TOURIST brochures tell you that the best way to explore the Yorkshire Dales is on foot. What they don't say is that it's because so many roads have bottom-clenching hairpin bends and steep bits that sneak up and surprise you when you're admiring the view. I remembered with sympathy an early traveller who wrote, of his journey from Kettlewell into Coverdale: ''No traveller of circumstance would ever have thought of undertaking this journey without previously having arranged his worldly affairs.'' But then that is the beauty of the Dales - wild, timeless and immensely varied.

The word ''dale'' comes from the Old Norse for valley, but these dales are far more than that. They are self-contained communities, with distinctive characteristics and traditions. When I asked one Swaledale man whether he often went into Hawes (in nearby Wensleydale), he looked as astonished as if I had wondered whether he did his shopping in Outer Mongolia.

Swaledale is the most northerly of all the dales and, as one of the least visited, a great place in which to get away from it all. Richmond, a bustling market town, is situated on the River Swale and is dominated by the ruins of its Norman castle. It was just one of a number built after the Conquest, as the Normans struggled to subdue the population of northern England. As you travel down the dale the scenery becomes grander, grittier and more austere. As untouched as a sepia photograph, it is full of wildflower meadows, solid stone barns and an endless lattice of dry stone walls.

At Grinton walkers with a taste for the macabre can follow the Corpse Way. This track dates back to medieval times, when the local church provided the only Christian burial ground in Swaledale. People from outlying areas brought their dead along here in wicker biers, occasionally resting the body on stone slabs which dotted the path.

South of Swaledale the scenery opens out, with lush valley pastures climbing to moody moorlands. Semerwater, a glacial lake, a few miles south of Bainbridge in Wensleydale, has a serene beauty which is particularly relaxing. There is a legend that it was created by a beggar who cursed a village that had refused him hospitality - the land was flooded and the village drowned. They say you can still hear church bells ringing under the water. I listened hard but couldn't hear a thing - maybe they ring after closing time.

Some of the smaller valleys are particularly pretty and, as they're slightly off the tourist trail, make perfect walking country. There are plenty of waymarked footpaths and it's easy to get hold of self-guided walk leaflets in the local shops. Nidderdale, in the East, is well worth exploring. This is a dale which, despite its proximity to the tourist honeypots of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal, doesn't seem to attract as many visitors as some of the larger dales.

Make time to explore villages which snuggle into unexpected corners of the landscape. Arncliffe, in Littondale, provided the inspiration for Charles Kingsley's The Water Babies. A country house, Stone Gappe near Lothesdale, was the model for Gateshead Hall in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Its grim features blend in well with Airedale's moors, mill villages and craggy outcrops.

Of course it is all too easy to see the Dales as little more than an outdoor museum: Herriot Country meets One Man and his Dog. But this is no-nonsense, working countryside and while tourism is important, it has been developed with a distinctly Yorkshire flavour. Traditional crafts and industries have been given a new lease of life and now double as visitor attractions. You can find everything from ropemakers and breweries, to a violin maker and a farmer who demonstrates how he works his sheepdogs.

Perhaps the biggest attraction is the Wensleydale Creamery, which was saved from closure by a management buyout in 1992. Now there is a restaurant, a museum and a viewing gallery from which you can watch the production of the famous Wensleydale cheese - as eaten by Wallace and Gromit - which is still made by hand. Incidentally, if you want to try the cheese remember that in Yorkshire it is eaten with fruit cake or apple pie - not biscuits.

For information contact: Yorkshire Tourist Board, 312 Tadcaster Road, York YO2 2HF. 01904 707961.