14k Run Richmondshire: Scenic Views at Ivelet Moor

Route Overview & Local Insights

This 14.4km adventure through Richmondshire offers a quintessential Yorkshire Dales fell running experience, balancing rhythmic paved sections with challenging climbs and rugged tracks. Starting with a gentle 4km warm-up along a single-track lane, the terrain quickly transitions into a more technical ascent past the dramatic Catrake Force waterfall and the evocative ruins of Crackpot Hall. With 445m of total ascent, runners will push their limits as they climb toward the route's 575m high point on Ivelet Moor. Expect a mix of firm-based vehicle tracks and classic Dales grassy footpaths on the descent into Gunnerside, providing a varied underfoot experience that demands both power and agility.

Steeped in industrial history, the landscape around Ivelet Moor and Gunnerside Gill was once a bustling hub of the 18th and 19th-century lead mining industry. As you run past Crackpot Hall, you are passing a farmstead that was abandoned in the 1950s due to subsidence caused by the very mines that once dominated this valley. Today, the area has been reclaimed by nature, offering some of the most remote and atmospheric running in Northern England. Because large portions of this route sit above the 500m contour line, runners are treated to expansive views of Swaledale, but should remain mindful that the Highland weather can shift rapidly, transforming these tranquil hills into a true test of mountain craft.