More Yorkshire Dales - Hikes, Labyrinths, Rocks, and Ruins

Alana Puskarich
Oct 9
3 min read

I could have happily hung around the village of Hawes for the entire duration of our stay, but there were quite a few side trips we wanted to do.

On one day the whole family went to the Forbidden Corner. We didn’t really know what this was until we got there, something about a labyrinth that the kids saw on a brochure. But it seemed fun.

This turned out to be the most whimsical experience I’ve ever seen!

Tunnels, chambers, rooms of many doors that led to dungeons or towers or secret fountains or hidden gardens. We lost my parents no less than six times in this four-acre magic fun land. There were challenges to complete, obstacles to avoid and tiny doors to squeeze through. We laughed a lot, and I would totally do it again.

There were fun water obstacles all over the place!

The following was a particularly difficult exit to a tunnel that started out as a dark path in a dungeon that got shorter and narrower until an adult would have to be on their knees and turn sideways to shuffle out. I ended up behind an older British woman, who was a good bit larger than me, as she got to this exit. There was no small amount of colorful and creative uses of the King's English as her family had to take her by the arms and pull her out the narrow opening. About this time, I yelled to my parents to "abort, go back!" Which, they wisely did.

On another day Tom and I hiked the Ingleton Falls Trail. My parents and the kids stayed in the village and I'm pretty sure ice cream and a playground featured strongly in their day.

They missed out because this hike had it all: forest, stream, so many waterfalls, a money tree, open fields, cliffs, gorges and no less than three ice cream stands at perfect intervals. I think our trails in Virginia are really missing an opportunity!

Then we had a side venture to York, where Dad, Lucy and Sammy climbed the ramparts and explored the city a bit.

While they took in some regular history, Tom, Mom, Jimmy and myself went to the York Dungeons.

This was a unique (and funny) actor-led interactive history experience that took us through the dark stories of York’s past. Basically, if Monty Python made a horror house, this is what I think it would be like. It’s probably not for everyone, but we enjoyed it!

We did have some truly excellent Chinese food, while in York.

Then we had a wonderful afternoon at Brimham Rocks. These rocks are a series of huge rock formations, and some of them resemble familiar creatures with names like Dancing Bear, the Gorilla, the Eagle and the Turtle.

This might have been our kids favorite thing we did in the Dales because the rocks here were so much fun to climb on. They are coarse sandstone, which makes them ready easy to grip and cling to, you are almost able to Spiderman climb the sides.

The kids kept making me more and more nervous as they gained confidence in their climbing...

And lastly, as we headed southeast toward our next stop of Wales, we paused at the lovely Bolton Abbey. On this site are the ruins of the 12-century Bolton Priory, as well as the church that holds services still. There are also miles of walking trails that criss-cross the River Wharfe with stepping stones and bridges and fun obstacles that ran alongside.