Gargrave To Settle via Malham 03/03/12

The initial plan for 2012 was a plan of three months of walking to conclude with a planned holiday at the end, figuring that I'd need to have my walking legs well tuned for a week away. Each month was given an "Active" tag, and was to feature walking on every Saturday and available bonus day, and I rallied moral support and encouragement on my Facebook page from those surprised by my desire to get exercised and those who have their own healthy schemes. Trips to the Dales and an assault on the Leeds Country Way were to make up the bulk of the opening stretches and then stock was to be taken as Summer loomed (It's a known fact that hot weather and I are not good friends).

The initial 1,000 miles idea did not come into my thoughts at this time, only coming to mind when I took time to reflect at the end of June, but after polling my Facebook friends and getting precisely one response, I made the decision to count all my walks and that is why I will be blogging in retrospect until I catch up the five month backlog. I'm not a swift writer, so this might take a while...

Active March: Day One

Gargrave To Settle via Malham.  14.6 miles

So an early ride on the train to Gargrave, on the edge of the Dales, with no real certainty of what the walking day is going to bring. I had no idea whether to prepare for cold or wet, and the day had that unpromising quality that gave no indication of which way it was going to turn. I chose to prepare for cold, and ultimately it was the wrong choice, but this was all going into the "Learning Experience" file. No Idea either how much stuff to pack into my rucksack either, or how much food or water would I need, so the amount turned out to be "way more than necessary". Not certain how my legs were going to hold up either, having not doe an all day walk in 7 years, but there no real way to prepare for that except stocking up on fortitude.

Still, as the Friend of the Settle & Carlisle Line party of around 20 gathers and dons waterproofs at Gargrave station at 9.30am, I note that I might well be the youngest member, but am certainly not the worst prepared. That would be an old guy in a knee-length hooded leather coat and a pair of wellies, a man so distractingly odd, there's general glee when he vanishes from the group after about 5 miles when he deems the party to be "Going too slowly".

I rapidly learn a few things about the group walking dynamic, firstly, walk leaders such as today's can prefer to go at a speed more comfortable to them (ie. quickly) and rest stops only function as such for those at the head of the party, the slower folks can spend a lot of time playing catch up. Secondly, groups are predictably made up of people who most know each other and can seem a bit insular, this is not a problem for me as I can be quite happy to disappear in a crowd, but a few of the ladies seem to want to know who this new guy is, and I find out that walking seem to be the pastime of choice for public sector walkers as there are many people formerly employed in Schools and Hospitals out today.

Thirdly and most significantly, I find that walks do not necessarily take the shortest routes to their destination points, I'd guessed we'd head for the Pennine Way route toward the the River Aire at Airton, but instead we take a bit of a circuitous route via Eshton, Winterburn and Calton and there's a few point of interest along the way but it isn't really meaty Dales countryside and too many of the views are missed via social chatter and a persistent drizzle, that too quickly turns into a steady rain. It's a great feeling when the rain stops and the views of Malhamdale come out as we finally seem to be getting a day worth walking in.



Malhamdale

After hitting the Pennine Way path, and losing the weirdo, I learn another important lesson as we stroll along the River Aire path, mainly "Pay attention to what you are doing" because if you get to involved in conversation, you will not be looking at where you are putting your feet and you will either take spills or step into a quagmire, either way you will end up covered in shit. Soft conditions make if a bit of a slog and tramping through field where horse are exercised don't make matter any more fun, and that 1pm lunch date starts to feel too far away until the hills start to rise and you pass through the cleft in said hills at Scalegill Mill and the vista of Limestone Country opens up before you. So hurry on past Aire Head, where the river rises, and on into Malham, "Hello again, it's been a while", but there will be no trips to the dramatic Limestone sites or pints in The Buck, we only have time to get in lunch in the picnic are at the National Park Centre. Some of the ladies are alrady prepared to invite me to the walkers' Christmas dinner, assuming that I'll still be around come December time and me thinking that that is an odd thing to be dropping on a guy 25 years their junior. also, as I eat, I have two black chickens park themselves on my feet and I struggle to not drop any "Black Cock" jokes as we can't have the new kid being filthy like that!

Oh, yes, Walking. Onward out of Malham, up Long Lane, to hit the Bridleway to Nappa Cross and the day takes its turn from pleasant Spring afternoon to Horrifying deluge. I'm too slow to get my waterprrof trews on, so take the soaking I deserve and the whole ascent is 40 minutes of staring at the turf in front of you and trudging grimly, someone comments "Picked a fine day to get healthy!" and I wonder why I chose this as my exercise scheme. Hitting the summit of the pass below Kirkby Fell, crossing the English watershed, and having the rain lift reminds me of why I chose to walk, the view back towards Malham Tarn and Great Whernside is a spirits-lifter, and as we trudge down Stockdale, I remember that down here is possibly Yorkshire's best kept secret. It takes a while to get there, but the mid-afternoon sun comes out at just the right moment to light up Attermire Scar and Warrendale Knotts, massively impressive Limestone outcrops and scree slopes that make you wonder why people would travel to the Dolemites when we have our own version right here? Hidden away from view, except for the intrepid walker, unless you know exactly when to look back from the road.

Attermire Scar and Warrendale Knotts

Problem with this destination is that it's still 200 metres of descent into Settle from here in only a half mile of distance, so we need all our wits about us as we descend on a slick turf path and you just have to accept you are going to take a spill or two after a while. Comments are muttered darkly about our leader taking this path in conditions like this, and I'm amazed we escaped with only one minor injury in the party, my aching knees are happy when we hit the hard surfaces again for the last stretch into the town. There's a while before my train home is due, and the ladies are happy to invite me to one of the local cafes and I wonder if they are amenable to men covered in shit. Apparently so, but I take leave to walk down to the River Ribble to take a pic and prove that the watershed was crossed, and this proves to be further than anticipated, and going back uphill into the town seems a bit much, so I head for my ride home instead at 5pm. Taking stock, it seems that 14 miles is well within my compass without any real physical preparation, and getting out the map has me easily tracing the path we took, so I feel secure to start getting into solo walking, in admittedly less challenging territory, on the following weekend. The 17 minute train ride back through Gargrave hits the reality home; "Bloody Hell, that was a long way!".

1,000 miles cumulative total:  14.6 miles