This ride takes in beautiful countryside and one of our most ancient rights of way, the scenic Mastiles Lane.

 

THIS wonderful 13-mile horse riding route takes you into Malhamdale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, is of medium difficulty level and will take about four hours.
It includes the ancient right of way Mastiles Lane, and is one of several bridleway routes researched and featured by Ride Yorkshire. To find more rides, in addition to useful information about equestrian events visit rideyorkshire.org

Step by step

1. Ride along Skirethorns Lane from the opposite direction from where you came in. After 200m, turn right at the crossroads. Ride up the lane for 1.6 miles, passing Wood Nook Caravan site.
2. Where a bridleway crosses the lane, turn right and ride over grassy pasture to the brow of a hill and then down, following the blue pole waymarkers. Kilnsey Crag is ahead in the distance. The track is grassy but clear. It is gradually channelled between stone walls which towards the end are used for cattle pens - beware, there are several gates here.
3. As the stone walls open out again turn sharp left (passing an interpretation sign) to ride almost back in the direction you have come, this time along the other obvious track. This is Mastiles Lane, used for 2,000 years by Romans, monks and drovers. Continue for 2.5 miles, ignoring bridleways to the left, to a fingerpost pointing towards Lee Gate, three quarters of a mile. (Mastiles Lane continues straight ahead.) Turn left through the gate.
4. Ride along a field edge. Please ride sensitively if there are sheep with lambs. You will join a track, and the large sheds of Lee Gate Farm appear. As you approach the farm, bear right through a gate onto a stony track which becomes a tarmac lane, keeping the farm on your left. Continue down the lane for half a mile, passing the entrance to Park House on the left, to a clear bridleway turning to the left. Take this track. At the top is a tall thin stone monument. You are now at Weets Top. Go through the gate to see two tracks leading across the moor signed Bridleway Hetton and Bridleway Calton. Take the left track.
5. Ride across Hetton Common and down the hill (watch out for mountain bikers here). To your right is the deep gully called Whetstone Gill, with the Winterburn Reservoir ahead of you. At the bottom of the track cross Hetton Common Beck at the head of the reservoir, then bear right and continue up the other side on a sandy track. At a gate with a five-way fingerpost sign, turn sharp left to follow the obvious track signed Bridleway Threshfield. This is mostly grassy, with some boggy patches - do watch out for rabbit holes at the top of the hill. The track becomes stony, more narrow and rutted, and leads to a gate. Ride onto the road, and turn left.
6. After just 100m, turn right along a clear track - finger post marked Public Bridleway Moor Lane Threshfield. After about 50m, the track forks.Take the fainter track to the left , and ride across the moor - the track is faint at times, but always obvious. You will reach a gate with a fingerpost. Follow the sign towards Threshfield. After about a mile, the grassy track bears left to a gate, after which you are on a section of stony track for just 400m before joining a tarmac lane. Turn left here and ride along to the crossroads at the end of Skirethorns Lane. Turn right and return to the quarry.
l Note: If you look at the OS Map, there are several options to shorten the route - including turning left at Lee Gate Farm and riding through Bordley to return along the lane to Skirethorns Lane.

 

FACT FILE

Area: Malhamdale, Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Distance: 13 miles (21km)
Duration: Four hours.
Level of difficulty: Medium
Parking: Skirethorns Lane, north of Threshfield on the road to Conistone.
Gates: Many 
Terrain: Quiet roads, stony tracks and open moorland.
OS Map: OL30 Explorer
Refreshments: None on route.