Aysgarth Falls and Bolton Castle Loop

The route

Start at the Aysgarth Falls car park and drop down to the River Ure, where the Upper, Middle and Lower Falls step down over wide limestone shelves for the best part of a kilometre. The path follows the river through Freeholders' Wood before climbing gently out of the valley on field paths towards Castle Bolton. You gain height slowly here, on grass and stone track rather than open fell, so it never feels like a proper climb even though you're 100m above the river by the time the castle comes into view.

Bolton Castle

The castle itself is the turning point: a genuinely imposing 14th century fortress that once held Mary, Queen of Scots as a prisoner for six months. You don't need to go in to appreciate it from the run - the approach across open pasture gives you the full silhouette against the fells behind. From here the route swings back south, dropping through more farmland and rejoining the river a little downstream of where you started.

Why it works

At 10.4km with only 151m of ascent, this is one of the easiest routes on the site, and that's exactly the point. It's a genuine trail run rather than a road route - proper riverside paths, farm gates, some mud after rain - but the effort required is low enough to use as a recovery day, a warm up before something harder in the Dales, or a first proper trail outing if you're coming from road running. The falls are at their most dramatic after heavy rain, when the whole river seems to be moving at once, and quietest early on a weekday morning before the coach parties arrive.

Getting there

Wensleydale is well served by the Little White Bus network if you'd rather not drive, and the National Park car park at the falls has toilets and an information centre. Combine this with Penhill from West Witton a few miles up the dale if you want a harder day either side of it.