Six Dales Trail
long distance footpath in North Yorkshire, England
The Six Dales Trail is a long distance footpath in North Yorkshire, England, with a short section in West Yorkshire. It is 38 miles (61 km) long and connects Otley and Middleham.
The trail is waymarked. It was opened by Janet Street-Porter at the end of June 2010 in conjunction with Otley Walking Festival. It is a project of Walkers are Welcome - Otley.
Route
The route takes its name from the six Yorkshire Dales it traverses: Wharfedale, Washburndale, Nidderdale, Colsterdale, Coverdale and Wensleydale.
From Otley in Wharfedale the trail heads north to Swinsty Reservoir, then follows Washburndale past Fewston Reservoir to the small village of Blubberhouses. From the dam of Thruscross Reservoir above Blubberhouses the trail climbs and descends to the village of Glasshouses in Nidderdale. It says close to the River Nidd to Pateley Bridge. Above Pateley the trail coincides with the Nidderdale Way past Wath and Gouthwaite Reservoir to Bouthwaite near Ramsgill.
“Six Dales Trail” enters the record as long distance footpath in North Yorkshire, England. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dales, Trail and long can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Six Dales Trail” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dales, Trail and long provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7532686. Authority coordinates are 54.118, -1.798. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2010.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Six Dales Trail”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Six Dales Trail primary sources, Six Dales Trail archive and Dales research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Six Dales Trail”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Six Dales Trail” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.