Grassington

Grassington is a market town and civil parish in Upper Wharfedale, with 1,126 residents at the 2011 census according to Wikipedia, grouped around a small cobbled square. A royal charter for a market and fair was granted in 1282, lead mining brought prosperity from the early seventeenth century, and the Yorkshire Dales Railway opened to Threshfield in July 1902 and closed in September 1930, with a station on the west side of the River Wharfe that was never in Grassington at all.

Why base here

Wikipedia calls Grassington the main residential and tourist centre in Upper Wharfedale, and DalesBus puts the National Park Centre on Hebden Road beside the main bus stop, with Linton Falls and a riverside walk by the Wharfe a short walk away. The town also stands on the Dales Way between Ilkley and Bowness. That is the case for it: the shops, the services and the river. It is not a case built on the hills: Malham Cove is 10.4km away in a straight line and Buckden Pike 14.5km, so a week here is a week of travelling to the hill.

On foot versus by car

The Malham Cove circuit begins at the National Park Centre car park in Malham, in the next valley across the moor, and the DalesBus pages for the two villages each list buses from Skipton without naming one that links them, so plan on a car or on going round by Skipton. Buckden Pike begins at the village car park in Buckden, further up the dale, and DalesBus has the 72B minibus running on beyond Grassington to Kilnsey and Buckden. For a walk from the door there is the path to Linton Falls and the Dales Way, both of which DalesBus describes.

Practicalities

Skipton is the nearest station, and DalesBus lists the 72 as the bus from there to Grassington. The town has no railway now; Wikipedia records that the Campaign for Better Transport wants the Skipton to Grassington line reopened to passengers. DalesBus also runs the 874 from Wetherby, Leeds and Ilkley through Grassington and on up the dale to Buckden, and in summer the 875 and 876 from York and Leeds on to Hawes; DalesBus publishes the days each one runs. The B6265 is the road through the town. Check DalesBus before building a day around any of them.

Who this base does not suit

Anyone without a car who wants Buckden Pike has only the bus up the dale. Kettlewell is the nearer base for it, and for the limestone circuit of the cove, Gordale Scar and Janet’s Foss on foot from the door, Malham is the better choice.