Bycliffe Road

Copplestone Gate and Conistone Pie 2

6.9 miles | 11.1 km | 369 m Ascent | 8.8 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
Offering interesting walks on as frequent a basis as we do within the Bentham Footpath Group is a challenge. One which we compound for ourselves by trying to ensure that everything we do is new to the group. Every now and again though, we complete a walk that is so good we think it’s worth revisiting with a minor variation.
So, this is a slight reworking of our walk from 6th May 2022, taking a different route through the mine workings at Benfoot Brow. This simple change makes the walk sightly shorter and a little easier, making it more suitable for the shorter winter days.
It still includes the wonderful climb up the Dib, along with an alternate gentler route to the fantastic limestone pavement adjacent to the Bycliffe Road. We still walk the Conistone Turf Road, via Copplestone Gate to see the bleak spoil tips from past lead mining, before taking in Swinber Scar, Conistone Pie and St Mary’s church in Conistone. Take the GPS for both versions and you can decide which walk to follow as the day unfolds.

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Yarnbury Lead Mines and Mossdale

9.9miles | 16.0 km | 333 m Ascent | 11.6 Naismith miles | Sandra Craggs
This walk can be considered to connect with at least two other Bentham Footpath Group walks: It physically shares part of the route of our Copplestone Gate and Conistone Pie walk, and although in a different part of the Yorkshire Dales, it shares much of the industrial heritage of the Gunnerside and Old Gang Smelt Mill walk.
The first half of the walk heads across Downs Pasture to the top of the Dib at Conistone, with great views of the Wharfe Valley and as far South as Pendle Hill. From there we head up the Bycliffe Road to Kelber Gate and then on to Mossdale Scar. The return journey takes us over Grassington Moor and through increasingly bleak, but strangely beautiful lead mining spoils back to the mines at Yarnbury where we spend a while exploring the remnants of this once vast industry.
We rate this walk as Challenging mainly because it’s quite long. There are no particularly steep climbs and there are options to shorten the route if needed.

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Copplestone Gate and Conistone Pie

7.3 miles | 11.8 km | 437 m Ascent | 9.5 Naismith miles | Mary & Kate Taylor
Wharfedale is an exceptionally beautiful part of the world, and this walk from Conistone shows us the best of it. The first part of the walk involves some hard walking up the Dib – a steep gorge.
We then take the Bycliffe road up as far as the Conistone Turf Road where we head onto Conistone Moor and Copplestone Gate.
We then head downhill to find the Dales Way again and follow this back to Conistone Pie before returning to Conistone village via Scot Gate Lane.
The modest distance means that this is classed as an easy walk, but the clambering up the Dib means that you need to be fit and appropriately clothed / booted.

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