England · Yorkshire Dales · Premium route guide
Yorkshire Dales Grand Loop
Buttertubs, Tan Hill and Ribblehead: the Dales in one big loop.
210 kilometres of moorland roads, stone villages and cattle grids, starting and finishing in Skipton. The full loop on the map, a GPX built from our own track, and rider-vetted stays nearby.
- Distance
- 210.2 km
- Peak elevation
- 589 m
- Elevation gain
- 2,306 m
- Best months
- Apr–Oct
- United Kingdom · England
- Loop
- 100% paved
The route
A loop from Skipton: up Wharfedale through Grassington, Kettlewell and Buckden, over Fleet Moss to Hawes, north over Buttertubs Pass to Swaledale and Reeth, up Arkengarthdale to the Tan Hill Inn, down to Kirkby Stephen, south through Mallerstang to Ribblehead, then Horton in Ribblesdale, Settle, the moor road to Malham and back to Skipton. Pins are motorcycle-friendly stays other riders have vetted.
1 verified stay within 30 km of the route. Click a stay pin to see details. Know one that should be here?
Works with Garmin, TomTom, BMW Navigator, Calimoto, Kurviger, komoot, MyRouteApp. Import as a track to ride the exact line. Road data from OpenStreetMap (ODbL); elevation from SRTM.
Track vs. route, how to load this into your GPS
What you are downloading is a GPX track, a dense, road-snapped breadcrumb of the exact line, with elevation on every point. It is not a GPX route (a short list of turn waypoints your device re-plans between). Tracks preserve our road choice; routes let the device pick its own way and can send you down a boring motorway shortcut.
How to use it on your navigator:
- BMW Navigator / Garmin Zumo / zumo XT: import as a track, then Convert to Route (or Trip Planner, new trip from track) if you want turn by turn prompts. Keep Recalculation off so it stays on our line.
- TomTom Rider: import the GPX in MyDrive, it loads as a track / itinerary. Enable Follow the exact route so it does not re-plan.
- Calimoto: open the GPX and choose Import as tour, Calimoto follows the track line.
- Kurviger / komoot / MyRouteApp: open the GPX and pick Import as track to keep the road choice. Only choose Import as route if you want the app to re-plan for your bike profile.
- Google Maps / Apple Maps: these do not read GPX. Use the map on this page for turn cues, or import the file into a GPX capable app first.
Rule of thumb: if your device asks "track or route?", pick track to ride our exact line, pick route only if you want the device to re-plan.
Elevation profile
From ~107 m at the base to 589 m at the top, 2,306 m of total climbing across the route.
It is 210 km with about 2,300 m of climbing, around 6 hours of riding. A full day with stops, or a relaxed two days with a night in Hawes or Reeth.
No motorways and almost no A-roads. Most of it is B-road and unnumbered moorland lane.
Why ride it
It takes in the classic Dales roads in one loop: Fleet Moss, Buttertubs, the road to Tan Hill, Mallerstang and the Ribblehead viaduct. Stone barns, dry stone walls and long empty moor tops, with a good pub in almost every village.
Hazards
Livestock, cattle grids, gravel on bends after rain, and narrow lanes with stone walls. Fog on the moor tops can come in fast. Weekends bring cyclists and walkers' traffic around Malham and Hawes.
Fuel
Fuel up in Skipton. On the loop, fuel is sparse: Hawes, Kirkby Stephen and Settle are the reliable stops. Do not head for Tan Hill on reserve.
Best months and difficulty
April to October. Difficulty: moderate. Easy pace, but narrow and exposed in places.
What to see along the way
- Skipton - Start and finish, gateway to the Dales.
- Grassington - Stone market village in Wharfedale.
- Hawes - Wensleydale market town. Fuel and food.
- Buttertubs Pass - Moorland pass between Wensleydale and Swaledale.
- Reeth - Swaledale village green, a classic bike stop.
- Tan Hill Inn - Remote inn on the moor top.
- Kirkby Stephen - Market town and fuel stop at the head of the Eden valley.
- Ribblehead Viaduct - Victorian railway viaduct under Whernside.
- Malham - Village below Malham Cove.
Rent a bike
Rent a motorcycle or scooter for Yorkshire Dales Grand Loop
Flying in? Pick up a bike near the start of the route. We've pre-filled the pick-up city with Skipton / Hawes - change it if you're basing elsewhere.
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Verified stays within 30 km
Automatically selected by proximity to the traced route, no editorial cherry-picking. Sorted by how close they are to the road.
Ridden this road and stayed somewhere great?
This whole directory grows one rider recommendation at a time. Add a stay and it will appear on this guide automatically if it is within 30 km of the route.
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