The Dales Way #2: Grassington to Buckden 13/04/13

Self in Grassington

Having had a tough week at work, ending it feeling stressed, tired and irritable, does not leave me in the best condition to go for a walk, but I need to go out as I'm sure that Spring is now upon us and I need to make the most of the sunshine and (hopefully) lack of snow. Anyway, walking is my head-clearer and with my walking season having been thrown out with me still having two legs of the Dales Way to do before my jollies at the end of May, it is essential that I get out when the weather is good and I feel even the slightest shred of inspiration. So it's back to Wharfedale, to walk the Dales Way from home, exactly the way I hadn't wanted to, having to ride two trains and one bus to make the trip back to Grassington, but the sun is out and the fields are greening up as I ride past various now familiar locations, and the joys of Spring start to run through me again, even before my feet have hit the ground. Plus, the winter coat and woolly hat can be left behind, with the crazy winter beard having its last excursion, and even if I've not got a heavy load to carry, I'm still going to have a harder sort of walking day as I'm going to be going against the clock...

Walking to Windermere: The Dales Way #2: Grassington to Buckden. 10.8 miles.

Grassington Moor

Hop off the bus in Grassington Market Place, and even when arriving on the first bus of the day at 10.30am, the place is already crawling with people, so there are clearly a lot of keen tourists out already, and I've got no time to hang around and enjoy this exemplar of what English country towns are thought to be, so leave the tea shops and boutiques behind and head for the countryside. The day's walk has to end by catching the bus out of Buckden at 3.10pm, so a decent pace is made on the ascent to Chapel Street and onwards to Banks Lane, and in no time at all, we're out onto a stone walled lane with Grassington Moor opening up ahead of us, and then it's onto the fields where the going isn't nearly as soft as I was expecting after the rains of midweek and Grassington has soon disappeared behind us. The fun part of the early going is the fact that OL2 shows a completely fictitious route over the first few fields, and my guide book provides the directions as I wonder if I'm going to keeping a pace with the old couple that i meet setting out on the same day's walk as me, no need to worry about company for today though, as I hit Lea Green and they are already some distance behind me. The route across the grassy moor remains obvious, thanks to a broad trod, but would surely be a nightmare in wet weather, and positively suicidal in the snow of three weeks ago, the views up into Wharfedale are obscured by the forests, and the views of the moor's ancient field systems are minimal as the best areas are off to the east of here, but the look back to the uplands north of Skipton are grand, and will be keeping us company on and off all the way to Kettlewell.

Conistone Dib

Plodding along through the grass, I'm slightly disappointed at the lack of exposed limestone pavement that this area promised, and it turns out that there is plenty, but it's mostly on higher ground, only occasionally sneaking up by the path, and it's all a bit glum looking as the stone is a dull grey beneath the cloudy skies and I start to wish for some sun but it never quite comes out to illuminate the best parts. There are plenty of other folks out here too, joggers and folk heading back to their teabreak in the town, whilst I press on up hill as the higher lands become more prominent and the valley disappears as rough limestone outcrops rise to the west. Passing through a natural groove in the terrain, a lime kiln is encountered to illustrate a bit of human usage that isn't dry stone walling, and ascending beyond we get a first look at a promontory in the landscape that I can't yet identify, but It know it's one of the big hills of this area. It all feels very remote for a while until the telephone mast above Conistone rears up into view, and this must mean we are rising to the major disturbance in the physical features, and the path detours to this after passing the best ancient stone walls that I will be encountering today. This is the deep cleft of Conistone Dib, the remnant of post glacial run-off in a scale smaller than Goredale Scar, but still available for the ambitious walker to traverse, but hat's not for me today, I'll be staying at the contour below the limestone escarpments which buttress it and keep on as we finally meet the impacted snow that is still enduring despite the rising temperatures, and the sight of what appears to be a church tower high on the hill means we have arrived at Conistone Pie, a naturally square outcrop of limestone, and beyond here the views into Wharfedale open up again.

Littondale and Birks Fell

Pausing for a water break, I start to take stock of my location, and the promontory noted earlier is the bulk of Birks Fell, separating Littondale and Wharfedale (over which I walked last June), and down in the valley the confluence of the Skirfare and Wharfe is obvious. Getting a grasp of the higher hills is harder, and I know that the masses of Fountains Fell and Pen-y-ghent are off to the west, and Great Whernside and Buckden Pike are off to the north, but not knowing their profiles means they do not leap out, but a fresh perspective means I am starting to understand how outdoors types gain a grasp of the landscape, and I start to plot future excursions over the lanes visible on the high lands. Push on as the path descends slightly over a few field before becoming largely level, aside from wall crossings with too much snow on their northern sides, and the route passes above Swineber Scar, a decent climbing rock, and across the valley Kilnsey Crag offers a view of an amazing climbing rock, which looks imposing even at this distance. Hanging below the escarpment has me trying to pick out the route of where I descended to Kettlewell at a similar altitude on the opposite side of the valley, but it remains frustratingly hard to pick out, and soon the rough landscape passes on the east side and the path starts to descend to meet High Leys Lane, and through a planatation of Pine and Larch we go, meeting a party of Boy Scouts going up as I go down, and it's a much harsher descent than I was expecting, losing most of the 100 metres gained over the last five miles in a relatively short distance.

Kettlewell and Great Whernside

Drop out on the back road from Conistone to Kettlewell, and the familiar views south finally pass, and it feels like we're about to get a rapid pound to my lunch spot, passing ScarGill house, a Christian country retreat (and I've been to more than one of those in my childhood!), and then the path decides to stray into the fields which kills my pace as I get confused trying to get around a sheep pen and heading along the stone wall means I have eight ladder styles to cross which makes me glad that I don't have my heavy pack on today. Enjoy the view up Cam Gill into the high lands, but wonder if I'm going to get an actual view of Great Whernside as the path drops down to the lane behind the newest houses in Kettlewell, and the sheep in the neighbouring fields are in full voice as they take objection to my presence in the company of their new lambs, and I'm just glad to see they survived that blast of late winter in good numbers. Arrive in Kettlewell on the lane behind St Mary's church and then meet the lane that runs on either side of the beck through the village and despite it being a settlement in all-grey it looks a lot nicer under broken cloud than it did under a pall of rain . The King's Head offers a vacancy for a new publican and I file that as yet another business scheme for an other life, and drop onto the benches surrounding the Maypole for my lunch break having only just missed my 1pm ETA. After food and watching the comings and going of folks on a bicycle treasure hunt it's time to move on, to finally look back to see Great Whernside rising above the gill behind the village, and take the way out of town to the old bridge over the Wharfe and to finally get a good view of last year's route down through Gate Cote Scar.

Wharfedale below Starbotton

It's off into the unknown again above Kettlewell and I've got 1hr 40mins to do the last 4 miles to Buckden and its a good thing that the path is straightforwardly traceable, and is pretty level, but I still get OL30 out to make it feel needed and pick up the walking pace so I can actually feel my heart pumping hard, which I rarely feel when not walking sharply up hill. The route largely follows farm tracks, and there are plenty of semi-derelict barns on the west side of the valley, but no farms at all and with no major crosssings on the Wharfe, it all feels nicely remote again. I really love the geography of this part of Wharfedale, with the river meandering down a seemingly semi circular river valley, carved smooth in the last Ice Age and almost dead straight for four miles, with scratchy woods occupying the uncultivated land above the west bank. It's a much busier path than I anticipated too, and it seems a lot of kids have been brought out to enjoy the burgeoning spring, and the route has the river coming and going as it winds its merry way south, at one point having gouged deep into the bank, causing the path to divert behind substantial stone walls. So it continues, sometimes a bit moist and marshy, and on firmer footing at other times, with me maintaining a good pace and starting to take more interest in my walking rate than the landscape, but noting Starbotton approaching on the opposite bank, and taking in the gill interrupting the landscape and the associated paths up towards Buckden Pike. Up pops the only river crossing in the vicinity, the footbridge to Starbotton and pause to water and check my pace, 2.05pm, and we're doing fine.

Buckden

The day starts to feel a bit chilly over the last two miles as the cloud cover increases and the influence of the sunshine is lost and you realise that the heady temperatures of 11 degrees C really isn't all that hot, and I start to ponder the plausibility (and legality) of  bunking up in a random barn out in the wilds (if it were to prove necessary on a future trip), but surely that is a bad idea all round? The path departs the river to miss out a large stretch of marshiness, and it follows walled tracks and winds its way in and out of the National Trust's Upper Wharfedale estate before rising to a track that actually takes vehicles but doesn't lead anywhere obvious on the edge of the woods. After the arboreal company of mostly Pine and Larch on today's walk, it's odd to meet a bunch of Leylandii, looking completely alien in this landscape and ridiculously outsize, even here (interestingly, these trees were first bred at Leighton Hall in Powys, not far from where the Welsh branch of my family came from.) The path drops back down to the riverbank, following the flood retaining bank and sight of the first farm on this side of the river and the deep cleft on the high land in the east means we must be nearly in Buckden, and the pace is only slowed when my camera decides to have a fritzy moment and completely re-sets itself. Roll up at the bridge on Dubbs Lane, and cross over to depart the Dales Way to walk up to the village, which doesn't take much exploring as the village green is about one third the length of the entire settlement, and my schedule means I haven't time to offer my custom to The Buck Inn, and have to go straight to the bus stop to check my timekeeping as the many other walkers arrive in the car park as the day takes a decisive turn away from pleasant. 3pm on the nose, and the couple who left Grassington with me arrive to board the bus too as the ridiculous odyssey home starts in earnest, and that's the final analysis of the day; 4hrs 30mins of walking + 5hrs 5mins of getting there and back = idiocy?

To Be Continued...

Next on the Slate: My May Day Bank Holiday Monday Stroll, two weeks early.


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 573.3 miles
(2013 total: 108  miles)