Limestone Pavement – Bentham Footpath Group

Hutton Roof Crags

3.9 miles | 6.3 km | 175 m Ascent | 4.8 Naismith miles | Valerie Eccles & Mary Pickstone
Bentham Footpath Group try to hold a few evening walks each year – typically during the summer months. Evening walks are accessible to those who have commitments during the day, and because they are typically shorter in length, they are suitable for those unable to join us for our more challenging offerings. Summer evenings can also provide great clear skies with pink sunsets, making for stunning views, although as our pictures show, that can be something of a lottery.
Even in the rain and mist though, this is a great walk – Hutton Roof is a favourite place to start a walk and is a location that we have used before. This time we start in the village centre and take a path up the edge of Hutton Roof Crags heading toward Newbiggin Crags, before heading back past Whin Yeats, and then taking quiet backroads to St John’s church, where we see the memorial stone for Bentham’s best known war hero.

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Sunbiggin Tarn and Great Asby Scar

7.9 miles | 12.7 km | 233 m Ascent | 9.0 Naismith miles | Valerie Eccles & Mary Pickstone
Limestone pavement is one of the defining features of the Yorkshire Dales, and when asked to think of an example, most people mention Malham: that pavement and the Cove are indeed spectacular, and Bentham Footpath Group have enjoyed a number of good walks there.
This walk however visits the much larger (15 square miles) and rather more secluded Great Asby Scar National Nature reserve. Malham famously has a tarn, so we throw one of those in and start at Sunbiggin tarn before taking a gentle climb to the scar using the Dales Highway path. We then head west along the top of the scar and visit Castle Folds, the remains of a Romano-British walled settlement. From there we pick up the path coming up from Asby Winderwath Common and circle round the scar to head down to the Gamelands stone circle, before taking the Coast to Coast path back to the tarn.