Skipton to Pinhaw Beacon and Back via Pennine Way and Canal
Pinhaw Beacon is the high point of the Pennine Way's opening stretch out of Edale, and this route takes you up to it and back without needing to commit to the rest of the trail.
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Mostly on runnable ground, but most runners still walk the steepest climbs.
A loop from Skipton along the canal and Pennine Way to Pinhaw Beacon, the highest point on the Pennine Way's southern stretch in the South Pennines. 28.6km, 444m of ascent, returning by a different line.
Pinhaw Beacon is the high point of the Pennine Way's opening stretch out of Edale, and this route takes you up to it and back without needing to commit to the rest of the trail.
The route
This loop follows the Leeds and Liverpool Canal out of Skipton, climbs onto the Pennine Way and pushes on to Pinhaw Beacon, then returns to Skipton by a different line. At 28.6km with 444m of ascent, the distance is the main challenge - the climbing is real but not severe, spread across a long, steady approach rather than one hard pull.
To the beacon
The canal section is flat and quick, a good warm-up before the Pennine Way takes over and starts climbing through Craven's farmland towards Thornton-in-Craven and Lothersdale. Pinhaw Beacon sits at 388m in the South Pennines, just outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park boundary, and the summit is marked by a trig point and toposcope. The Pennine Way's waymarking is consistent the whole way, so even though you're climbing onto open moorland near the top, navigation stays straightforward.
Lothersdale
The Pennine Way drops through Lothersdale on its way past Pinhaw, and the village pub, the Hare and Hounds, sits right on the trail with a beer garden that's hard to pass by without stopping. It's a useful staging point roughly midway, whether you're using it as a turnaround marker or just clocking it for next time.
Access and hazards
The moorland section near the beacon falls within grouse shooting country, with the season running from 12 August to 10 December and no shooting on Sundays. There's no shortcut if you misjudge your pace on a route this long, so it's worth being honest with yourself about fitness before committing to the full distance.
Why it works
This route works as a genuine long-distance test that still starts and finishes at your car - you get a real taste of the Pennine Way's character, a proper summit with a view back over Craven and into the South Pennines, and the option to turn around early at Lothersdale if the full distance isn't on the cards that day.
Grouse shooting runs 12 August to 10 December (no shooting on Sundays) on the moorland approach to the beacon. On a long loop like this, fatigue on the return leg is the main risk - pace the outward half conservatively.
Summits on this route
Leave No Trace
- Leave nothing but footprints, take nothing but memories.
- Please respect the countryside and all its inhabitants.
- Dogs on leads near livestock, and around ground-nesting birds from March to July.
- Gates as you find them — open or closed, leave it that way for the farmer and the next runner.
- Take it all home — wrappers, peel, tissue, the lot. It doesn't count as biodegradable if you can still see it.
- Stick to the path where the ground either side is wet, planted, or nesting habitat.
Common questions
Run by us· last checked June 2026
Jason Millward has run this route and written it up from the ground. How we check routes
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