Pennine Bridleway National Trail

Cumbria, Derbyshire, Gtr Manchester, Lancashire, N Yorkshire, W Yorkshire

Opening in stages over several years, the Pennine Bridleway National Trail has been designed specifically for horse riders and mountain bikers and will also form a major new route for walkers. Broadly parallel to but generally lower then the Pennine Way, the full route from Middleton Top in Derbyshire to The Street in Cumbria travels through some of the finest scenery in England, passing through the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks, using old tracks, quiet roads and newly created sections of bridleway.

The first section of the Pennine Bridleway was the 47-mile Mary Towneley Loop, opened in 2002. In 2008, 130 miles of waymarked route were open from Derbyshire to the top of the Mary Towneley Loop, plus the 10-mile Settle Loop in the Yorkshire Dales. The section north of the Mary Towneley Loop was opened in June 2012, with an extension to The Street, just south of Kirkby Stephen. A feeder route from West Yorkshire, the Calder-Aire Link, is open and two more are under construction from the West Pennines at Bolton and the Northern Peak District from Penistone.

Future plans are to extend the Bridleway to Byrness, but this may take some years.

The total 205 miles shown here is made up of five parts: 73.6 miles from Middleton Top to the Mary Towneley Loop, 47 miles of the Mary Towneley Loop, 33.2 miles from the Mary Towneley Loop to the Settle Loop, 10 miles of the Settle Loop, 40.8 miles from the Settle Loop to The Street. It is not possible to do the Pennine Bridleway entirely on foot (or bicycle or horseback) without repeating stretches of both the Mary Towneley Loop (minimum an additional 18 miles) and the Settle Loop (an additional 2 miles). Not included in the total are the link routes Dark Peak Link, Calder Aire Link, West Pennine Link and the Kirkby Stephen Link; nor (for the moment) Charlie's Loop.

New sections of bridleway have been created in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and elsewhere along the route. Please see the detailed route maps which are now available from the Pennine Bridleway National Trail website https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/trails/pennine-bridleway/

The elevation profile shows the bridleway between Middleton Top and The Street and using part the east part of the Mary Townely Loop (168 miles).

FEBRUARY 2023: Lister Well Road near Gisburn Old Road, Pendle, Lancashire.
This stretch of the Pennine Bridleway National Trail, and the footpath alongside it, is in such a poor state that it would be advisable to omit the whole unsurfaced part of Lister Well Road until it has recovered, perhaps not until summer 2023. This can be done by making use of the rights of way which run from SD 8728 4489 to SD 8614 4391 by way of Prospect House and Duck Pond Farm, exiting onto Gisburn Old Road by Star Hall. Note that this shortcut route is not a bridleway. See also Facebook Group 'The LDWA and Long-Distance Paths'.

MARCH 2023:
Closure of the path along the dam wall of Cant Clough Reservoir, Lancashire. A diversion is in place below the dam which includes a temporary horse-riders' bridge over Cant Clough Beck. The diversion is scheduled to be in place until August 2023.
See https://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/en_GB/short-routes/cant-clough-diversion/

The LDWA National Trails Register offers certificates for completers of several British National Trails.

---

Details:

Path Type:	National Trails (England & Wales)
Waymark:	National Trail Acorn
Attributes:	National Trail (England and Wales) Challenging Horse Ride (Multi User) Moorland
Start:	SK274551 - Middleton Top, near Carsington Reservoir, Derbyshire
Finish:	NY738015 - The Street, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria
Open Date:	2002
Web Sites:	Derbyshire County Council - Pennine Bridleway British Horse Society RideMaps - Pennine Bridleway National Trails - Pennine Bridleway Welcome to Yorkshire - National Trails Trailplanner - Pennine Bridleway [blog]

---

Publications, Badges and Certificates:

Route Description - PDF	Pennine Bridleway MTL to Cumbria  (Pennine Bridleway Team  - 2011 )
Certificate	Certificate for National Trails  (Long Distance Walkers Association )
General Interest Book	Big walks of the north  (Summersdale Publishers  - 2010 )
Badge	Badge for National Trails  (Trails Shop )
Certificate	Certificate for National Trails  (Trails Shop )
Guidebook	Cycling the Pennine Bridleway : the Dales stages  (Cicerone Press  - 2012 )
General Interest Book	National Trails : 19 long-distance routes through England, Scotland and Wales  (Cicerone Press  - 2015 )
Other	National Trail mug  (Trails Shop )
Guidebook	Pennine Bridleway: From Derbyshire through the Yorkshire Dales to Cumbria  (Vertebrate Publishing  - 6th May 2021 )
General Interest Book	Tales from the Big Trails  (Vertebrate Publishing  - 2021 )

Click to showhide 6 more Publications, Badges and Certificates

---