Settle

Settle is a market town in Ribblesdale on the southern edge of the Yorkshire Dales, with 2,564 residents at the 2011 census according to Wikipedia. Its market charter was granted by Henry III in 1249, as the town’s visitor site records, and Wikipedia says the market is still held weekly, on Tuesdays. The station is on the Settle to Carlisle line, which Northern Trains operates between Leeds and Carlisle, and the Settle-Carlisle Railway site dates the first passenger trains over it to 1 May 1876.

Why base here

The case for Settle is the timetable, not the town’s own paths. Nothing this site lists starts in Settle itself, but two of the best-known outings in the Dales begin in villages that the town reaches without a car. Pen-y-ghent, at 694m the lowest of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, starts from Horton in Ribblesdale, which the visitor site puts 6 miles north of Settle and which has its own station on the same line. The Malham Cove circuit starts in Malham, 6½ miles east. The line is also worth knowing for its own sake: closure notices were posted in 1984, and on 11 April 1989 the Transport Secretary, Paul Channon, announced that consent for closure would be refused, on Wikipedia’s account. Settle suits a visitor who wants the railway to be the transport; it is the wrong base for anyone who wants a path from the door.

On foot versus by car

Pen-y-ghent starts at the pay and display car park on the northern edge of Horton, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority gives Horton station as close to the start, so the 10.6km circuit can be reached from Settle by train; check that the service you want calls at Horton before building a day around it. The Malham Cove circuit, 7.2km round, starts at the National Park Centre car park in Malham, and DalesBus lists daily buses to Malham from Settle station. Ingleborough starts from the village car park at Clapham, and DalesBus lists the Craven Connection 580 series, which calls at Settle, Clapham and Ingleton, as running Monday to Saturday. Within Settle there is the market and the Castleberg crag above it; the rest of the hill walking needs a train, a bus or a car.

Practicalities

Northern Trains serve Settle on the Leeds to Carlisle line, and Horton in Ribblesdale and Ribblehead are the next stations north. DalesBus publishes the bus timetables for the Dales, including the Malham service and a Monday to Saturday route from Settle station to Clitheroe. By car, the three Settle car parks are pay and display, and the national park authority operates the car parks at Horton in Ribblesdale and Malham, both pay and display with public toilets open 24 hours a day.