As my last 10 walks from home have all been somewhere in the vicinity of the River Calder, I think it's time to find some other part of Yorkshire to explore before the season comes to an end, so it's to upper Airedale we head for a complete change of scenery. I'd fancied a shot at the FOSCL walk from Dent to Ribblehead today, but the changeable weather put me off that, and its wouldn't have linked up my walks in the Dales as the section from Garsdale to Dent would have been missing and I'm not going to venture solo into the Dales at this time of year. So instead, let's at least stitch together my canal walks in West Yorkshire to my ambles in the lower Dales and also return to part of the scene of my very first walk of 2012's season, and to get in one of the hills that I have observed many times. After all there are not that many opportunities for a canal walk and a summit on the same day!
Skipton & Flasby Fell Circular, by the Leeds & Liverpool Canal path to Gargrave,
and return via Skipton Woods and the Springs Branch. 13.1 miles.
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The Leeds & Liverpool Canal,
& Flasby Fell |
Train issues delay my arrival in Skipton until 9.45am and I make a quick break under leaden skies to get to my start point at bridge 176 on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, and I'm only a few paces in when it starts to rain hard, so I throw on waterproofs and the passing boaters look at me like I'm mad to be out in this weather. Pass the ends of the terraces and Aireville Park on the opposite bank, and countryside comes on pretty quickly as we pass under the A629 Skipton Bypass bridge, and then Niffany farm presents itself and its Swing Bridge, along with a path that seems squeezed in between the fenced off moorings and the A6029, and the barriers make you feel secure that you will not be mown down by passing traffic. Rejoin the canal path and as it's grass and not hard surface, the going is soft and every footfall feels that bit more effortful than it should. Beyond the A59 bridge, views into upper Airedale become apparent and our first look at Flasby Fell doesn't show its familiar two-summited profile and most of the upper reached are shrouded in cloud, which feels unpromising. As the rain eases off, I look down to the river Aire and the railway line crossing it, but don't get that coincidence of passing trains that I seem to have enjoyed this year. Views I do get include a huge squadron of cyclists on the A65, a Boy's Brigade company acting up on a passing barge and my only sight of a man with a shotgun retrieving the pheasant that he had shot (I have eard plenty of them through the season. Approaching the Systagenix works outside Gargrave, the weather turns for the favouravle and there's enough sunlight to cast shadows and that's enough to raise the spirits, and thence it's under the A65 to Holme Bridge Lock, marking the end of the 17 mile pound that started back in Bingley all those weeks ago.
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The Canal and Flasby Fell
from Gargrave |
Sunshine improves the scenery and it looks like Flasby Fell has been cleared of cloud as I hit the stretch into Gargrave, which feels further away than it should do, and bits of canal architecture are here to be appreciated, the aqueduct over Eshton Beck, the bridges 172 and 171, and the warehouse at Gargrave wharf, and emerging up to Eshton Road Lock brings us to the meeting point of my first walk thus creating an unbroken web of walks that stretch from my house to three different corners of West Yorkshire, and all the way to Ribblehead, a pretty remarkable achievement for a single year! Take elevenses as the weather threatens a turn for the much worse but the downpour lasts all of 10 minutes as I head off along Eshton Road, past the most attractive gatepost in the West Riding and leaving the trail from nine months ago to carry along the road to take the junction to the pavementless Flasby road, where traffic must be carefully dodged. Pass the grounds of the architecturally composite Eshton Hall and over Eshton beck to pass one of the gatehouses to Flasby Hall, the sort of manor house which appears to be well hidden from all angles. After a mile of road walking, we join a footpath over the fields to Flasby and it looked like the sort of route that might get tenuous on the ground but a fence provides a guide as to which way to go and as we ascend the first views up to Malhamdale appear and Flasby Fell finally gains its two summits. I pause to water, and consider that I feel lucky that the weather has turned for the favourable, and also realise that this is probably the first walk of the entire year that I have plotted for myself, rather than following a pre-existing trail or path, or having had someone else do the thinking for me.
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| Flasby Fell from Flasby |
Descend down to the hamlet of Flasby, and cross Flasby Beck and set off between the farm buildings to find the bridleway that crosses the Fell. First section leads into a wide ditch under the cover of trees before opening up to offer more views into Malhamdale and the sight of clouds hanging in High Wood long after the rain has passed, or are the trees steaming? I find that the only bench in the area is already occupied by the only other walkers seen on the Fell, and I bid that trio a Hello before finding a field that the path crosses without leaving a trod of any kind and that provides soft going until I reach the gate that leads to the access land, here a convenient rock is found to sit on to have lunch. Press on with the ascent, and find Highland cattle grazing in force, but they don't cause issues as they are docile beasts before I find a most unwelcome descent to cross a stream that provides way too much mud and moisture. Dark mud and long reedy grass forms most of the path as I continue the ascent, using my best judgement to find a passage that won't have me sinking and I'm glad to have my stick once more, I have encountered harder going than this but today is easily the wettest going on well-trodden paths this season, understandable after all the rain of the previous week, I suppose. The lower summit of the fell, Rough Haw (339m), doesn't have any obviously mapped paths, so it is attempted by aiming for a cleft in its crag on the west side and the path isn't as steep as I'd anticipated but it is narrow so foot placement has to be careful. A few harsh minutes for lungs and thighs pass before we pop out onto the plateau and walk around the top of the crags to make for the cairn that might be the high point. If it's not the exact summit, it offers views all the way over upper Airedale and Malhamdale, Kirkby Fell and Grassington are clear in the north and Pendle Hill rises off to the south, and more nearby are the upland masses of Embsay Moor and Skipton Moor, which both deserve a future excursion.
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| Flasby Fell from Skyrakes |
The path to Sharp Haw, the higher summit (357m) is clear, but the descent through the rocks to the lea between the summits requires great care as it is again soft and slippery, and the major problem of Gritstone country becomes super apparent, for after rain is is always waterlogged. The route up to Sharp Haw is a straightforward ascent, but harder as my legs are starting to feel it, so keep your eye on the trig point and be thankful that the profile of the hill is unchanging with no false summits to tease you. Second summit is made and it's a proper summit peak (as Wainwright would have it) and the views are predictably much the same, though here we have a clear line of sight down into the woods and crags of the southern side of the fell as well as better looks to the valley below and to Skipton and Gargrave. The cloud is still high, but a look to the west suggests that the weather is going to worsen, so it's going to be best to make tracks swiftly, so head over the style off the summit and follow the long path off the top of the fell down over the moor known as Skyrakes. Again the ground is wet, like walking on an enormous sponge, so you don't sink as you walk but every footfall has water squirting up your trouser legs, and this goes of for a mile and a half until a firm farm track is met which leads to Bog Lane. A look back presents Flasby Fell's familiar profile of sharp top / flat top and Bog Lane twists a couple of times before we hit the fields that lead to Grassington Road and I'm puzzled that these low fields have attracted more walkers than the high moors managed?
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| Skipton Woods & Eller Beck |
Finally we're off the aquatic paths and from the Craven Heifer Inn to the A65 paths have been cut alongside the road, I assume to prevent drinkers from getting run over on their return trip from the pub. Crossing the A65 brings us to the north edge of Skipton, but a detour through the suburbs takes us over to Short Lees Lane which will take us into Skipton Woods. This lovely and appropriately autumnal wood is free to roam but it would be unwise to tackle its slopes and it's a much better idea to keep to the paths which lead you all the way across its upper edge to cross Eller Beck at the point that if flows from under the A65. Also nice to see that all human life is out here today, young and old, local and foreign, even as the day takes its turn towards the colder half of the afternoon, and I carry on down the side of Eller Beck, Round Dam and alongside the millrace, gladly handling a camera for the international student girls who want their picture taken. The Woods end, but it's only a short walk along the road before the path leads over Eller Beck and to the top of the Springs Branch of the Leeds & Liverpool canal. I can't be sure why quarrying ever took place at such proximity to Skipton castle, but that industry is responsible of the cut and wharf that sits below the sheer rock face with the castle atop it, and with Eller Beck retained high above it, where the water is flowing from the field drains with much drama and ferocity. It's an altogether marvellous location, but damned hard to photograph, and you have to share the narrow path between beck and canal with many other people, so I'll endeavour to return here on a more favourable day too.
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| The Springs Branch, Skipton |
Pass the watermill next to Mill Bridge and take a gander up to All Saints church and find that the levels of canal and beck have become the same very rapidly, and pass alongside the moorings and find myself loving the flats along Back of the Beck, and resolve to live here if I somehow come into very large sums of money. Under Coach Street bridge and that's the end of the Springs Branch, and even as the afternoon glums up there's still tourist boating going on around Skipton Wharf and I pause to admire the statue of Fred Trueman and wonder how one of English Cricket's fieriest bowlers turned into one of its most tedious old bores in later life (see also: Willis, Bob). The path that I thought existed alongside the north side of the canal back towards the railway station turns out to not exist, and we have to take our way back over Coach Street bridge and after finding that I won't have time to make the train I'd been aiming for I stop to treat myself to Fish & Chips at Bizzie Lizzies, and as I'm an outdoors type now, I prove my resolve by taking my food outside to eat as the daylight fades around me. Of course, stopping to eat means I have to hurry up to catch the next train, so I tear it up along the path to close the loop and strike my pose at Bridge 176 again, as more passing boaters look at me like they think I must be mad, and with that moment of symmetry to end the day, it's back to Skipton Station to conclude at 4.15pm.
1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 458.9 miles
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