Buckden Pike is one of the better-known fells in the Yorkshire Dales, it is also one of ‘The Dales 30’ – a set of 30 mountains within the Yorkshire Dales and Cumbrian Dales which are over 2,000 feet.
Buckden Pike sits at the head of the Wharfedale Valley above the small village of Buckden. It is the second highest peak in the area, standing at 702 metres / 2,303ft high. Only 2 metres shorter than the highest peak Great Whernside.
Conveniently, for a small village there is a Yorkshire Dales National Park car park – Grid Reference – SD 9412 7740. Charges apply from 6am until midnight. We opted for the full day parking option for £5. There is also a handy public toilet, which at the time of writing this you don’t have to pay for, unlike most other public toilets in the dales…always a bonus!
The Route:
There are multiple routes to summit Buckden Pike, our walk is probably the easier of the routes which started from the left-hand side of the car park, through the gates to the bridleway. This bridleway is signposted ‘Buckden Pike’ and ‘Cray High Bridge’. Follow the bridleways stony track, which is an obvious track, making sure to keep the stone wall to your left.
After approximately 15 minutes of walking, you shall meet a gate in front of you with a footpath sign on the right for ‘Buckden Pike’ (note: the footpath is through the gate). Walk through this gate and follow the less obvious, yet well-trodden, grassy path that takes you through the middle of the field until it meets the gate on the next wall.
Walk through this gate and continue on this path, you will pass through four more styles/gates. After the last gate, the next section of the climb is the toughest part of the walk due to its steep incline. The steep climb also consists of some stone steps. Make sure you take a break and turn around to see the amazing view of the Wharfedale Valley behind you.
Continue up, keeping the stone wall on your left until you reach the trig point at the top. The trig point indicates you have reached the summit of Buckden Pike.
Opposite the trig point you will see a ladder style over the wall. Ignore this style, as this takes you to land which the National Park are trying to preserve due to erosion. Instead continue on the footpath that has been created on the righthand side of the wall signposted ‘War Memorial’.
You will come across two more ladder styles on this section of the walk, climb over this, and continue along the footpath keeping the stone wall on your left.
Shortly the war memorial will come into view, you will notice that this is on the opposite side of the wall to the path you will be walking. You shall reach another ladder style on the left which takes you over the wall opposite the war memorial. Take this ladder style.
The war memorial is to commemorate the death of five out of six Polish airmen who were on a training mission in a Wellington Bomber when they hit a bad snowstorm and lost control of the plane on the 30th January 1942. The plane crashed at the spot of the war memorial. The war memorial was built by the survivor in 1973, some of the remains of the plane can be seen in the base of the War Memorial. You can find out more regarding the incident here – www.buckdenpike.co.uk
From the war memorial continue on the footpath to the right until you reach a gate in the wall where the wall sharply turns right. Walk through this gate and follow the path descending to Starbottom, which will soon be in sight.
Once in Starbottom make your way to B6160. Once on the B6160 walk left out of the village in the direction of Kettlewell. After a couple of minutes, you shall see a footpath on the right signposted ‘Arncliffe, Kettlewell and Buckden’. Take this footpath which will lead you down to the River Wharfe.
When you reach the river, cross the bridge, and follow the Dales Way bridleway to the right. Follow this bridleway (through a couple of gates and a style) until you reach a junction in the path. Take the path that goes to the right with a footpath sign indicating ‘Dale Way’. Follow this footpath along the course of the River Wharfe, you shall soon see Buckden in the distance.
When approaching Buckden the path brings you out onto a narrow lane, Dubb’s Lane. Walk through the gate onto Dubb’s Lane and turn right, walking over the bridge and up the lane towards Buckden. The car park where the walk started is up past the village shop on the left.
Please Note: That there are 3 ladder styles on the top of Buckden Pike, which dogs may find difficult. Due to the stone walls, there is no other way for the dogs to get over the wall. Elderly dogs or dogs with bad joints may struggle and may need to be lifted over these styles.
Refreshments are available at the village store as well as at The Buck Inn which is situated at the heart of the village.
