Coverdale...

Coverdale is one of the most picturesque of the upper dales, that stretches in relative quietude, over thirteen miles from the bleak beauty of Coverhead in the West, where many rivulets cut deep into the peaty heathland giving birth to the river Cover, to the small cobbled market town of Middleham to the East - famous for its racing stables and associations with Richard III, once an inhabitant of Middleham Castle.

The skylines are dominated by the distinct and majestic shapes of Great and Little Whernside in the highdale to the craggs of Penhill and Roova facing over the lower dale, each topped with purple heather.

There are many small villages sitting high on the valley sides from which rich meadows and pastureland reach down to the banks of the Cover with occasional rifts of heather thrusting low from the moors between areas of settlement. C

overdale can be used as a slow but scenic crossing of the Pennines from Middleham to Skipton but the road is very steep and narrow towards its summit.