Reservoir Walks
In and around the Yorkshire Dales
Are you looking for Reservoir Walks?
Then you are in the right place because on this page you are going to find all of our family friendly reservoir walks all on the same page!
Reservoir walks are great for so many reasons! Often easy to navigate and packed full of nature, a wander next to water is just what the doctor ordered! All of these reservoirs are either found on the edges of the Yorkshire Dales National Park or inside and you might even find a tarn or two chucked in there for good measure too!
Want to see what takes your fancy? Scroll down the page! Or if you want to check out more family friendly walks, then head to the walks menu above, or at the bottom of the page.
Each walk has its own page, just tap the buttons to head to each one.
The Star Guides
Each of our has been walked by our own 6 feet (in the sense of us being three actual humans, not in a kind of weird monster-like way!) Often, they have been walked several times and sometimes, they have been walked so often that they have been added to. This website has been growing alongside the OG Reluctant Explorers and now they can handle a little bit more - maybe yours can too.
I will say. As parents we know our kids better than anybody. I have done my best to include as much information as I can in each individual walk, so you can make your own judgement as a family. So the star ratings are just a guide to get you started.
⭐ Little Monkeys:
Walks suitable for younger children up to preschool (and beyond!) Shorter length walks with occasional pushchair access, no technical or tricky terrain. Perfect for those who are just getting out of the pushchair (and then back in again… and then back out…. and then… you know how it goes!)
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers:
Walks suitable for pre-schoolers and younger kids. Medium length/ difficulty walks. In these walks, there may be some more challenging terrain, but they are still fairly short.
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers:
Walks suitable for older children. Not necessary longer length, but they are more technically challenging in the terrain, and on occasion the distance as well.
The Walk Emojis
I’m renowned for a heavy used of emojis in my regular life, so why on EARTH should my website be any different?! Here is a guide as to what they all stand for.
Essentially, it’s a brief look at what you can expect from the walk, but in emoji form. (I’m campaigning for a pram emoji. It would make my pushchair friendly walk life MUCH easier.)
👶 Suitable for Pushchairs (see? no pram emoji)
🎒 Suitable for Carriers (that’s a rucksack, not a weird satchel. Closest thing to a kid carrier I could find!)
🚘 Car Park/ On Street Parking (plain sailing there - all of our walks have places to park, although if possible try….
🚌 Public Transport (PLEASE! To try and alleviate parking problems and to just in general be an excellent egg.)
🐶 Dog Friendly (plenty of those!)
🥾 Sturdy Footwear or Wellies (I’d say for most, walking shoes/ boots, for some, wellies)
🛝 A park or play area (I try my hardest to find one, or at least tell you where the nearest one is!)
🦆 Ducks to Feed (bring your duck food!)
🍦 Ice Cream! For Ice cream is truly a WONDERFUL addition to a family walk!
☕ As is coffee (for the adults obviously - I’m not going to subject you to a caffeine fuelled reluctant explorer THE HORROR!) This one means you can find coffee, tea or hot chocolate (ok - that one’s for the WHOLE family!)
🍻 Because I know how a family walk can go, you’ll be relieved to know that I’ll also tell you if there’s a pub at the end!
💦 Water play/ paddle/ swim (Check out our advice on Wild Swimming with Kids and the RLSS Water Safety info)
✨📚 Cool history, geology, something blummin’ awesome to talk about.
👻 Legendary Story. Ghosts, horrible history, witches and trolls!
🌳 Walking Games - they all have these!
Scar House Reservoir
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
📍 Lofthouse, Upper Nidderdale
🥾🚘🎒🌳🚌🐶
📏 4.5 miles
This absolute gem of a walk is located in the middle of nowhere, which means it is starkly beautiful and breath-taking!
I’d go as far as saying that Scar House is my absolute favourite reservoir walk in the Yorkshire Dales (And I REALLY don’t like reservoir walks) This one is remote, has excellent architecture (none of that concrete nonsense) the dam wall creates the most epic of waterfalls in wet and windy weather and it has proper history too!
Best reservoir walk out there.
Swinsty Reservoir
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Washburn Valley, North Yorkshire, near Harrogate
🥾🚘🍦👻💦👶/🎒🌳🚌🐶
📏 4 miles
This is an excellent little wander around the smallest of the Washburn Reservoirs!
It has places to reach the water’s edge, it has ice cream and it has a super little picnic spot at the end! Family walk perfection! Oh and it’s do-able with a pushchair too!
Grimwith Reservoir
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Wharfedale, The Yorkshire Dales, near Grassington
🥾🚘🎒🌳🚌🐶
📏 4.5 miles
This reservoir boasts incredible views across Wharfedale, from it’s elevated position. Plus, it is home to the Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club, so there are often boats to watch too and with part of the reservoir being a designated nature reserve, plenty of wildlife to spot too.
I’m not the biggest fan of reservoir walks (sorry!) but this one really does deliver on the views front!
Fewston Reservoir
⭐⭐ Little Adventurers
📍 Washburn Valley, near Otley
💦🥾👶🍦🌳🚌🐶
📏 4.5 miles
A top reservoir walk that starts and ends with an Ice Cream. And it officially has to be two ice creams (one at the start one at the end!!) It’s a borderline 2-3 star walk, the terrain is easy, so if you take your time, little legs could handle it despite the distance.
Plus you can bring the buggy!
Lower and Upper Barden Reservoirs
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
📍 Bolton Abbey Estate, The Yorkshire Dales
🥾🚘🎒🌳
📏 5.5 miles circular
This walk takes you around both of the stunning reservoirs on Barden Moor, overlooking the Bolton Abbey Estate, it’s wild and it’s remote.
With views to die for!
Embsay Reservoir
⭐ Little Monkeys
📍 Embsay near Skipton
🎒🚘🛝🌳🚌🐶
📏 1 mile
This is a fabulously short reservoir walk perfect for the youngest kids! With bugs to spot and a play park in the village too what’s not to love?!
Semerwater
📍 Raydale, just up from Bainbridge Wensleydale
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
🥾🚘🎒🌳👻✨🐶
📏 5 miles circular walk
This walk takes you all around this legendary lake! And when I say legend, I’m not talking hyperbole! In local folklore, Semerwater was created by a witch who flooded a long-forgotten town which still lies below the water…
Spooky right? You’ll find wild swimming or SUP at Semerwater as well as this super family friendly circular! (Watch out for that angry witch though!)
Malham Tarn Circular
📍 Malham, Malhamdale
⭐ Little Monkeys - ⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
📏 Circular walk, under 2 miles - 5 miles
🥾👶/🎒🚘✨💦🌳🐶
Malham Tarn is the highest natural limestone lake in England and the largest in North Yorkshire! A designated Site of Special Scientific Interest, this walk will take you to the Nature Reserve and round in a circular route taking in sculptures, a bird hide, the ruins of a smelt mill and water sinks.
There is a shorter pushchair friendly route, and also a wheelchair accessible route too with all terrain wheelchairs available to borrow from the Malham Field Centre.
Thruscross Reservoir
📍 Washburn Valley, near Otley/ Harrogate/ Pateley Bridge
⭐⭐⭐ Superstar Hikers
🚘🥾✨👻💦 🚌🐶
📏 5-6 miles
Thruscross is the highest of the Washburn Reservoirs and is an awesome circular route! In dry weather, you may even see the remains of the submerged village of West End.
Now that IS cool to see!
Something in mind? Search our full site!
(e.g. search: Gaping Gill Winch, Kettlewell etc.)
All our Family Friendly Walks on One Map!
What’s that I see? A MAP!?
Yes, that’s right, you guys asked, and here it is. The map of ALL the Reluctant Explorers family walks!
The one you can see is embedded so you can use it straight from the website, or if you’d prefer, you can view it straight in Google Maps, simple tap the link on the button below.
The benefit of using it directly from the website is that when you tap on each individual walk, you will find the page link to each walk, allowing you to jump straight to the walk information!
The map can be filtered as follows:
Family Walks (purple) | Pushchair Walks (pram) | Waterfall Walks (blue) | Walks Under Two Miles (yellow)
For more types of walks (pub walks, woodland walks etc. Head to the menus above where they are all categorised, depending on what you fancy!)
Scroll using the arrows for all our Family Friendly Walks
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![Swimming in Janet's Foss Yorkshire Dales]()
Waterfall Walks
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![Malham cove walk for kids]()
Pushchair Friendly
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![Pinhaw Beacon trig point walk near Skipton]()
Peak Bagging Walks
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![The Park at Greenhow Nidderdale]()
Walks with Play Parks
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![Gordale Scar in Malham Yorkshire Dales]()
Organised by Location
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![Walking in the woodland in Wensleydale]()
Woodland Walks
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![Playing on the shore of Embsay Reservoir Yorkshire Dales]()
Reservoir Walks
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![The ruins of Bolton Abbey]()
Bolton Abbey Estate Walks
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![Leaping over the stile at Almscliffe Crag]()
Walks Under 2 Miles
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![Child walking into a pub in Appletreewick]()
Walks with Pubs and Cafes
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Leave No Trace
The Yorkshire Dales is our home, and the home of so many others who care deeply about this beautiful space.
Should you visit, make sure to:
Take home anything you bring, leave no rubbish behind.
Make the world a better place by picking up any rubbish you see, even if it isn’t yours.
Leave everything else as you found it.