Trail running near Skipton
48 routes within 15km · free GPX downloads
EXPERT
Skipton Round
You circle Skipton on a huge loop through the quieter country of Craven, linking moor edge, riverside and old field paths that most runners pass through but never string together.
MODERATEEmbsay Crag from Skipton
Embsay Crag is one of those gritstone edges that looks ordinary on the map and delivers something much better in person - proper moor underfoot and a long view across the Dales skyline.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATESkipton Moor from Skipton
Twenty minutes from the station and you're on open moorland with a proper climb under your belt. This is the shortest and sharpest of the Skipton moor routes.
Checked Jun 2026
VERY HARDSkipton 6 Peaks
Six distinct summits in one big day, a proper local challenge that strings together the gritstone crags and moors ringing Skipton.
Checked Jul 2026
EASYSkipton Canal and Stirton
Canal towpath running at its most accessible - flat, surfaced, and direct. Stirton sits quietly 2km south of Skipton and gives the route a reason to go beyond the park.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATESkipton Moor to Bradley and Canal Back
Three distinct sections in one run: moor, village, canal. This is the most satisfying of the Skipton circuits - proper climbing followed by a flat, fast return.
Checked Jun 2026
EASYSkipton Aireville Park and Woods
If you've got an hour and you're in Skipton, this is the run. Park, woodland, canal towpath. Nothing complicated, nothing slow, good underfoot all year.
Checked Jun 2026
EXPERT
Fountains Fell, Pen-y-ghent, Malham and Pennine Way from Skipton
You string together the greatest hits of the southern Dales in one enormous loop: Gordale Scar, the summit of Pen-y-ghent, Fountains Fell and Malham Tarn, all on foot from Skipton.
Checked Jul 2026
HARDSkipton 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.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATESkipton Moor, Cawder Lane and the Canal
Two different surfaces in one short route - open moor underfoot for the climb, then a flat, easy canal towpath to bring you home.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATESharp Haw from Skipton
Sharp Haw looks unremarkable from a distance and then turns into a proper short, steep pull right at the end - a disproportionate amount of summit feeling for a hill this size.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDSkipton Moor, Bolton Abbey and Barden Moor
A proper long day stitching together terrain most runners split into two separate outings. Bolton Abbey woods make a welcome change of scene at the halfway mark.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDSkipton Moor and Farnhill Pinnacle
More rewarding than it looks from the map. Skipton Moor has a real open-sky feel, and Farnhill Pinnacle is a genuinely odd and photogenic landmark.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATESkipton Woods and Canal
Castle woods on the way out, canal on the way back. Skipton has better trail running on its doorstep than most people realise, and this circuit shows it.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDWelcome to Skipton
The full Skipton picture in one run: moor above, canal below, and the Craven countryside in between. A proper long day out from one of the best trail running towns in the Dales.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATESkipton to Malham via Canal and Pennine Way
You start on a flat canal towpath and finish in Malhamdale, with the Pennine Way's National Trail waymarking doing the navigation for you almost the entire way.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDSkipton to Saltaire Along the Canal
Zero metres of climbing over 25.6km means this is pure running, not hill work - a good route for working on pace and distance without terrain getting in the way.
Checked Jul 2026
VERY HARDSalt and Pepper Pots from Skipton
A point-to-point feel on a loop, linking a bustling market town to a wild gritstone edge crowned by two eccentric Victorian towers with huge views to Pendle.
Checked Jul 2026
EXPERTSimons Seat Blast
Simon's Seat is one of Wharfedale's best short climbs on its own, and this route turns the trip up to it into the centrepiece of a full ultra distance day rather than an afternoon out.
Checked Jul 2026
HARDSkipton Explorer
It's the route to reach for when you want proper distance without a mountain attached, running out through genuinely pretty Dales-edge countryside that most visitors drive straight past on their way to the bigger fells.
Checked Jul 2026
EXPERTGrimwith Blast
It links a big day in Wharfedale with the wide-open water and skies around Grimwith, so you get valley running, moorland crossings and a proper reservoir circuit all in one loop without needing a second car.
Checked Jul 2026
HARDBarden Moor from Embsay Reservoir
Big moorland miles and some really nice fast and flowing trails. Covers proper ground without the serious climbing of the Dales fells.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEBarden Moor from Embsay Reservoir (Short)
Open moor with big skies and a reservoir to frame the start. Compact enough for a summer evening run — good tracks throughout.
Checked Jun 2026
HARD
Cononley and Carleton Loop
Two proper climbs in 10km and a train station at the start. It packs more up and down into a short run than almost anything else in lower Airedale.
HARDBarden Moor Long Loop
This loop crosses genuine open moorland with long sightlines over Wharfedale, on access land that's free to roam off the main tracks if you want to vary your line.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATEBarden Moor Short Loop
Half the distance of the long loop but the same open moorland character - a good way to get a feel for Barden Moor without committing to a half-day out.
Checked Jun 2026
MODERATEPinhaw Beacon from Lothersdale
Pinhaw Beacon is a tiny hill with an outsized view, looking into Lancashire one way and the Yorkshire Dales the other, and the trig carries a topograph with a sonnet to the NHS.
Checked Jul 2026
HARDLunds Tower and Wainmans Pinnacle from Crosshills
You get onto the quiet western shoulder of Rombalds Moor, away from the Ilkley crowds, with wide views over Wharfedale one way and Airedale the other for a short, sharp climb.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEBeamsley Beacon from Addingham
The summit carries Bronze Age burial cairns and the wreckage site of a WWII aircraft just south of the trig point - a hill with more history packed into one top than its modest height suggests.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDSimon's Seat from Bolton Abbey
Woodland, waterfall, open moorland, and a gritstone tor — this route packs an unusual amount of variety into one 21.9km day out.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEBolton Abbey Loop
Priory ruins, limestone riverside, and the Strid - one of the most dramatic river narrows in England. This is Wharfedale at its most photogenic.
MODERATEBurnsall and Appletreewick
One of the more relaxed runs in the Dales — gentle underfoot, easy navigation, and two good pubs along the way. The Wharfe is at its limestone best through here.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDBurnsall Half from the Wharfe
You get one of the prettiest stretches of the River Wharfe, the stepping stones and the hump-backed bridge at Burnsall, wrapped into a proper dale circuit rather than a quick there-and-back.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEGrassington Moor and Hebden Circular
The moor above Grassington has layers — wildflowers, curlews, and the eerie ruins of 18th-century lead mines that made this one of England's most productive mining landscapes.
Checked Jul 2026
VERY HARDYorkshire Trod 50k
It strings together several of the Dales' individually famous valleys into a single day, so instead of picking one dale to explore you cross through four or five of them back to back.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEGrass Wood from Grassington
You get ancient ash woodland alive with birdsong and a return along one of the loveliest stretches of the River Wharfe, all from the doorstep of Grassington.
Checked Jul 2026
EXPERT
Ultra Tour Yorkshire Dales 100k
This is the full southern Dales in one enormous self-navigated loop: Malham Tarn, the summit of Buckden Pike, Trollers Gill, Simon's Seat and a string of the prettiest villages in the country.
MODERATEMiddleton 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.
HARDBeamsley Beacon and Lippersley Pike from Ilkley
Two moors and three tops for 514m of climb, starting a few minutes from a station platform. Beamsley Beacon is the last hill of the Yorkshire Dales and the view south from it takes in the whole of Wharfedale with Rombalds Moor filling the far side.
HARDIlkley to Rombalds Moor Loop
Over 400 prehistoric cup-and-ring carved stones are scattered across this moor, and you'll pass several without trying - a working archaeological landscape disguised as an ordinary heather moor.
Checked Jun 2026
HARDIlkley, Rombalds Moor, Roman Road and Addingham
You climb out of pretty Ilkley onto the wide gritstone shoulder of Rombalds Moor, then swing back through the green lower Wharfe valley for a big, varied day close to home.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEIlkley Moor from the Cow and Calf
You run straight up onto the moor of the famous song, past the Cow and Calf crags and out to the Twelve Apostles stone circle, with cup-and-ring carvings scattered underfoot.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEThe Atom Panopticon from Wycoller Country Park
The Atom is a curved concrete shell you can stand inside, and from the doorway it frames Pendle Hill one way and Boulsworth the other. You get both without a long day out.
Checked Jul 2026
EXPERTFountains Fell and Pen-y-ghent from Malham
A full 50km day that strings together the cove, the tarn and two major summits, a serious long-distance challenge through the heart of the Dales.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEMalham Cove, Gordale Scar and Janets Foss from Malham
Three of England's most dramatic limestone features in one run — with a scramble through Gordale Scar that makes most runners grin.
Checked Jul 2026
MODERATEEasy Malham Loop
Two of the Dales' most famous limestone features on one short, almost flat loop, perfect for an easy day or a first taste of trail running in Malhamdale.
Checked Jul 2026
HARDMalham Cove and Malham Tarn
The classic Malham circuit, joining the cove, its dramatic limestone pavement and the glittering tarn into one flowing mid-distance loop.
Checked Jul 2026
EASYGrimwith Reservoir
A rare thing in the Dales: a route you can hold an even pace on from start to finish. The circuit is 100% runnable and there is only 31m between its lowest and highest point.
Checked Jul 2026
Guides to running from Skipton
- Best Trail Runs From Skipton Without Driving: 10 Routes
Ten car-free trail runs from Skipton station, 6.3km to 42km, all with free GPX: park and canal loops, Skipton Moor, Sharp Haw and a run to Saltaire.
- Best Trail Running Routes Near Skipton
Skipton sits right on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales, and you don't need a car to get onto proper trail. The ten routes below all start in Skipton or a short bus ride away, and between them they cover 6.3km to 28.6km and 55m to 714m of climbing.
Running near Skipton
Skipton sits at the southern gateway to the Yorkshire Dales, with quick access to Barden Moor, the River Wharfe and the limestone country of Craven. Routes range from short moor runs to big Dales circuits.
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Common questions
- There are 48 trail running routes within 15km of Skipton on Trail Running Planet, ranging from easy riverside paths to serious fell routes. All include free GPX downloads.