#brimhamrocks

⛰️ BRIMHAM ROCKS WALK FROM PATELEY BRIDGE VIA THE NIDDERDALE WAY

🥾 This is one of Nidderdale's finest days out, a nine-mile circular from Pateley Bridge that climbs up to the extraordinary rock formations of Brimham Rocks before returning gently along the River Nidd. It packs a great deal into its length, from a ruined hilltop church to a Victorian viewing platform, an old waterwheel, a former mill and a striking piece of public art near the finish.

🧭 Starting from the Nidderdale Agricultural Society car park in Pateley Bridge, the route heads up through the town and joins the Nidderdale Way, passing the ruins of Saint Mary's Church and The Rock viewing platform on Panorama Walk. It carries on through Knott, Tiplady Farm and Blazefield to White Houses, then climbs to Brimham Rocks itself before dropping down through High Wood to Smelthouses, Low Laithe and Glasshouses, following the Six Dales Trail beside the river back to Pateley Bridge.

📋 The walk is around nine miles, or fourteen and a half kilometres, with about 1,240 feet of ascent, and it takes roughly four and a quarter hours at a steady pace. It is a circular route in Nidderdale, and the recommended map is the Ordnance Survey OS Explorer 298. There is parking in Pateley Bridge at the start.

🪨 Brimham Rocks are a remarkable collection of balancing rock formations on Brimham Moor, some standing nearly thirty feet high, cared for by the National Trust within the Nidderdale National Landscape. They were shaped over a vast span of time as millstone grit was worn away by water, ice and wind, and many of the shapes have been given names such as the Sphinx, the Camel and the Dancing Bear.

🌄 Along the way you will pass the Oldest Sweet Shop in England, the ruined Church of Saint Mary the Virgin with its ancient yews, and The Rock, a platform first surfaced for Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. There is an old overshot waterwheel and a preserved blue police box at Tiplady Farm, the great stone bulk of Glasshouses Mill by the river, and the Pillars Past sculpture near the finish, three sandstone figures honouring the mining, farming and monastic history of the dale.

🌿 With dramatic rocks, rich history and easy riverside walking to round it off, this is a route that rewards a full day out in the heart of Nidderdale. Full directions, a map and plenty of photographs are on the page below.