Walking The Yorkshire Dales and it’s finest scenery
A recent stay in Malhamdale in Yorkshire got me to thinking about this gateway to the spectacular Yorkshire Dales, it offers a unique blend of natural beauty and eerie local legends. The local legends are often tied to the “Three Peaks” area, where the rugged terrain serves as a backdrop for tales of the supernatural. Sitting on the Craven Fault, a massive geological rift that exposes rocks over 500 million years old, this ancient foundation is what created the dramatic drops for Thornton Force and the deep abyss of Gaping Gill are some of the finest scenery in the dales.
The three peaks – Ingleborough, Whernside and Pen- Y- Ghent (this later mountain being the shortest – not by much though and still standing at 2,277 feet)These fabulous mountains are collectively known as ‘the peaks’ and form part of the Pennine Range that encircle the valley of the River Ribble in the Yorkshire Dales National Park in the North of England.
If walking isn’t your thing there is plenty more to do here and just pottering around the local villages offers wonderful out of season breaks in this winter wonderland scenery. It’s a bit like Yorkshire and the Cotswolds combined; very chocolate box-like. The little villages and towns have some of the nicest pubs and little country stores on offer dotted everywhere providing the walker, sightseer, shopper or photographer a chance to stop and catch your breath.
All of this is happening beneath the watchful eyes of Whernside (the highest mountain in the Yorkshire dales)and Ingleton (the second highest in the dales) the village of Ingleton nearby is often called the “Land of Caves and Waterfalls.”
Local Legends
Most visitors come for the boots-and-views and the legendary 5-mile waterfall trail or the subterranean wonders of White Scar Cave. But for those of us who prefer our hikes with a side of the supernatural, Ingleton is more than just a limestone playground. Ingleton is a gateway to the spectacular Yorkshire Dales, offering a unique blend of natural beauty and eerie local legends. If you’re staying in the area, here are some historic, leisure, and folklore-rich experiences you won’t want to miss.
Beneath the roar of the River Doe and the silence of the fells lies a landscape thick with boggarts (a supernatural being), giants, and sibling rivalries that ended in more than just a slammed door!
If you venture toward Chapel-le-Dale, just a stone’s throw from Ingleton, you’ll find a sinister-looking limestone sinkhole known as Hurtle Pot. It is a dark, gloomy pool surrounded by overhanging rocks and tangled vegetation.
Local legend warns of the Hurtle Pot Boggart. When heavy rains hit, the water level rises and falls, trapped air causes a terrifying “glutting” or “gurgling” sound to echo from the depths. To the early residents, this wasn’t just physics—it was the Boggart (or the “Fairy Churn”) hard at work. It was said that the sound was the creature drowning its victims or churning the spirits of the deep. Even today, standing on the edge of that black water, it’s hard not to feel a chill that has nothing to do with the Yorkshire wind, and today’s climb was absolutely freezing with the wind blowing at minus 1, it really did blow the cobwebs away but well worth the walk.
Ingleton village itself holds a darker, more human tale of greed. In the 1700’s, two sisters—the Gatenby sisters—were reportedly locked in a bitter feud over their family inheritance.
The story goes that both sisters independently decided to poison the other during their mother’s funeral. In a twist of grim irony, they both succeeded. They both collapsed and died within minutes of each other. Local lore claims they were doomed to haunt the streets of Ingleton for seven years and seven days—exactly the time it took for the legal courts to finally settle the estate they had died for. There is a lovely antique shop in Ingleton with a fine collection of both animal and human bones for sale (there was a sale on these items at the time (2026). I wonder who these bones once belonged to? Mmmm… eerie or what?
Just up the road in Kingsdale lies Yordas Cave. Long before it became a Victorian show cave, it was whispered to be the home of Yordas, a Nordic giant with a penchant for—you guessed it—eating children.
The cave’s main chamber is massive (it can comfortably fit a cathedral), and the booming acoustics only added to the belief that something gargantuan lived within. Whether Yordas was a literal giant or a personification of the terrifying power of the underground floods, his name still hangs over the valley like a mountain mist. magnificent wild cave in Kingsdale with a name rooted in Nordic mythology. It was a popular “show cave” in the Victorian era and is famously associated with the legend of the giant Yordas.
Free to enter for those with proper lighting and footwear, offering a more mysterious, unguided experience. It has a massive main chamber with a natural “throne” formation, containing a hidden internal waterfall that echoes through the dark.
As you walk the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail, keep your eyes peeled in Swilla Glen. You’ll encounter a fallen, gnarled tree trunk literally encrusted with thousands of coins.
This isn’t just modern vandalism; it’s a living piece of “tourist folklore.” Historically, hammering a coin into a tree was a way to “pin” an illness to the wood, asking the spirits of the forest for healing. Today, it has evolved into a wishing tree. Legend says if you can hammer a coin into the bark with a single stone, your wish will come true—but if you ever try to take one out, you’ll inherit the bad luck of everyone who came before you.
Did you know the mother of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes) lived nearby in Masongill? Conan Doyle was a frequent visitor. Some say the local “Holmes” (a name for low-lying land by the river) and the dramatic, misty limestone pavements inspired the atmospheric settings of his stories.
St Oswald’s church, Thornton – in – Lonsdale sits near the start of many local walks and has its own literary and eerie connections.
It’s ancient burial ground and the churchyard is home to centuries-old graves, and local whispers tell of a “Grey Lady” who is sometimes seen walking near the boundary wall at dusk. The current building sits on the site of an original Anglo-Saxon church and was rebuilt in the Norman style by the Mowbray family (a powerful Anglo- Norman baronial family deeply rooted in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire). The church is also famous as the location where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle married his first wife, Louise Hawkins, in 1885, and just across the little road is where he had the wedding reception – you can sit and have a drink in the very lounge area where they celebrated their marriage, The church itself is also locally linked to Emily Brontë, with some scholars suggesting the surrounding parish served as the inspiration for the setting of Wuthering Heights. Walking around here, it’s easy to see why.
Malham Cove and the Vampire of Dent
Malham is a pretty visit and a short walk to the famous ‘Cove’ with its lovely great limestone curve is a must, there are two fine pubs which offer superb accommodation just here. Today we drove from Settle to Malham and then to Dent, this scenic route takes you through some dramatic terrain and wonderful landscape. The Settle-Carlisle railway connects Dent and is the highest mainline railway station in England.
Talking of Dent this little village so quaint and quiet actually calls itself a town, and walking through one forgets all the crazy knitting that used to go on in the area once. It was famous once for a place where wayward children would be sent to learn how to knit and so add to the industry of the town. There are many stories about this and other mad stuff in their local museum which is a mixture of quirky tea, scones and memorabilia gifted by locals in order to keep their heritage and scary stories alive. There is no doubt the village was and still is full of eccentric characters.
One story about a chap named Robert Parrington. This guy known locally as Clockie was .. you guessed it, good at fixing clocks. He was a dwarf and it seems the back of his skull was deformed so he grew his hair long to cover this, he was not able to attend school so his mother taught him all sorts of things including medicine, astronomy, physics and chemistry, he earned a living walking the dales looking for work as a repairer and cleaner of clocks and watches. As a man of many talents he was not a local to Dent, but very well liked by the locals, also singing in the choir (more can be found out about him and other characters in the local museum).
One October day in 1930 he was said to have been suffering from some chest pain, and was found dead in his hammock the next day, he was 63. He was buried soon after in St Andrews church yard. 200 years before this and buried in the same church yard was a chap named George Hodgson, he was 94 when he died, and after living a respectable life in the dales with his family, he too seemed well liked. But after death rumours started – George it seemed wasn’t quite what people had thought of him.
A farmer friend confessed he saw a black hare once, it was moving slowly and as he followed it – it disappeared and was replaced by a man – George! Other’s told stories of him liking a glass of warm sheep’s blood now and again speculated rumours that he was a vampire because after he died there seemed to be a bad smell coming from his grave, along with various ‘nasty’ stories something had to be done.
A local meeting was called and an exhumation was prepared, when George was dug up his skin was said to still be pink, his nails and hair had grown and he looked very much alive although was confirmed dead. It was decided to rebury him but after this drive a brass stake through his corpse to make sure he couldn’t get up again and do his worst.
The legend says that after the brass stake was driven home, the malevolent air lifted from Dent, but the whispers never truly stopped. Whether it’s the ghost of a “Black Hare” shifting shapes in the moonlight, the gurgling hunger of the Hurtle Pot Boggart, or the shadows of the Gatenby sisters still arguing over their ill-fated inheritance, the Yorkshire Dales are far more than just a pretty postcard. This landscape doesn’t just hold beauty; it holds breath, memory, and a fair few secrets buried deep within its limestone ribs. So, the next time you find yourself wandering through the mist of the Three Peaks, listen closely to the wind—you might just hear “Clockie” fixing a phantom watch, or the heavy tread of Yordas the giant coming home for dinner.
Are you ready to walk the line between the breathtaking and the bone-chilling? Subscribe to our newsletter for more deep dives into the UK’s most mysterious corners, or leave a comment below if you’ve ever felt a ghostly presence in the Dales!
Aysgarth falls – within the Yorkshire Dales National park. there is plenty of parking, a visitor information centre and a good cafe.
Places visited on this trip over 2 days – Dent Village Heritage Centre and Museum – The Courtyard Dairy, great for cheese buying, nice pizza cafe too, Austwick – Aysgarth Falls, Yorkshire Dales National Park – Clapham Village and Trial and Cave Walk – Skipton Village (named happiest place to live 2025 Rightmove Survey) Malham Village and Cove – Sedbergh Village, The Winder and The Calf walk, and the lovely Howgill Fells – Carnforth Chapel le Dale, Ribble Valley Viaduct walk
Until next time dear friends x It’s easy to share………
