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Cycling


The Yorkshire Dales offers superb road and mountain biking opportunities for all experience levels.

With outstanding scenary, quiet country lanes and hillside tracks, the Dales are the perfect location for a cycling holiday whether you are looking for gentle rides along the Dales or challenging off road routes.

The Yorkshire Dales Cycleway provides many local routes to suit all abilities and there is an annual Littondale Mountain Bike Challenge every May.  The Yorkshire Dales National Park website also provides some good route information for both road and mountain biking here.

Of course the biggest highlight is yet to come!  The Grand Depart of the 2014 Tour de France will take place in the Yorkshire Dales and we will be enjoying every moment in Littondale!  Details of the route and timings can now be found here.

The Queens Arms offers secure bike lock-up along with repair and maintenance kit kindly provided by the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, along with drying facilities for clothing.  We are also very happy to provide packed lunches for those heading off for the day.

John G from Bolton said this about The Queens Arms after his visit in June 2013 …

“A cyclists dream pub”
Nestled in the stunning untouched Litton valley, the Queens with its friendly staff, superb food and great ales really made us not want to leave. We arrived on a Sunday evening after a hilly 95 miles in the saddle, one of the staff helped us safely store our bikes and showed us to the newly decorated rooms. Unlike some B&B’s, really comfy beds, fresh bright linen and lots of piping hot water. Dinner and breakfast choice was local, plentiful and generous all cooked to order by the chef. And if that’s not enough, the bill was a 1/3 less than what it would have been in some other pubs we’ve recently stayed. 10/10, enjoy it before the masses discover this little gem of a pub. Brilliant, can’t wait to return.

Welcome to the peaceful, tranquil and charming valley of Littondale, tucked away in the very heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
Littondale with its picturesque hamlets of Hawkswick, Arncliffe, Litton, Halton Gill and Foxup, is rich in Bronze and Iron Age settlements and has been a sheltered fertile valley for over 5000 years.

The land was granted to the monks of Fountains Abbey around the 13th Century and became used extensively for sheep farming, which is still an important and much loved part of dales life. As a side dale to the west of Wharfedale and with Malhamdale to its south, Littondale follows the River Skirfare which is famed for disappearing below ground for much of the year exposing a dry rocky bed – one of the more unusual features of this limestone landscape – and with its remarkable cave systems – it is a true delight for geologists to potholers!

Proudly boasting Pen-Y-Ghent, one of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, at its head – the valley is famous for its flora and fauna amidst its wildflower meadows and ancient woodlands and abundant birdlife. Littondale has been the inspiration behind Kingsley’s Water Babies and the setting for a host of TV and film projects from Emmerdale Farm, Wuthering Heights, Woman in Black and a much anticipated new series of All Creatures Great & Small.

Today, Littondale is home to around 300 residents and is a vibrant dale with over 30 businesses ranging from accommodation providers to inns to artists and craftspeople. This community website was created in 2020 to highlight and promote the spirit and natural beauty of this incredible place. We hope very much you will come and experience the wonder of this hidden gem so please read on about what we have to offer and come visit – we look forward to welcoming you all!