Guisecliff and Nidderdale

Nidderdale lies outside the Yorkshire Dales National Park but has the status of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (National Landscape). It was recognised as a worthy landscape in the 1950s (when Britain’s first national parks were created) but did not achieve formal designation as an AONB until 1994. One of the landscape features which earned the area such recognition is its ancient woodland, and Guisecliff Wood is one of the best examples. The area round Guisecliff Tarn is shown as consistently wooded on old Ordnance Survey maps from 1854 onward. Today, it’s an enchanting environment of gnarled oak trees and moss-draped boulders.

Not all of the present wood has an unbroken history, as areas were cleared in the past to allow access for quarrying. Parts of Guisecliff Crag itself were quarried on a small scale, and there are several other disused quarries scattered around. There’s little visible evidence of quarrying as you walk through the woods today, but soon after Guisecliff Tarn you join a level track across the hillside. In some places it’s built up on a small embankment, while elsewhere it’s incised into the slope. This track was clearly engineered to take heavy traffic such as laden carts.

After this, the walk makes a steep climb before emerging onto the moor near a radio mast; a much larger quarry lies just to the south. In the 19th century quarrying dominated this landscape. Much of the terraced housing in Pateley Bridge and Glasshouses was built for the quarrymen and their families. Stone was transported to Harrogate via a railway which reached Pateley Bridge in 1862. It closed to passengers in 1951 and to freight in 1964, but the boom years for the quarries were already long gone.

Near the radio mast an alarming sign warns of deep crevasses. If you associate crevasses with glaciers this is perplexing, but there are some deep fissures in the rocks near the edge of the crag and a few further back. It’s possible that these are due to masses of rock shifting bodily. This may have happened when blasting took place nearby during the years of active quarrying.

Although the path runs quite close to the crags, you’re hardly aware of the drop unless you venture out to the edge – but then it’s sudden and absolute. If you have a good head for heights, the edge offers terrific views over Nidderdale.

Walk down the road. There are good verges at first, but take care lower down where the road narrows between walls. On a left-hand bend below the steepest section, turn right on a track opposite a footpath sign.

Follow the track past High Westcliffe and Far High Westcliffe then out through a gate into a field. Go ahead to an old gatepost, and then bear slightly left to follow a track to a gate into woodland.

Follow the track winding through the woods and out into another field. Stay with the track until it bends left again, then turn sharp right along the lower edge of the field to another gate, with a gap-stile alongside, back into the woods.

Follow the path ahead, between holly trees and on through the woods. Another path comes up from the left; keep ahead here, slightly uphill. Ignore another track leading off left and follow the main path as it curves right then forks. Take the right-hand fork towards large boulders; just beyond these you will see Guisecliff Tarn.

Return to the fork and turn right to continue uphill. The path soon swings left and runs fairly level across the slope. Approaching the edge of the woods, the path bears right and soon goes up the hill.

Climb the hill, keeping close to a wall on the left, past a quarry and towards a telecoms mast. Go through a gate left of the mast, ahead a few paces across a track, then turn right along the enclosing fence. A sign here warns of dangerous crevasses, so take great care. Follow the fence round, then turn left alongside a wall. Go over a stile and continue. Before long you will see one of the crevasses on the left. The path continues to be safe enough but sometimes runs close to similar holes which are partly hidden by vegetation, especially in summer.

The wall isn’t continuous but the path is easy to follow. There are a few branches off to the right, which visit the edge of the crags. The views are impressive but the drop is considerable.

Continue until the path alongside the wall reaches moor on the left at a stile. Continue along the path, following the wall then cutting off a corner to a gate near Yorke’s Folly. Pass just right of the folly and follow the path downhill back to the start.