Earl Crag & Airedale's Neglected Hills 18/08/13

Reading walking literature about the lands south of the Dales seems to have largely ignored on quarter of Airedale, namely the southern side below Skipton and above Keighley, for some reason it does not feature as a desirable destination despite many hills rising above the 300m mark and by having the Pennine Way running right through the middle of it. Maybe its lack of a distinctive name and identity has cost it, or maybe it's just that much less appealing when placed against its loftier and bleaker neighbours, but having taken a look at Earl Crag from afar and knowing that ridge is the one known feature of the area has me putting it on the walking slate for immediate attention and hoping that the area might bring other rewards as I once again venture into the completely unknown. Also, I'll be doing this all on a Sunday, and I know that's not a good plan when work looms the following day, but Saturday was mostly a washout, and I do need to make hay whilst the sun still shines!

Earl Crag & Airedale's Neglected Hills: Steeton to Skipton  12.6 miles



Airedale from Intake Lane

Out by train to Steeton & Silsden, among the still-drunks and walkers of shame, for an early Sunday morning start at 9.15am, and head for the high ground by as direct a route as is possible, which means aiming to go through Steeton along Station Road, and seeing the town that I avoided on my previous start in this area. Another pleasant, if indistinct, sort of place, with a nicely located war memorial and a terrace with a gateway large enough to drive a coach and horses through in the middle of it, and it has a pub called The Goat's Head and my inner Rolling Stones fan has to wonder if it serves soup?  Barrows Lane is the steep ascent out of town, offering my first good view of the day back to the Nab End of Rombalds Moor, and it also has a rather nice conversion of the bobbin mill, ideal for anyone who never wants to have to walk home. Onward on the road, choosing to not take the detour along Redding Gill, and keep the wits sharp for a distance along the walled road that offers no scope for escape from crazy motorists, fortunately the Sunday drivers aren't out in force yet. 100m up and the path turns to Intake Lane, and no closer to the rough pasture that constitutes Steeton Moor, pressing on past the penned sheep and once another 50m has been ascended, the view into upper Airedale opens out, a variation on one of my favourite Yorkshire views, Flasby Fell looming over Skipton with Skipton Moor to its right and Barden Moor beyond, but with rather too much rain pounding down on Wharfedale to make it scrapbook-worthy. Of course, where I'm going is all on the south side of the Aire and I'm out to make sense of those many landscape wrinkles, and my route leads me on down the lane towards Summer House farm, before striking out over the fields to head southwards into the valleys of the Aire's tributaries, and cresting the hill offers the first view of Earl Crag, showing its eastern profile and looming high over the valley of Holme Beck.

Earl Crag from Valley Farm

I've got the traverse my way down Lumb Clough  before I can get up there though, and first point of call is the yard Valley farm, where a yappy dog gives me greetings, and its over the fields beyond there, finding that I hate passing over stone stiles when going downhill as they put you completely off balance when carrying a pack, and when your feet land awkwardly among bramble tendrils, you need to draw on all your ability to remain upright and not pitch head first into the bracken. Rough fields follow, and a look uphill show that Steeton Moor does have one purple field of heather among its many fields of sheep, whilst my trail leads my down to Long House Farm, whose dog is a lot less friendly and can only bark and run in circles thanks to being chained up. Across Ellers Road and the dogless Knowle Top Farm before hitting the short cut down through Lumb Clough, and hit the damp grass just as the weather takes the turn for the wet that forecasts had projected, and getting down into the trees does provide shelter but also presents horrible going again as another difficult stile could easily project the unwary walker into a thicket of holly bushes. Escape unscratched and an arrow painted on the wall directs me helpfully to the next horrible stile up, and I start to wish I hadn't taken this short cut as I descend into the next branch of the clough, but this bit turns out to be delightful as it's a secluded little glade that lights up beautifully as the sun comes back out, it even has its own little waterfall and would be a lovely place to linger if it wasn't for the flies. The path out is predictably slick and muddy but striking up to the next farm (with loud dog, natch) has me feeling better after the dubious moments, and the farm track above Clough Head has me looking down into a very deep gouge that I'm glad I'm not having to pass through. The next shortcut has me striking across another field of the sort of sheep who do not enjoy company, and flock together without provocation, and walk parallel to me as I go, but once I hit the road, I see that they are all marching as one to their water troughs, self-herding sheep? That's a new one to me!

Earl Crag

It's road walking for the next stretch, a popular route for cyclists it seems, and the tip of Lund's Tower peeking over the hill suggests that Earl Crag is only a couple of corners away, as the road rises and offers another good view down into Airedale and the combined towns of Glusburn / Cross Hills / Sutton-in-Craven. At the road corner, we hit the east edge of Earl Crag, showing definite signs of quarrying at this edge, but with a largely unspoiled apron of rock and bracken extending for over 100m below its exposed gritstone edge, and naturally, with this being the scenic destination of the day, the rain looks to be about to arrive with some force, coming on from over Pendle Hill in the southwest. Hurried tracks are made up the path on the face of the crag, to meet the ridge route and scurry to Lund's Tower to hope it offers shelter, which it does, and my pen light comes in handy as I ascend to get the view from some metres higher up as the rain and wind howl over me, moorland to the south, Airedale's neglected hills to the north and the valley of Holme Beck below, with the village of Cowling looking much bigger than it does on the OS map. Watering is done as I sit at the bottom of the spiral stairs, waiting for the weather to pass, which is eventually does and the view west to Wainman's Pinnacle and Pendle Hill beyond is much better with  a blue sky background, so progress can be made along the top of the crag, and its many gritstone formations can keep me entertained, along with the excellent panorama of views offered. Press on to Wainman's Pinnacle, where another walking party is lunching, and I can't offer you any history of this obelisk or the tower, so they will have to remain as follies for now, but a summit can be claimed as a 353m trig point stands here. I'd like to linger here, but I've got a schedule to keep to so carry on along the ridge as it descends slowly, taking in fresh views over the moorland to Lad Law and the Forest of Trawden, picking out a route to the farm with a massive pile of uncut stone and on down the grassy ridge to meet a gate with no wall on either side of it.

Earl Crag from High Stubbing

Once off the ridge, it's a steep field walk down to the edge of Cowling, picking out a route that leads over to Old Lane, and down by the non-conformist cemetery to meet the A6068, and noticing the signs that state it is only 5 miles to Colne provides a reminder that I really am quite far from home out here. Descend Gill Lane to cross Ickornshaw Beck, and hope to find a spot to lunch in the churchyard of Holy Trinity, but it offers on benches at all, so food is taken whilst sat in the bus shelter of the local primary school instead. Carry on the lane out of Cowling and eventually meet the Pennine Way as it merges with my route, and another day arrives as for me to make an informal acquaintance with it as the trajectory of the day heads north, descending to Gill Bridge and then hitting the fields to head around Cowling Hill. It's a steady 100m of ascent over eight fields, with the route never in doubt but it requires avoiding cows in one and a couple of stiles that are again hard work on what is supposedly the premier trail in this land, and too many fields don't offer a view of  what is beyond, making the ascent less fun and I must be getting less healthy as some of this going is lung bursting. Still good views are had looking back, Earl Crag dominating with its size and scale, and a little closer by the crag of Knoll Hill rising out of the terrain like the prow of a ship, and there's the derelict farm of High Stubbing alongside the path to tempt my desire to be on Grand Designs. Cowling Hill road is met at the 300m contour, and the descent immediately starts along Grandage Lane, trying to pick out the hills I will be traversing,  before hitting the fields again, for some sketchy going alleviated by cut steps in the turf, and more cows to be avoided before meeting Surgill Beck, having descended 100m, and then it's a field walk again as we hit the fringe of Town Edge Hill. It's a relatively modest ascent to Woodhead Farm, cresting after only 50m of climbing, and the next hill of Tow Top Moor is pretty obvious on the nearby horizon, but the descent down to the village of Lothersdale is less obvious, a scratchy path down by a broken wall, and there at least looks to be gear in place for some improvements to be enacted, but at the bottom, it feels someone really needs to get the strimmer out soonish.



Lothersdale & Tow Top

Into Lothersdale, and my interaction with the Pennine Way ends without me having met a single walker, and it's odd that this village should be relatively busy with them, but they are all choosing paths that I'm not taking today, and I need to keep moving on so there'll be no pint in the Hare & Hounds, and I'll scurry on through, rating the village as 'Ridiculously Picturesque' and planning to drop by again for another look at a later date. Hitting the bridleway to Top Top does not involve speed, in fact it has me slowing down severely as I'm well sheltered from the prevailing wind for the first time and the heat starts to get to me, a very slow 50m is ascended as I get out of the enclosed track and onto rough grass, and when the breeze is re-engaged it feels like a good time for watering and a few minutes of chilling out or basking. Take in the route I've just walked and the wrinkles of  Town Edge and Sweet Brow look pretty challenging from this angle, and I again ponder why this area is relatively under-used for walking, it's probably a bit too conventionally rural for most walkers' tastes I guess, and  ill-served by public transport as well, but checking over OL21 had me thinking that it's worthy of another couple of trips. Another 70m of ascent follows, meeting the lane that goes over the top of the hill, and it offers another fine panorama, with an eastern view of Skipton Moor showing its most impressive face, Farnhill Moor looking very purple indeed, along with the hill of Gib and its chimney standing over the Aire valley. Downstream, Nab end still stands out obviously, having never really gotten to far out of sight despite all the miles walked, whilst much of the day's route can be picked out southwards, whilst the west has Elslack Moor, the properly wild moor of this district, with Pinshaw Beacon at its summit and originally planned for this walk before it got trimmed off. My route is north, towards the tableau that rises above Skipton, and progress is made down to Babyhouse Lane for a stretch before the bridleway that leads to Tewitcote farm is met and another field of docile cows is crossed before the path swings around to go around the top of Burnt Hill, the high point of this ridge, featuring some proper moorland grass at long last and the upper Airedale view opens out above Ramshaw, the last hill of the day.

Ramshaw from Burnt Hll

This being a completely new vantage point has me momentarily confused as the hills rise out of sequence, with Barden Fell showing to the left of Skipton Moor, and Buckden Pike and Great Whernside appearing west of Barden Moor, illustrating that I have spent too much time getting familiar with these high lands from Wharfedale, but the sequence above far Airedale stands out nicely, with Ingleborough way off to the west, and Kirkby Fell and Fountains Fell standing out over Malhamdale, even the Forest of Bowland shows and I feel like I've had a really good day for views and vistas. So on the the ridge of Ramshaw, starting out with shoulder height grass and more marshy going underfoot than I like, but on firmer ground we land in the middle of grouse territory as I turn to cross to the opposite side of the ridge wall and startle about 60 of them from out of the long grass. I've said before that they are stupid creatures as their flight draws as much attention as possible, but up here its fun to watch the ones that attempt to be stealthy, hiding themselves and scuttling under the long grass and heather as if they thought they were the Viet Minh, only flying away when they are almost under my feet, they provide way more entertainment than they should. Taking a look down into the Aire valley it looks like there's a festival of some sort going on, judging by the big tent and the number of cars parked, the Beacons Festival apparently, never heard of that one, but everywhere seems to have one these days, when there might have been, what, three nationally when I were a lad? The descent starts to steepen and conifers appear along the path to provide some cover as I move off the moorland proper and startle another huge flock of Grouse before moving on into some dried up and shoulder high weeds for another field before arriving at the back of Carleton Biggin farm having descended another 100m.

Ramshaw form Pale Lane

This one of those paranoid houses which guides the footpath around the property before you are deposited on the driveway, and the folk driving up to the hose are definitely giving me the evil eye as they drive past, and then it's out onto the road for more alertness as this is not a good one for walkers, especially as Pale Lane hits a sharp descent down to the valley bottom beneath the cover of many trees, it really feels like the sort of place that you could easily be not seen and mown down. Survive, obviously, and enjoy the level walk down to the crossing of the Aire, and wonder what the four height indicators by the roadside might be for, I'll happily photograph myself by them as they give me a height of 5'7'', a couple more than I am in reality! Over the Aire at Carleton Bridge, grateful to have a pavement under my feet again, and then under the A629 bypass road, and past the cemetery before heading into Skipton, along Carleton Road and crossing over Eller Beck twice as I take the route past Sandylands Sports fields, offering an excellent view back to the neglected hills and confirming the fact that Ramshaw was the most impressive looking slope on that particular vista. Then it's over the railway line at the western throat of the station, and the A6069 to roll up at the railway station just after 3.30pm, a little later than I had planned for as today's going has been slower and much more up and down than I had expected, despite all the plotting that I had done beforehand. Still, I'm just in time to catch the train to Bradford, but a lack of a direct ride back to Leeds isn't a problem as a creative change at Shipley allows me to land the connection for Morley without too much overlap. Not bad at all for a Sunday, but I don't think I'm going to start making it into a thing, not because of a diminished availability of transport, or the enhanced solitude, but because i know my legs aren't going to thank me when I return to work on Monday morning.

Next on the Slate: Finally gonna do it, Calder to Aire.


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 782.2 miles
(2013 total: 316.9 miles)