Ghaistrill's Strid

The River Wharfe squeezes itself into a terrifyingly narrow gorge here, just north of Skipton, and the locals take it seriously. Ghaistrill's Strid is where the water funnels down to barely a few feet wide - which sounds innocent until you realise what's underneath. The name itself comes from 'stride', because supposedly you could once jump across it. Foolish idea. The water runs deep and treacherous, and the Victorian myth attached to it warns of a massive stride that will swallow you whole. Whether that's just Yorkshire tall tales or something darker, the atmosphere is genuinely eerie.

It's a short walk from Skipton, accessible to anyone reasonably mobile, and costs nothing. The real appeal is the landscape context - you get the Wharfe at its most dramatic, hemmed in by steep wooded banks that feel properly wild for somewhere so close to a market town. Walkers on the longer Wharfedale routes will pass through here naturally; history types won't find much beyond the old stories, but the geology speaks for itself. Allow 20 minutes to pick your way down and absorb the oddness of it.

Stay at Wharfedale Caravan and Motorhome Club Campsite just down the road - less than a mile away - and you've got easy access to this and dozens of other Dales walks. The Strid itself isn't a destination you'd spend hours at, but it's a vital waypoint on a proper day out in the valley. Don't cross it. Don't test the jump. Just look and understand why people have been wary of this stretch of water for centuries.