Grassington and Grass Woods

How to walk the Grass Woods Circular

Directions:

1. Starting in the centre of Grassington head from the centre of the cobbled areas, uphill on Main Street, passing Tom Lee’s Smidy on your left and heading up as far as The Devonshire Institute and Town Hall at the top of Main Street. Here turn left onto Chapel Street and continue straight on. Ignore any forks to the right and continue as the road bends left onto Highcroft. Soon after, you will find a tiny lane to your right, Cove Lane (What 3 Words: ordeals.judge.playfully). Turn right onto this and continue down it until you reach the walled track. The property on the corner of the lane is called Meadow Croft.

2. The walled track continues straight on and then bends round to the left passing an empty farm building to your right. Here on your right, if you look towards the craggy rocks of Cove Scar, you will see a gaping black hole. That’s the cave of Tom Lee (read more about him lower down)The path then enters an open field. Ahead of you, you will see the stone stepped stile over the wall and through a gate into Grass Woods. (To those walking in Grass Woods, 2023 has been a particularly bad year for tick bites. Try to stick to the clear path as much as possible and avoid brushing the undergrowth. Have a thorough check afterwards and find the NHS advice on tick bites here.)

3. Once inside the woods, there is a clear and well waymarked route that heads directly straight on, passing the Nature Reserve information board on your left. Soon, on your left you will see one of the cool parts of the woods, the remains of an ancient settlement. There is a signpost to mark where it was.

4. Keep ahead on the main path as it climbs through the woodland and you will reach a signpost pointing to the remains of Fort Gregory, located on Gregory Scar. There isn’t a great deal in terms of ruins, but it is a place of historic interest, so feel free to take a detour, heading back to this path if you do.

5. Keep ahead until the path forks into two. Here, take the left hand track. Now it is more of a stony track and it heads downwards through the trees. It can be pretty atmospheric in these woods!

6. The stone track heads as far as the furthest perimeter wall on the northwest of the woodland. Here, turn left and follow it round, keeping close to the perimeter wall to begin with, then heading down through the gate in the wall onto Grasswood Lane (this is a road, be careful, there will be cars, although usually it’s super quiet).

7. Turn left onto the road and head back in the direction of Grassington for a short distance. There are a few entrance points into the woods on your right hand side, take the second gate into Lower Grass Woods. This takes you down to the side of the river.

8. Head along the river, keeping it to your right. The path will ascend further away from the water until you reach a stone stepped path descending to your right. Head down this and through a gate at the bottom. You will at this point again be at water level.

9. Continue along the path that follows the left hand bank of the river, until you reach Ghaistrill’s Strid. This is a series of rapids through the River Wharfe, and it is quite a sight to behold in very wet weather (check out the pictures!)

10. The path then heads up a set of new wooden steps and through a gate in the wall. Continue along the path (it can get REEEEEAALLLY muddy here!) and then continue along the path until it reaches almost reaches the road bridge back in Grassington.

11. Here, the path (also very muddy!) curves to the left and heads up towards the road. As you reach the main road out of Grassington, turn left, and head back into the village!

Last walked November 2023.