
Overview
About Hawes Mosaic Walk
Why go
- Twenty community mosaics make the walk feel like a scavenger hunt
- Waterfalls, villages, viaduct and valley views in one long loop
Heads up
- Long day walk with repeated gates, fields and road crossings
- Some mosaics can be easy to miss in foliage
Map & elevation
The route
Loading the Yorkshire Dales map
Full mapElevation225–333 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 Hawes Mosaic 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
Hawes and the Dales Countryside Museum0:00 / 0:28
“You're coming into Hawes, a working Upper Wensleydale market town where shops and cafés sit beside a livestock auction mart.”
Plays as you drive up to this trailhead in the Parkwolf Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- Wensleydale Creamery
- One Cow per Beastgate
- Knitting on the Way to Work
- Hardraw Force
- 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 Hawes Mosaic Walk
The route in shortA long day walk of 10.8 miles (17.4 km) in total, described officially as a circular.
A long day walk of 10.8 miles (17.4 km) in total, described officially as a circular. It begins at the Dales Countryside Museum in Hawes and finishes at St Margaret's Church a short distance away in the village, rather than closing exactly at the car park. Allow about 4.5 hours, or nearer 5 if you want time to track down all 20 mosaics.
Sequence and payoffFrom the museum the walk heads out along the A684 towards Bainbridge, then follows signed…
From the museum the walk heads out along the A684 towards Bainbridge, then follows signed footpaths to Burtersett, and continues by fields and lanes into Gayle. It passes Aysgill Force, climbs towards Faw Head and Bands Lane, drops to Appersett close to the viaduct, then works through Hardraw and Simonstone to Sedbusk before returning over Bellow Hill into Hawes.
The draw is the set of 20 community mosaics built into dry-stone walls along the way, each contributing to a story of Upper Wensleydale. Between them you get waterfalls, beck scenery, field barns, small villages, the viaduct and open valley views.
Difficulty and surfacesRated 5/10, moderate.
Rated 5/10, moderate. Nothing technical, but it is a sustained rural outing with roughly 369 m of ascent and 342 m of descent spread across the day. Underfoot you will meet roads and quiet lanes, stone-flagged paths, grassy fields, gates, wall gaps and footbridges. Expect uneven ground and slippery surfaces after rain.
Access and parkingStart from the Dales Countryside Museum car park in Hawes, grid reference SD 875 899, at around…
Start from the Dales Countryside Museum car park in Hawes, grid reference SD 875 899, at around 54.30441, -2.19281. The museum occupies the former Hawes railway station and has parking and toilets. No permit is needed for this public route.
DogsDogs are welcome on the public rights of way used by the walk.
Dogs are welcome on the public rights of way used by the walk. Keep them on a lead through fields with livestock and on rights of way, use a short lead from March to July for ground-nesting birds, and never come between cattle and calves.
CautionsTake great care walking beside and crossing roads, several sections use tarmac.
- Take great care walking beside and crossing roads, several sections use tarmac.
- Some mosaics can be hidden by foliage in spring and summer.
- Do not damage the mosaics or the walls they sit in, and follow the Countryside Code.
- Gates, livestock fields and wet, uneven ground come with the territory.
If you want something shorterCotter Force makes a much briefer, waterfall-focused outing nearby.
Cotter Force makes a much briefer, waterfall-focused outing nearby. Note that Hardraw Force is a separate paid attraction and is not part of this walk.
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.
