Three different perspectives can help with planning a trip to Middlesmoor: St Chad’s Church, a cycling route that climbs uphill into the village, and a walking trail with a section from Pateley Bridge to Middlesmoor. The church building and local worship traditions sit alongside cycling and walking. The routes describe different activities: the Tour of Nidderdale is a cycling route, while the Nidderdale Way is a 53-mile circular walking route. This distinction helps with the initial choice, before the details of individual routes come into play.

St Chad’s: building history and tradition

St Chad’s Church in Middlesmoor is a Grade II listed building, built by Crossland in 1864. The church also houses an Anglo-Saxon cross head with double crossbars. Two different periods are therefore represented side by side: the church building from 1864 and the Anglo-Saxon cross head. Those interested in architecture will find both a clear heritage designation and a distinctive feature that adds to the building’s history beyond its year of construction. St Chad’s is also a “Festival Church”. Services dedicated to rural and local traditions include a “Lambing Service” in May. As seasonal service arrangements can change, check the date before visiting.

Cycling to Middlesmoor

The Tour of Nidderdale is an all-weather cycling route. It follows stony tracks through farmland and small villages, and past reservoirs. The route climbs uphill to Middlesmoor and then descends back to the reservoir. When choosing, you can consider whether cycling on stony ground and the climb to Middlesmoor suit your plans. Compared with the Nidderdale Way, the practical difference here is cycling and the terrain, while there the focus is on the total distance and the walking route described. For comparison with the walk, stony ground and cycling are set against a long circular route with a described section across the moors.

The Nidderdale Way: circular route and section

The Nidderdale Way is a 53-mile circular walking route that starts and ends in Pateley Bridge. One named section runs from Pateley Bridge to Middlesmoor. After the climb to Middlesmoor, the route crosses the moors and then descends steeply along a path to Scar House Reservoir. The total distance and the named section answer different planning questions: the 53 miles describes the circular route, while the section from Pateley Bridge to Middlesmoor describes part of the route. This is useful if you want to compare the full circular route with a specific stretch, rather than treating the two as the same thing.

Walking on open-access land

There is also open-access land near Middlesmoor. Walking there can be challenging, as you are often far from recognised paths. If you want to explore these areas on foot, take the potential difficulty and distance from recognised paths into account when planning.

Discover more destinations

Discover more destinations: Cawood, Bainbridge, Malham, Embsay, Thixendale, Sleights, Settrington, Muker

For the broader travel overview: North Yorkshire.