The Yorkshire Dales is one of the most spectacular areas of the country to walk in, but unless you’re a seasoned walker with good knowledge of the area it can be hard to know where to start and what will suit your family’s ability. And let’s not talk about how easy it is to get lost and end up walking twice as far as you’d planned – never a good thing when you have flagging children in tow. We’ve had a few semi-disastrous experiences when we’ve relied on signposts and, erm, gut instinct to get us to where we were going, only to find ourselves going in circles. At that point, you just have to pray that you’ve taken enough snacks…

We were so excited to hear that the Yorkshire Dales National Park has come to the rescue of amateur walkers with their brand new free walking app for Apple and Android smartphones, ideal for families who’d like to walk in the Dales but don’t know where to start. It features 35 tempting trails throughout the Dales for all ages and abilities, with some as short as a mile. There’s a mixture of circular and linear routes, parking information, directions to the start of the route and even information on whether there’s a pub along the way. Aysgarth, Malham, Hawes and Settle are all among the featured walks. Most importantly, there’s an offline mapping tool that tracks the walk, whether there’s a mobile phone signal or not (hooray!). Although it’s always sensible to take an old-school map as well, just in case. And biscuits. Don’t forget the biscuits.