Our favourite books about the Yorkshire Dales (non-fiction)

We love to learn more and more about the Yorkshire Dales, both to find new footpaths, walking routes and places of interest that we haven’t previously explored and to learn as much as we can about this area that is such a huge part of our work and personal life.

It will come as no surprise that we have a large collection of books about the Dales. Here we share some of our favourites, both those that provide great walking routes and others that offer fantastic insight into the area, its history and geology.

The Wild Guide – Lake District and Yorkshire Dales

This is one of our favourite books! It isn’t a walk book but provides loads and loads of ideas for places to explore in the Yorkshire Dales (and the Lakes). The focus is on the less well-known places that you are unlikely to already know about and it covers rivers and lakes for wild swimming and scrambling; woodlands, caves and caverns to explore; ruins, follies and ancient sites to discover; and places to stay and eat that will add to your experience of the Dales.

The images are fantastic, there is great detail on how to find each location and there are enough ideas to keep you going for a lifetime. Every time we open the book we are inspired to get out to one of the places listed!

Day walks in the Yorkshire Dales

This is an excellent walk book for full day walks that tend to be reasonably challenging. It contains a mixture of the more well-known circuits – such as the famous Malham round and ascents of the Yorkshire Three Peaks – and some less trodden routes – Heights of Hazely from West Burton and the ascent of Wild Boar Fell in the Mallerstang Valley, for example.

The directions are clear and easy to follow and the route maps are OS extracts, which, in our opinion, are head and shoulders above any other mapping format used in walk books. The only criticism is that the photography could be a bit more inspiring!

Slow Travel – Yorkshire Dales

Part of the ‘Slow Travel’ series produced by Bradt, the well-known travel guides, the idea of these books is to provide deeper insight into the areas, communities and ways of life of the places they cover.

The book provides great information about the history, geology, nature, food and local customs of the Dales and suggests interesting places to visit and things to do. It’s all done in a very readable style and is likely to teach something new even to those who know the Dales well.

Yorkshire Dales Pathfinder Guide

The Pathfinder Guides must be the most popular walking books out there and therein lies their downside – when doing a walk from this book you will quite often come across other groups of people also clutching a bright green book!

However, they are popular for a reason so it deserves a place on the list – the walks are all excellent, the directions are clear and offer just the right amount of detail and, again, the maps are OS extracts so are clear and easy to follow (and allow you to find a detour or shortcut if necessary). There’s also a variety of lengths and difficulties, so you can find something to suit you whether you fancy an easy stroll or a challenging hike.

The Yorkshire Dales – Landscape and Geology

A fascinating book for anyone with even a passing interest in landscape formation and geology. It is full of detail but written to make it very accessible to an amateur (as we are!). It is full of photos, maps, graphs and charts to ensure that the information is easy to digest and the book doesn’t get too dense.

The history of the landscape and its geology somehow seems more visible in the Dales than in many other areas, I think because of the large areas of exposed limestone and the many places where the landscapes development can be seen in the changing layers of rock, and also because many of the buildings and man-made features are made from local stone so are themselves parts of the geology of the area. It inspires you to find out more about how this landscape came about and this book is a great place to start.

Short Walks in the Yorkshire Dales

A great little book for those that prefer to keep their walks to a few miles long. Some shorter walk books seem to stick to very well-known, often busy routes this book has a great variety, including many options in more remote parts of the Dales where you are likely to have much of the walk to yourself.

The instructions are clear and, again, the maps are OS map extracts, providing the clearest possible assistance for route-finding. The few pages of background on the Yorkshire Dales and advice for walking at the beginning are also more interesting than the average!

All-terrain Pushchair Walks Yorkshire Dales

This book is sadly out of print (and, as you can see from the cover, a bit dated!) but it is easy to get hold of online and is an excellent book not only for those looking for proper, challenging countryside walks with a buggy but also for those looking for accessible routes as, due to the nature of walking with a buggy, they are all routes without stiles or, for the most part, steps.

We found this book particularly handy when we had a toddler and a baby as, while with just a baby you can use a backpack carrier and do just about any walk, with a toddler as well, routes can become limited to short, easy circuits that a small child can manage. However, routes that allow you to take a buggy mean you can also take a buggy board, extending the distance you can travel, as the toddler can hop on the board when they get tired (although some terrain can be tricky with a toddler on a board so they will have to be prepared to get off some of the time!).

If you would like any more information about exploring the Yorkshire Dales or to find out about our walking holidays, please do get in touch.