Parking
Informal roadside lay-by on the B6479 just south of Selside, near Ribbleshead; space for about four cars. The nearest toilets, including RADAR facilities, are at the National Park car park in Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
Overview
About Sulber Nick Accessible Walk
Why go
- Stile-free track with broad limestone views
- Suitable for robust all-terrain wheelchairs
Heads up
- Rough grass, exposed bedrock and short 1:6 gradients
- Very limited roadside parking
The track is stile-free and well signposted, but the surface is grass and bare limestone rather than anything smooth, and short gradients reach 1:6. This is realistic for a sturdy 4x4 all-terrain wheelchair or for someone with a confident assistant, and less realistic for an everyday manual or lightweight powerchair. Elevation along the corridor rolls between roughly 287 m and 367 m, so expect steady undulation rather than one long pull.
Parkwolf’s verdictSurfaces, gradients and who it suitsMap & elevation
The route
Loading the Yorkshire Dales map
Full mapElevation287–367 m
Plan your hike
Before you go
Parking
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 Sulber Nick 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 area
The Tracks to Thorns0:00 / 0:33
“Near Selside, the ruined hamlet of Thorns was once a meeting point for tracks across the fells. Records name it in 1190 as land belonging to Furness Abbey; by the early sixteenth century, six farm tenancies stood here.”
Plays on the road 1.3 km from the trailhead in the Parkwolf Yorkshire Dales Tour Guide.
More stories near here in the app
- When Hull Pot Becomes a Waterfall
- Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Pen-y-ghent
- The Zigzags at St Oswald's
- Ribblehead Viaduct
- 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 Sulber Nick Accessible Walk
The basicsThis is an out-and-back, signed as one of the park's Miles Without Stiles routes.
This is an out-and-back, signed as one of the park's Miles Without Stiles routes. The stored corridor runs 2.97 km from the roadside start to Sulber Gate, and because you return the same way the official figure is 6 km / 3.7 miles round trip. Allow 2 to 2.5 hours if you want stops and time to pick your line over the rougher patches. The park grades it red, a route for some, and we call it moderate overall.
How the walk unfoldsYou start from the lay-by on the B6479 just south of Selside, with a short crossing of a road…
You start from the lay-by on the B6479 just south of Selside, with a short crossing of a road that can carry fast traffic, so take care getting onto the Pennine Bridleway approach. The going begins on good tarmac, then changes to a grassy track once you pass through the gates and into the Ingleborough National Nature Reserve. From there it is a well-defined track over grass with exposed bedrock, at least 1.5 m wide, climbing gradually through Sulber Nick to Sulber Gate. Turn around at the gate and retrace your steps.
Views and geologySulber sits in the heart of limestone country.
Sulber sits in the heart of limestone country. Looking around from the track you get Crummack Dale below, the limestone pavements of Long Scar, and Moughton, where juniper grows among the rocks. On clearer days the skyline gives you Pen-y-Ghent, and further off, Pendle Hill.
Flowers and livestockLate spring and summer bring the limestone grassland into its own, with early-purple orchid,…
Late spring and summer bring the limestone grassland into its own, with early-purple orchid, wild thyme, rockrose, bird's-foot trefoil, limestone bedstraw, harebell and small scabious. Cattle graze here, so keep dogs under close control around livestock and be ready to give animals room on a narrow section of track.
The optional extensionAt Sulber Gate you can follow the fence east to a perpendicular wall and loop back, but that is…
At Sulber Gate you can follow the fence east to a perpendicular wall and loop back, but that is a different proposition: rougher grass with an undefined path, across open-access land where local restrictions, including possible dog restrictions, may apply. It is not counted in the 6 km figure. If you are not sure of the ground, the there-and-back to the gate is the better call.
Parking and facilitiesInformal roadside parking at the start takes about four cars, and there are no facilities there.
Informal roadside parking at the start takes about four cars, and there are no facilities there. The nearest toilets, including RADAR facilities, are at the National Park car park in Horton-in-Ribblesdale, which makes a sensible stop before or after.
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.
