You can drive to Knaresborough, then walk through a lovely woodland to reach the main pathway that takes you straight through Knaresborough to the very end. It is an absolutely gorgeous route to take, especially if you don’t mind a bit of a walk.
But Knaresborough is also accessible by train.
From York Station, you can catch a train to Knaresborough for as little as £1.50, if you book in advance with a student rail card, and the 25 minute ride is absolutely lovely, as York Station has incredible architecture, and Knaresborough’s station is a classic, old-fashioned, idyllic little station you’d expect steam trains to arrive at, so there is plenty to see.
I would say that the most memorable part of my Knaresborough experience is the riverside path that takes you through all of the cafes and ice-cream shops, and past all of the boat hires and wooden sculptures.
When I went last summer, I hired a boat with my friend... admittedly, we did end up in a bush
When I went last summer, I hired a boat with my friend, and we were given about 45 minutes to row far along the Nidd until the hire place was no longer in sight. Admittedly, we did end up in a bush due to our amateur canoeing skills, but we had the best time and even saw a heron close-up.
After canoeing, we then returned to the path for ice-cream, then we chose to head up a staircase that branched off the main path. I suppose that is one of the great things about this route, there are so many different directions that you can explore.
The steps I usually use lead to Knaresborough Castle, which is situated at the very top of the hill. The castle is great to have a look around, and sometimes on weekends and holidays, usually during summer, a company do tours of the castle, Courthouse Museum, castle dungeons, and the secret tunnel to which soldiers used to escape through undetected and into the night when the castle was under attack.
Every time I have visited, by the castle and the monument that overlooks the Nidd, there has always been an array of flowers, arranged perfectly to spell out a message or form a picture. The view from here is stunning, too, where you can see across the river to where Mother Shipton’s Cave is situated. You do have to pay to enter, but it is certainly something to see, with explanations of her predictions and petrifying objects – I will say no more on this to preserve the intrigue..
From here, I usually take the path facing away from the famous Knaresborough viaduct, which leads towards an outdoor paddling pool we used to use as children, then we’d make our way back to the riverside pathway, and saunter down it once again.
Usually, as we take this path, we look out for the wooden carvings that are placed in obvious and also hidden places. I believe that there are around 5 to spot.
Then, you will find yourself passing the most intriguing little house embedded into a literal cliff face. This is the Chapel of Our Lady of the Crag, an early 15th-century chapel cut out of the Nidd’s sandstone cliff face. It features a blue, fairy-like door, a stone carving and a restored medieval-styled window.
From here, you will have circled back to reach the cafes and boat hire, and you may want to head past the Knaresborough Viaduct to the shopping street, where there are many charity shops and fish and chip stores to enjoy.
So, if you fancy going on a holiday for just one day, I would recommend Knaresborough.