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The green networks of the Yorkshire Dales are the many walking routes, cycling routes and public transport services that provide access to this beautiful area.

It is well known that visitor traffic is a major source of pollution and environmental degradation, so any way in which these impacts can be reduced by leaving the car to walk or cycle, or best of all by coming to the Dales by train or bus and using the excellent Dalesbus network, the more the Yorkshire Dales will benefit.

But a great reason to walk, cycle and use local transport is that is by far the best way to fully experience the Dales – to see, hear, feel and be fully aware of this wonderful landscape. Buses allow you to do undertake linear walks, along a dale or over a ridge, without the tedium of returning to a parked car. Weekday and even Sunday DalesBus services provide essential local transport for Dales people. By using local buses you are helping to financially support and protect the life of the countryside.

Train services to the Dales carry cycles, and some DalesBus service even permit the carriage of cycles, but bus and train users can also hire bikes, for example at Settle and How Stean in Upper Nidderdale.

Sustainable Tourism, which truly respects the special environment of the Dales, is not dependent on private car access. What is sometimes called “active travel” is about using muscle power: walking and cycling, including the walk to the bus stop or train station.

But Green Networks are not just about travel, but also about what happens when you arrive. If you can stay overnight at a hotel, guest house, camp site, enjoy locally produced food and drink, buy local products, you are truly helping the rural economy and in so doing helping to protect the landscape, which in turn is totally dependent on farmers and landowners managing that landscape in harmony with the natural world.

This guide is therefore intended to help you do just that.

We have divided the Dales into four Green Transport Networks, each focused on the public transport hubs: main market towns or large villages which are served either by the railway network or by frequent, “main line” bus services. From these hubs, local bus services, walking routes and cycle routes penetrate each of the Yorkshire Dales.

A number of businesses in the Dales who especially welcome green travellers – walkers, cyclists and bus and train users – are supporting the Yorkshire Dales Green Network, and they are listed in the web site together with a link directly to their website. In some cases they offer discounts to travellers who arrive on foot or cycle, or by bus or train. Their premises are accessible either directly on a bus route, or within a short walk, or in the case of a rail station, a short walk or cycle ride from the train service.

Please make sure that you support them at every opportunity.