Yorkshire Dales Walking

Bracewell from Gisburn

Easy

7.2 miles | 11.6 km | 212m Ascent | 8.2 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
Bentham Footpath Group is lucky enough to have good access to the Yorkshire Dales, The South Lakes and the Forest of Bowland, and it’s to the latter that we head for this walk.
It might be tempting to assume that a walk in the forest would involve a lot of time spent amongst the trees. Not necessarily so, as the name Forest of Bowland, was first applied when medieval Royal hunting forests were established – the title ‘forest’ refers here to hunting rights, and not to a large expanse of woodland, as we would interpret it today.
From the attractive village of Gisburn, we loop out round Gisburne Park, before following Stock Beck upstream to Horton, and then Bracewell. We have a quick look at the lovely church of St Michaels, then head west across farmland to Sullside Hill, before strolling back down into Gisburn, via another ancient church – St Mary the Virgin.

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Sell Gill Holes from Horton in Ribblesdale

Easy

7.1 miles | 11.4 km | 247 m Ascent | 8.3 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
During last week’s Chapel-le-Dale and Ingleborough environs walk we took a path down the side of the Ribblehead viaduct and enjoyed great views down the Ribble valley toward Pen-y-Ghent and Horton in Ribblesdale. This week we start from Horton and get a much closer look, this time with the viaduct in the far distance.
On a route that is a figure of eight – giving an opportunity to opt for a short version should the weather change – we get to see the two entrances to the Sell Gill Holes cave system before taking the Ribble Way path along the side of the valley as far as Old Ing. From there we cross Birkwith Moor to pick up the Pennine Way to bring us back toward Horton at a higher level. Once we get back to Sell Gill Holes, we opt to take a path across to New Houses rather than repeat the outbound route and end with a stroll along the banks of the Ribble.

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Ravenstonedale and Newbiggin-on-Lune

Easy

6.9 miles | 11.1 km | 199 m Ascent | 7.9 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
In a recent group trip to Kirkby Stephen, we enjoyed a great walk along a disused railway line. A quick glance at the map shows that the fantastic Smardale viaduct which we visit today is not far from there – and unsurprisingly it’s on the same disused line, so if you wanted to join the two routes you could.
The viaduct alone is worth the trip, but this walk offers much more: Great views back to the Howgills and Wild Boar Fell, industrial archaeology, wildflowers, lizards, and free parking within walking distance of two award winning pubs.
Much of the route is on accessible paths so although it’s close to our 12km threshold for an easy walk, this one is well worth considering for those wanting a gentler stroll.

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Glasson Dock and Lancaster Canal Spur

Easy

6.0 miles | 9.6 km | 67 m Ascent | 6.3 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
The Lancaster Canal features in a number of Bentham Footpath Group Walks – not entirely surprising given that Bentham has a Lancaster postcode, and canals generally offer scenic walking opportunities. This time, we explore Glasson Dock and the Glasson Branch – one of the last parts of the UK canal network to be built, before the railways largely replaced water transport.
From convenient parking at Conder Green, we first head inland first through farms and up to the Lancaster Canal at Galgate. We then go south along the towpath until we get to the junction with the Glasson Arm, which we follow all the way down to Glasson Dock – one of the few places where our canal network connects to the sea.
The return from the Marina and Dock is via a disused railway line offering great views of the estuary, and there are several opportunities along the route to combine this easy and generally flat walk with pub lunches.

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Around Gilpin Beck

Easy

6.3 miles | 10.2 km | 393 m Ascent | 8.3 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
Sometimes our program works out such that we are in the same area for two consecutive walks – and that’s the case this time. This walk is at times no more than 200m from our recent Winster Valley walk, and at first we though that must be why a couple of locations looked familiar – we later realised that it is becase our equally excellent route at Lord’s Lot used a short section of the same paths from Spigot House to Bow Mabble Breast.
What does separate this walk from the earlier Lords Lot walk is the weather – we were rather unlucky this time. Despite that, there is much to recommend this walk – easy parking, rivers and tarns, woodland, working farms and some great views. Even in the rain it’s well worth the effort.

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Oxenholme round

Easy

7.2 miles | 11.6 km | 271 m Ascent | 8.6Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
Kendal styles itself as “The gateway to the Lakes”, and it is indeed a good base for those wishing to explore the southern end of the Lake District. The surrounding countryside also has much to offer in its own right– as we see in this walk.
From convenient parking close to Oxenholme station, we start by climbing the Helm, gaining great views of the Lakeland Fells, the Howgills, and Morecambe Bay. From there we descend past an ancient fort, and a curious folly to pick up St Sunday’s Beck which we follow upstream to the delightful Bleasehall Wood. We note a syphon well before taking an isolated green lane to St Sunday’s Bridge and from there we head to Hawkrigg. The return leg involves a brief but quite steep climb up the aptly named Windy Hill, and then it’s a steady descent to the finish. We show this as an easy walk because it is (just) less than 12 km – but the consensus from the group was that it “feels more like a medium”.

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Ingleton Circular via Fell Lane

Easy

4.1 miles | 6.6 km | 197 m Ascent | 5.1 Naismith miles |Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
This walk was designed to be brief such that as a group we could meet as usual yet be finished in time to reconvene with friends and family at the Old Sawmill in Clapham for a convivial meal.
Don’t go thinking that this walk is any the lesser for being short and sweet though – it goes far enough up Fell Lane (one of the routes up Ingleborough) to give good views of the peak, and we have Ingleton and the Lune Valley to enjoy too.
A brief look at the OS map will show that this walk intersects with many other footpaths so there are ample opportunities to extend or modify the route – or simply enjoy it as it is: An easy but enjoyable walk that can be slotted into the day with minimal planning.

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Heathwaite Coastal

Easy

5.3 miles | 8.5 km | 243 m Ascent | 6.5 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
We are lucky enough to live in a location that gives us easy access to some of the most beautiful countryside in the UK, and we immediately think of the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, and the Forest of Bowland in this context. To that list we must surely add the Arnside and Silverdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) – a compact but varied area that offers a wide variety of scenery, flora and fauna: One of the smallest AONBs, it covers just 75 km2 between the Kent Estuary, the River Keer and the A6.
This easy walk starts from the ever popular seaside village of Arnside, then takes a route along the coastal fringe of the Kent Estuary, looping round to Morecambe Bay at Far Arnside before returning via Heathwaite and onto Arnside Knott with its fantastic viewpoint. We end with a view of the fabulous gnarled trees on the Knott – complete with artworks – before taking a woodland route back to Arnside.

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Claughton

Moderate

7.5 miles | 12.1 km | 274 m Ascent | 8.9 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
The road journey form Bentham to Lancaster is relatively mundane, making it easy to forget that that there are good walks on either side of the main road – as this excellent route shows. We start from the Bull Beck parking area on the A683 just east of Caton, then walk over fields to Brookhouse. A quiet country road takes us up to the wind farm at Caton Moor, with fantastic views across the valley and Morecambe Bay, before we head back down to the main road passing the quarries that feed the Claughton Brick works. We then cross the road and pass more evidence of the area’s railway history before coming through fields at the back of the brickworks to follow the banks of the Lune back to Bull Beck.
We list this walk as a “moderate” challenge, simply because it’s just over our 12km threshold. The route is generally quite easy and there are relatively few stiles, so if you normally prefer “easy” walks, don’t discount this one.

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The Two Langdales

Moderate

8.8 miles | 14.2 km |462 m Ascent | 11.1 Naismith miles | Alison Kinder & Colin Stroud
The two Langdales referred to in the title are Great Langdale and Little Langdale – in effect two parallel valleys separated by Lingmoor Fell.
Starting from Elterwater, we head up the valley along the gentle woodland paths of Great Langdale with Lingmoor Fell on our left and Chapel Stile on the right across a surprisingly flat valley with very steep sides. We then follow the direction of the beck upstream to Oak Howe where we pick up the Cumbria Way enjoying fantastic views of Dungeon Ghyll Force as we follow the path round the back of Side Pike to cross over a short but steep ridge into Little Langdale.
Pausing at the top of the ridge we have great views up Langdale and Oxendale, before we follow the path round and descend into Little Langdale, passing Blea Tarn on the way. A short road section on the Wrynose Pass road takes us down to Fell Foot Bridge where we head across fields to Slater Bridge and Little Langdale Tarn before we pick up a track back to Elterwater.

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