May-June and September: long or workable daylight, the driest weather on the western and high-ground sections, and (in June) Swaledale's hay meadows or (in September) the North York Moors heather at their best.
This is a lower-mountain trail, not a high-alpine one, so it stays walkable year-round for a prepared hillwalker, but the character shifts hard with the seasons. The Lake District and high Pennine sections are consistently the wettest part of the route (Shap, on the high ground, is wetter even than the western Lakeland valleys); the Vale of York and North York Moors side is markedly drier. May-June and September give the best combination of daylight, dry ground and trail highlights (hay meadows, then heather); the darkest months make the long fell stages genuinely hard to fit into daylight. The seasonal-services pattern is the same the length of the route and is stated here rather than month by month: campsites and the smaller tea rooms work roughly Easter to the end of October, the pubs and B&Bs in the bigger villages trade all year, and the smallest stage stops thin right out in winter with some taking a break over Christmas and New Year. One trap for a shoulder-season camper: a holiday park being open is not the same as it taking tents. At the Robin Hood's Bay end the main park runs its pods all year and its touring and motorhome pitches through most of the winter, but takes tents only from Easter to the start of November, so check the tent season specifically rather than the park's season. The Nine Standards Rigg peat crossing no longer works the way the guidebooks describe it. For years walkers were sent across the Birkdale peat on one of three colour-coded lines depending on the month, roughly green in winter, red in early summer and blue in late summer and autumn. Yorkshire Dales rangers finished laying a stone-flagged path over that peatland in October 2025, about three kilometres of it, and grough reported that the flagged line follows the most popular of the three ways and has become a public right of way by agreement with the estate. The National Trail's own route description now gives one line off the Rigg, south over Benty Batts and Lady Dike Head to Birkdale and then east down into Whitsun Dale, and names no seasonal alternative, although it does name an optional low-level route on the next stage, so the silence looks deliberate. Walk the line that is signed and flagged rather than the colour for your month, and do not expect the flags to cover the whole crossing: the peat either side of them is still peat after rain.
Month-by-month guide
January
Poor
Short days, the wettest run of the year on the western and high-ground stretches, and a real chance of snow or ice on Kidsty Pike, the High Street ridge and Nine Standards Rigg.
7 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 6 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 2 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 0 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 8.0Watch for: Under 8 hours of daylight makes the longer high-fell stages (especially St Bees to Ennerdale onward, and the High Street/Kidsty Pike day) tight to fit into a single short day; ice on exposed rock is a genuine concern without winter gear.
February
Poor
Same character as January, cold, wet on the western side, and the high fells can hold snow or ice, though daylight is stretching out noticeably by month's end.
8 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 6 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 2 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 0 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 9.9Watch for: Daylight still under 10 hours; check forecasts for the high-level alternative routes before committing to the ridge lines.
March
Mixed
Daylight is back to a workable length and the driest side of the country (the Vale of York) is drying out fast, but the western fells are still wet underfoot and the Pennine peat is still winter-saturated.
10 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 8 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 3 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 1 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 11.9
April
Good
Rain drops sharply across the route this month, days are long enough for the big fell stages, and the Easter season brings seasonal campsites and cafes back to life. Still capable of a late cold snap on the tops.
12 (Lakes) / 13 (Vale of York) / 11 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 4 (Lakes) / 3 (Vale of York) / 2 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 14.2
May
Excellent
One of the two officially recommended windows for this walk: long daylight, the driest run of the year on the western side, and mild rather than hot temperatures on the exposed high-level stages.
16 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 14 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 6-7 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 5 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 16.1
June
Excellent
The longest days of the year, warm without being hot, and Swaledale's traditional hay meadows are at their best.
18 (Lakes) / 19 (Vale of York) / 17 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 8-9 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 8 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 17.3
July
Excellent
The warmest month, still with plenty of daylight, though English school summer holidays begin toward the end of the month and start pushing up both crowds and accommodation prices.
20 (Lakes) / 21 (Vale of York) / 18 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 10-12 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 10 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 16.8
August
Good
Still warm and long-lit, but rain is picking up on the western side, this is peak English holiday season for crowds and prices, and the North York Moors heather starts flowering from around mid-month.
19 (Lakes) / 21 (Vale of York) / 18 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 11 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 10 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 15.0Watch for: Grouse shooting season opens on 12 August and runs into early winter; on North York Moors open-access moorland a shoot in progress can mean a short wait or a directed route on shoot days, though rights of way stay open.
September
Excellent
The second officially recommended window: still mild, crowds thin out once the school holidays end, and the North York Moors heather is at its best.
17 (Lakes) / 18 (Vale of York) / 16 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 9 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 8 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 12.8Watch for: Grouse shooting season continues; same minor etiquette note as August on North York Moors open-access land.
October
Mixed
Rain returns hard on the western and high-ground sections, back to near-January levels, while the Vale of York stays comparatively dry; days are shortening quickly.
14 (Lakes) / 14 (Vale of York) / 12 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 6-7 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 5 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 10.6
November
Poor
One of the wettest months of the year on the western and high-ground sections, with short days and little on the route trading beyond the bigger villages.
10 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 9 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 4 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 2 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 8.6Watch for: Under 9 hours of daylight; the long high-fell stages need an early start and a realistic bail-out plan.
December
Poor
The shortest days and, at Shap, the wettest month of the year on the high Pennine ground; snow or ice is a real possibility on Kidsty Pike, High Street and Nine Standards Rigg.
8 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 6 (Pennine high ground)°C high · 2 (Lakes/Vale of York) / 0 (Pennine high ground)°C low · 7.4Watch for: Under 8 hours of weak daylight; this compresses the big fell stages severely and a winter skill set is genuinely useful on the highest ground.
Sources and research notes · 12 sources
metoffice.gov.ukMet Office 1991-2020 location-specific long-term averages for Shap (Cumbria, on the route between Bampton and the Orton Fells): mean daily max/min temperature, monthly rainfall, days of rain, days of air frost and mean wind speed for every month. Used as the 'Pennine high ground' figures throughout, since Shap is directly on the trail and is more exposed than the valley stations.Checked 28 Jul 2026
metoffice.gov.ukMet Office 1991-2020 location-specific long-term averages for Keswick (Lake District), used as the western 'Lakes' climate figures for every month, to show the gradient across the trail's start.Checked 28 Jul 2026
metoffice.gov.ukMet Office 1991-2020 location-specific long-term averages for Topcliffe (Vale of York), used as the eastern, markedly drier 'Vale of York' climate figures for every month.Checked 28 Jul 2026
api.sunrise-sunset.orgDay-length calculation for the 15th of each month at 54.47N, 2.0W (representative trail latitude). Used for daylight hours in all months.Checked 28 Jul 2026
coasttocoast.ukDescription of the Nine Standards Rigg/Hartley Fell bog crossing (blanket bog, gullies, no defined path in places, red/blue routes sharing the initial section) used for ground/watch for text around that crossing. Re-read 31 Jul 2026: this site still describes the Red and Blue routes sharing the climb to Near Grains, which is now historic rather than current.Checked 28 Jul 2026
splodzblogz.co.ukA 2022 walker's account of the blue seasonal route in October. Kept as the record of how the crossing used to work; superseded for current guidance by the National Trail route description below.Checked 28 Jul 2026
grough.co.ukYorkshire Dales rangers finished laying the flagstones across the Birkdale/White Mossy Hill peat in October 2025, that 'three paths were recommended to navigate the peatland at White Mossy Hill at different times of the year', and that 'The newly surfaced route uses the most popular of the three ways and has become a public right of way in agreement with the local estate'. Re-read on 31 Jul 2026 and it carries no metre figure, so the earlier '392 m' and 'finished in 2024' notes on this trail were wrong.Checked 31 Jul 2026
go4awalk.comUK grouse shooting season dates (12 August-10 December) and general walker etiquette/access pattern on open-access moorland during a shoot, used for the watch for note in August and September.Checked 28 Jul 2026
thewhitbyguide.co.ukTiming of North York Moors heather flowering (mid-to-late August through September), used for the flora field in August and September.Checked 28 Jul 2026
middlewoodfarm.coma park at the Robin Hood's Bay end taking tents only Easter to 1 November while its pods run all year and its touring pitches nearly soChecked 30 Jul 2026
nationaltrail.co.ukThe official Kirkby Stephen to Keld description, which gives a single line off Nine Standards Rigg 'south over Benty Batts', then 'south over Lady Dike Head before meeting a footpath running east at Birkdale', then down into Whitsun Dale, with no colour-coded or seasonal alternative named. The same page does name 'An optional low level route' on the following Keld to Reeth stage, which is why the absence here is read as meaningful.Checked 31 Jul 2026
yorkshiredales.org.ukThe national park authority's own account of the work: a three-kilometre flagged path over sensitive peatland in Birkdale, of which 940 m was laid in the first phase from August 2024 before the ground-nesting bird season. Used to size the flagged section and to date it.Checked 31 Jul 2026