November 2023

Giggleswick Scar 2

Easy

5.4 miles | 8.6 km | 249 m Ascent | 6.6 Naismith miles | Sandra Craggs
In recent walks we have travelled further afield and enjoyed some stunning scenery. Sometimes though, it’s nice to remind ourselves just how beautiful our own area is – and this walk is a perfect way to do that.
This easy route is a shortened version of our earlier Giggleswick Scar walk and makes an ideal half day stroll. We start from The Mains in Settle and then head up to Stackhouse via Lord’s Wood. We then take the Pennine Journey path round the back of the scar, as if heading to Feizor, but before we get that far we find a fingerpost which indicates the path returning to the front of Giggleswick Scar.
The top edge of the scar gives us great views to the south and lots of interesting limestone features including caves and cairns, before we arrive at the Schoolboy Tower. We then circle round the now disused quarry and then wrap things up by heading back down to Lord’s Wood and our cars. Two added benefits for this walk are that starting from Settle makes it accessible by Public Transport, and adding Elaine’s Tea Rooms would be an easy (2km) extension.

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Gummer’s How and Cartmel Fell

Moderate

8.9 miles | 14.3km | 467 m Ascent | 11.2 Naismith miles | Susan Badley
The Bentham Footpath Group typically undertakes about 50 walks each year. Given where we live, many of these will be in the rain or have poor visibility. Sometimes though we are spectacularly lucky with the weather and get to enjoy simply stunning views, and this walk was just such an occasion.
If you follow this route, you may or may not be so lucky, but whatever the weather, this will always be a great walk: We start from a free and convenient parking spot, climb up to one of the best views of Windermere, sharing the How with Luing cattle. We then head over to Sow How Tarn, clip the edge of Middle Tarn, and then go via Heights Cottage onto Ravens Barrow, and a curious monument. From there we visit a lovely ancient church and old schoolhouse, and through fungi-rich woodland to Thorphinsty Hall, through Crag Wood and up to an atmospheric derelict farmhouse en-route to Simpson Ground. We round the day off with a tranquil reservoir, and more woodland with lovely gnarled old trees. A perfect day.

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Rather Heath and Burneside

Moderate

8.8 miles | 14.1km | 212 m Ascent | 9.8 Naismith miles |David & Sheila Longton
The Bentham Footpath Group have completed a number of great walks in and around Kendal – search on the website for Staveley, Levens or the Lancaster Canal to see some of them. This walk adds to that library and because it intersects with earlier offerings, creates a great opportunity to build our mental map of the area.
We start from a layby on the “old road” – once the main route from Kendal to Windermere – and then walk through woodland on Rather Heath passing the edge of Ratherheath Tarn before striking out to Plumgarths where we visit the Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s gardens. We then head parallel to the A591 before crossing onto Kendal Fell at Helsfell Nab. Unusually for a BFG walk, we then go into the outskirts of a town (Kendal), for lunch in the park, before we head out to Burneside. We have a good look at the Church and the paper mills before heading upstream along the Kent to Bowston on a section of the Dales Way. A final section over the railway, then under the main road brings us back to our starting point.

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Tatham Fells

Easy

6.4 miles | 10.4km | 344 m Ascent | 8.2 Naismith miles | Mary Taylor
Members of the Bentham Footpath Group tend to consider the Yorkshire Dales, the Forest of Bowland, and the South Lakes as their walking territory. This relatively easy walk is at the North end of the Forest of Bowland and is very local to Bentham – so much so that many of the farms, and other buildings that we passed along the way hold important personal memories for those in the group lucky enough to be born and bred in and around Bentham.
For the rest of us, this is still a great walk in a timeless landscape that never gets busy – despite the idyllic autumn weather we enjoyed, we passed no other walkers, and the only people we met all day were residents pottering in their gardens and making the most of the sunshine before winter sets in.
Although we consider this walk to be “easy” based on the total distance and elevation change, you should be aware that Tatham Fells are poorly drained, and so the ground can be very wet. This can make the walk feel longer than stated but on the other hand wet weather makes the rivers and becks we cross so much more attractive.

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Levens Bridge and Holme

Moderate

8.7 miles | 14 km | 115 m Ascent | 9.2 Naismith miles | Ed Badley
Most of the walks that Bentham Footpath Group offer are circular – we need to end where we started because that’s where our cars are.
That’s not a problem in itself, but sometimes there is an attractive route that’s well worth walking, but which offers no route back – without simply turning round.
So, here’s a solution: This walk is linear – we park at Holme and get the bus to Levens Bridge, then walk through Levens Hall Deer park to pick up the disused Lancaster Canal which we follow all the way back to Holme. Not only do we get to see more of the canal and its industrial archaeology than would otherwise have been possible, but we can include the deer park, which is simply stunning in autumn, as well as enjoying great views of the Kent estuary from the top deck of the bus.

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