Bolton Abbey Circular including The Strid | Graham’s Guides

Graham’s Walks	📌
Distance	6.1 miles
Difficulty	Moderate
Map	🗺️
GPX	📁
Graham’s Cafe	Tea Cottage at Bolton Abbey

The Area

One evening, when we were young and had a very small baby, we were at the house of some friends when they asked us whether we’d got a holiday planned. We said that we hadn’t because money was a bit tight at present. They said that they would put their very nice caravan on any site within an hour’s drive, leave it there for a week and come and pick it up at the end. This generous offer meant that we spent a glorious week on a wonderful campsite near Grassington in September, it rained every night but was glorious every day. The colours were glorious and the waterfalls spectacular.

This was in the time before the Internet so we found new places to visit by picking up leaflets. I don’t know, but I’m assuming that on one day one of us picked up a leaflet for this place called Bolton Abbey. We decided to visit, and it’s been a family favourite ever since.

Bolton Abbey has on display, a wonderful combination of natural features and English history. We’ll pass The Strid on this walk which is a unique limestone feature on the river Wharfe, the wood surrounding it has been open to the public since the nineteenth century. The ruins and remaining church of Bolton Priory have been a place of worship since the twelfth century having been donated to the Augustinian canons in 1154. The nearby hall is an extension of the former priory gatehouse, the stones from the ruined priory being reused in many of the buildings in the area. The church remains at the priory because during the dissolution they were able to argue that it was the local church and not a monastery.

The estate is a long standing seat of the Duke of Devonshire, the same people as Chatsworth, although both are now owned by a trust. How the English Dukes and the broader aristocracy got their lands is a fascinating part of English history, how they’ve retained, and lost, them is just as fascinating.

The Walk

I’m going to start this walk from the main visitors car park, shown on the web site as Bolton Abbey Car Park, it’s the easiest place to begin. There are toilets and a small shop in the car park. As you head into the village there’s the choice of a couple of cafes, there’s also a cafe on route (with a toilet) and regularly additional ice cream options. This walk is not short of refreshment options. There are also three parking options, I’ll cover those in the alternatives.

From the car park head into the village, across the road you should be able to see a hole in the large wall with a wooden gate. The other side of the gate the stepped path heads downward across open fields towards the river. Near the bottom, the path heads to the left across the back of the Priory and onto a footbridge.

We nearly always stop on the beach before the footbridge to skim some stones and to take in the swirling powerful waters. Swimming is not recommended here, too many currents.

It can be tempting to explore the Priory at this point, resist, we are coming back that way.

If the river isn’t too high, and they are all in place, there is the option of crossing the river on stepping stones. They run parallel to the footbridge a little upstream. The stepping stones are good fun, but don’t be a hero, if the sign says they are closed it will be for a good reason.

There are several paths that emanate from the far side of the footbridge, we tend to prefer the one that heads steadily upwards which is the righthand option. You will need to climb the riverbank at some point and doing it early gives fabulous views back across the Priory. The other options all rejoin the main path at some point.

There are several great places to take photographs in the section.

From this point on follow the path upstream for several miles. Along the way you will pass the Riverside Car Par on the opposite bank, the Cavendish Pavilion, where there is a footbridge and The Strid. The Strid isn’t particularly visible on this side, but the woods are glorious and the views on the way back are spectacular.

On this walk we will go all the way to the footbridge at the end of the woods beyond The Strid. This is the first footbridge after the Cavendish Pavilion. On the estate map, that they give you when you enter the car park, this footbridge is labelled “Aqueduct.”

Cross the footbridge and then follow the path along the river back towards The Strid which is signposted. The Strid is a fascinating geological feature, be careful though, it can be slippery and you don’t want to fall in it’s regarded as one of the most dangerous stretches of water in the country. According to Yorkshire folklore the foaming waters of The Strid are home to a kelpie.

From The Strid carry on along the river to the Cavendish Pavilion, then alongside the riverbank through the Riverside Car Park. Feel free to stop for refreshments at the Cavendish Pavilion, it’s nice, but it’s not our favourite.

At the end of the Riverside car park you will notice a path heading up towards the village, there’s a fountain at the top. You can’t miss this path, it’s the only one. The views of the Priory are wonderful along this short section.

From the top follow the path along the road, towards the village, until you get to the entrance to the lane down to the Priory. The Priory is well worth an explore. The ruins are fascinating, the remaining Nave is lovely and peaceful, the type of place where you can tell that people have been praying for nearly a thousand years.

The Priory lane rejoins the road just along from the hole in the wall where we started the walk.

If we hadn’t already been, this is where we would head off to the Tea Cottage which is just beyond the hole in the wall. If the weather is fine, we will be sitting outside on a table overlooking the Priory and the river Wharfe beyond. If the weather is less conducive to sitting out, we will be just as happy by a window in the cottage with a very similar view.

Alternatives and Variations

There are obvious ways to extend and to shorten this walk. To shorten it you can cross the footbridge at the Cavendish Pavilion and make your way back from there. To lengthen it you can go as far as the Barden Tower and make you way back from there. You can carry along the Wharfe for a very long way, but only on one side. You can also extend the walk at the beginning by heading south from village. After a short while you will reach Bolton bridge where you can cross over and make your way back up the river to rejoin the path beyond the ruins of the Priory.

There are three primary car parks for this walk. I’ve started from the Bolton Abbey one, we progress through the Riverside one so that’s reasonably obvious. There’s also a car park at The Strid, this is just a short walk from the path, there is another cafe and some toilets here. There’s also a smaller car park at Barden Tower.

We tend to walk the route in one particular direction, as described, but there isn’t any reason why you couldn’t do the walk in reverse, it’s just as picturesque.