Skipton Moor, Cawder Lane and the Canal

The route

This route leaves Skipton and climbs onto Skipton Moor (also known locally as Embsay Moor, the same upland shared by both names), follows Cawder Lane down off the high ground, and finishes by joining the Leeds and Liverpool Canal towpath back towards town. At 9.8km with 267m of ascent, it's a short route, but the variety of surfaces makes it feel longer than the distance suggests.

The moor and the lane

The climb onto Skipton Moor is the main effort here, on tracks that are clear but can run soft after rain. Cawder Lane drops you back down through farmland, a stretch of quiet, rural lane running between drystone walls before the route meets the canal. The contrast between the open moor at the top and the enclosed, hedge-lined lane on the way down is one of the more interesting features of an otherwise short run. Embsay Moor itself is common land, used for rough grazing, so expect sheep on the open section and keep dogs under close control as you cross it.

The canal

Once you're on the towpath, the character of the route changes completely - flat, firm, and easy to follow, with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal's slow water for company. This is a popular stretch with cyclists and anglers, so it's worth keeping pace and courtesy in mind rather than running flat out through the busier sections near town.

Why it works

This is the route to reach for when you want a proper taste of Dales-edge moorland without the time commitment of a longer loop, finished off with an easy, sociable canal mile that lets you cool down properly before you're back in Skipton. It's also a good route for newer trail runners in the area - short enough to manage comfortably, varied enough to be genuinely interesting, and close enough to town that there's no excuse not to fit it in before work.