The Dales Way runs for 80 miles (128 km) from Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales to Bowness in the Lake District. The route heads north through Wharfedale, crisscrossing the river, and rises over high moorland to pick up River Dee through Dentdale. Briefly it joins River Lune before heading west across the Lake District to Bowness-on-Windermere.

Along the Way, you'll see impressive railway viaducts and fine stone bridges; Bolton Priory and many small churches; limestone scenery with stone walls, barns and kilns; and heritage centres and churches. Above all, the route is blessed with many small villages with a range of accommodation and welcoming pubs at strategic intervals. Gradients are modest and most people will complete it comfortably in 6 or 7 days.

This guidebook has all that a walker needs, and has been updated for 2026 with many route updates, full details of the Watershed Alternatives and new route mapping at 1:40,000. It features concise, up-to-date directions, background on geology, railway heritage, farming and wildlife, contacts for accommodation and transport and a feature on religion including Bolton Priory and Quakerism. The text is supported by 140 glorious colour photos, all packaged in a rainproof, rucksack-friendly format.

In terms of presentation and robustness, it has no peer. Full-colour throughout, it is (rather like the trail) a visual feast. … This is an excellent addition to the library of guidebooks.

A comprehensive and concise guide to this wonderful walk and I am sure that you will gain many appreciative readers (not least due to its compact and lightweight construction!). I plan to take your book with me on my next trip to Yorkshire.

Author Peter Stott was ‘born and raised in Wharfedale’ and he is certainly very knowledgeable about the area. … The practical advice is thorough and sound. The accommodation and facilities section was very detailed as was the travel planning section and safety notes. There are picturesque, relevant photographs of places along the route.

This is a very good example of how much information you can fit into a small package. Very helpful with local history of the route and also every type of place to stay along the way.

This is a very good example of how much information you can fit into a small package. Very helpful with local history of the route and also every type of place to stay along the way.

After a long career in education, information technology and academic publishing, Jacquetta Megarry took up long-distance walking and trekking late in life. After completing the West Highland Way, her first long walk, in 1998 she progressed to Mount Kilimanjaro, which she has since summited four times by different routes. She founded Rucksack Readers in 2000 and is the author/coauthor of 27 of its guidebooks, several of them award-winning.