Ribblehead Viaduct

The Settle–Carlisle line's 24-arch masterpiece striding across Batty Moss, with Whernside piled up behind it — probably the single most-flown drone location in the Dales, and it earns it. You park in the roadside areas near the Station Inn, walk onto the open moor and TOAL from the rough grass with the viaduct filling your frame from the first metre of climb. Compositions are endless: side-on with Whernside, down the line of arches at sunset, high top-downs showing the curve of the trackbed across the bog. The etiquette that matters: this is a live railway, so treat the deck as out of bounds — no overflying trains, no hovering over the parapet — and on steam charter days expect big crowds, long lenses and several other drones, so coordinate or come back another day. The land is open access moorland rather than National Park Authority property (the YDNPA bans recreational flying only from its own sites), so a quiet, considerate flight here is as legitimate as Dales flying gets. Respect the environment though: it's blanket bog, curlews nest out there in spring, and at 300m+ this is a genuine wind trap — the pass funnels westerlies hard enough to make orbits ugly. Clear, still winter days after snow are unbeatable.