Middleton Woods and Nesfield from Ilkley
Middleton Woods is the largest ancient woodland left in West Yorkshire, and for about two weeks around late April the whole floor turns blue. Run it then and you will not miss having a summit.
Effort: Short distance, minimal climb
Underfoot: Some uneven or off-path ground
E1·T2 — how we grade routesNo photos of this route yet. Sign in to add one
A 7.8km loop from Riverside Gardens in Ilkley, crossing the Wharfe and climbing through Middleton Woods to the fields above Nesfield before returning along the river past the Old Bridge. 117m of climb and nothing steep.
Middleton Woods is the largest ancient woodland left in West Yorkshire, and for about two weeks around late April the whole floor turns blue. Run it then and you will not miss having a summit.
The route
From Riverside Gardens the route runs east along the Wharfe for a kilometre, crosses to the north bank and climbs away from the water at Curly Hill by 1.3km. That is the only real gradient of the day and it is done inside a few hundred metres.
Middleton Woods
By 1.9km you are into the trees. Middleton, Coppy, Stubham and Hudson woods together form the largest remaining ancient semi-natural woodland in West Yorkshire, 38 hectares of it, left to Bradford Council in 1937 by a wool merchant named Arthur Hentzen. The running is soft and rooty on broad tracks and narrower paths, with stream crossings and a few flights of rough steps. In late April and early May the bluebells are the reason anyone comes, and there is wild garlic, wood anemone and wood sorrel in with them. The high point of the route, 180m, arrives at 2.7km on open ground above the trees.
Nesfield and the river
The route drops west out of the woods to Nesfield at 4.2km, a hamlet of a few houses on the north bank road, then turns back southeast on field paths and riverside track. It recrosses the Wharfe at Ilkley Old Bridge at 7.3km. That seventeenth-century packhorse bridge is the official start of the Dales Way, which runs 78 miles from here to Bowness-on-Windermere, and it is a good deal older than anything else on this route bar the trees. The last few hundred metres follow the river back to the car park.
Who it suits
This is the route to hand someone who has never run off road. It is short, the paths are obvious for nearly all of it, it never gets more than about 110m above the river, and there is a cafe, a playground and a toilet at the finish. It is also the obvious wet-weather or short-daylight option in Ilkley when the moor is a bog.
The woodland paths carry roots, rough steps and stream crossings and turn greasy after rain, which is the main thing likely to catch you out on ground this gentle. Bracken on the valley sides is prime tick habitat from spring onwards, so check afterwards. The bluebell weeks bring a lot of people into a small wood, so keep off the flowers and expect to give way.
Safety on this route
- No signal? Text 999 — pre-register first: text register to 999
- Tell someone your route and expected return time before you head out
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
GPX checked
Distance, ascent and grade are calculated from the GPX file. Nobody has run this one for us yet, so treat the description as a plan rather than a report. How we check routes
About the author
Runner reports
Nobody's logged a run here yet. If you get out on it, a few lines about how it went helps the next person plan their day.
More routes in Yorkshire Dales
MODERATE
MODERATE
HARD
MODERATE
MODERATE
HARD