Dales Hike

Rathmell

Easy

5.3 miles | 8.5 km | 147 m Ascent | 6.0 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
In July 2024, we enjoyed a great walk from Rathmell up to Whelp Stone Crag, and that walk impressed on us that walking in and around Rathmell had a number of attractions:
The area is much less busy than the “honeypot” villages within the national park, and there are great views across the Ribble Valley to Settle and Langcliffe with Pen-y-Ghent in the distance. Add to this convenient parking and a short travel distance from Bentham, and Rathmell clearly has much to offer.
It’s also an attractive village in its own right with some interesting history. The walk includes an ancient packhorse bridge that would not be out of place on any Yorkshire Dales calendar, and toward the end we get to see llamas and alpacas.

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Copplestone Gate and Conistone Pie 2

Easy

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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Dentdale circular

Easy

5.7 miles | 9.2 km | 248 m Ascent | 6.9 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
We start by Church Bridge, and then loop up onto the fell at South Lord’s Land before walking behind the village, with great views across the valley, and then over to Gawthrop, before crossing meadows to get to Barth Bridge. From there we pick up the Dales Highway long distance path and follow it up to Lunds where we walk on an ancient green lane for a while. We soon head right and onto North Lord’s Land looking across the valley with views of where we walked in the morning. Finally, we return to Barth Bridge via High Barth and then take a very quiet road walk on the North of the Dee before one more section through fields back to Church Bridge.

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Gargrave and Eshton

Easy

6.3 miles | 10.2 km | 170 m Ascent | 7.2 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
It’s easy to overlook Gargrave as you drive through on the A65, and it would be a mistake to do so: Gargrave is a great place to start a walk, with the added advantage that there are pubs, cafes, and an interesting variety of shops to enjoy. Parking is free and there are good quality public toilets.
Still not convinced, then add a walk that includes the Leeds Liverpool canal, parts of the Pennine Way, Country houses, enchanting wells, great views of Sharp Haw, a peaceful memorial garden, a curiously ornate lime kiln, and weather station. Where else other than the Yorkshire Dales would you find so much interest in just six miles?

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Brock Bottom and Beacon Fell

Easy

6.8 miles | 11.0 km | 215 m Ascent | 7.9 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
Of the areas that Bentham Footpath Group walk, the Forest of Bowland is generally the quietest. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its hot spots though, and it’s at one of these – the Beacon Fell Country Park that we start this easy walk.
The Country Park has a number of attractions all within a well defined and quite small boundary, so you could easily augment the walk by adding one or more of . . . a sculpture trail, orienteering challenges, waymarked walks around the site, a barbecue site, viewing points, and a visitor centre with café and toilets. The whole site is a Biological Heritage Site, so you may also see interesting and rare flora and fauna.
Although we start at the Visitor Centre, we soon leave the site and head down to Brock Bottom, where we pick up the River Brock and head upstream passing Brockmill on the way to Gill Barn Wood. We then enjoy great views of Parlick and Fair Snape Fell before climbing back up to the Beacon Fell site where we wander around the Beacon.

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Dunsop Bridge

Moderate

7.6 miles | 12.3 km | 234 m Ascent | 8.8 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
Within the Bentham Footpath Group, we tend to think of ourselves as living “up North”, and indeed we do – but only by a few miles: It turns out that the geographic centre of Great Britain is (according to the Ordnance Survey) in Dunsop Bridge. Given this curious fact, how can we decline the temptation to start a walk right from the centre of the country?
That curiosity aside, Dunsop Bridge is a great place to walk, and is often described as being at the heart of the Forest of Bowland. This gentle walk heads out from the village up the banks of the Dunsop before striking out to the isolated farms at Beatrix. From there, we cross Rough Syke at the bottom of Oxenhurst Clough and then after a brief but steep climb, follow green lanes and a very minor road to the lovely village of Newton where we pick up the Hodder, to follow it downstream back to Dunsop Bridge.
En route, we follow the Ribble Valley Jubilee Trail over Giddy Bridge, and then past Knowlmere Manor, and Thorneyholme Hall where we see the confluence of the Dunsop and the Hodder. The walk ends back at Dunsop Bridge where ice cream beckons.
We recommend that you take waterproofs on this walk – be aware that Dunsop Bridge holds the record for the most intense rainfall in the UK with 117mm (4.6 in) falling in just 90 minutes on 8th August 1967.

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Sedbergh Riverside and the Lune Viaduct

Easy

6.3 miles | 10.1 km | 248 m Ascent | 7.5 Naismith miles | Peter Lennard
The Dent Foot walk that we completed on 17/03/23, connected with two of the three rivers in and around Sedbergh – the Rawthey and the Dee. This walk completes the set by adding the Lune.
We start by heading out onto the fells at the base of Winder, with great views over to the Lune Valley and the disused railway viaduct. We then cross farmland to pick up the Dales Way and have a close look at the spectacular viaduct.
From there we follow the Lune downstream before cutting back to Ingmire Hall. Next, we head down to the beautiful Friends Meeting House at Brigflatts, and finish by following the Rawthey upstream back to Sedbergh. The walk is classified as easy – althtough there is a bit of a climb at the start.

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