Dales Way

The morning involved following the Dales Way towards Kettlewell. The path is halfway up the hillside and so there were good views across the valley and down to the River Wharfe. The path was easy to follow in that it had very short grass. It was almost as if somebody had preceded me on the route with a lawnmower ten minutes earlier.

A few runners jogged past me and a couple of hikers that looked like they were doing the full Dales Way.

The OS map is littered with tantalising descriptions such as: 'medieval village (site of)', 'field system', 'hut circle and field system' and 'settlements'. In reality there is nothing much to see as evidence. Ironically, a large lime kiln that is reasonably intact, isn't marked on the map.

Throughout the morning I could hear gunfire. The source seemed to be somewhere across the valley along Littondale. It was so persistent and loud I wondered if it was some military exercise although I'm not aware of any MoD areas nearby. It must have been the tweed trousers brigade.

As I got nearer to Kettlewell the hills appeared higher with a white frost visible on the highest ones.

Conistone Horses

The path started going back up the hillside again through a field full of horses. I was surprised to see them so high up, although they all had coats on. Two of them started approaching me. I'm a bit wary of horses and fortunately I was able to get on the other side of a gate before they reached me. They were just curious though and wandered away when they realised I had no food for them.

Linton Falls

The path was all downhill now to Grassington. It went past the derelict Bare House. An old enamel bath was placed in the doorway to the privvy and had grass growing out of it. It started to rain which had arrived ahead of time projected by the BBC weather forecasters.

The dairy was still clanking away as I returned through Grassington along ths same route I'd used this morning. There was no skip driver to mow be down this time, but I still had to make use of the pedestrian safe area to keep out the way of a more considerate car driver.

I fulfilled my promise to visit Linton Falls on the way back. They really are quite impressive. The Wharfe produces plenty of white water and noise. There is a footbridge over the top of the falls and is a great vantage point to view them. It was still spotting with rain and was very murky and so my photos don't really do the waterfall justice. The water was flowing too fast for a game of Pooh Sticks.

Just as I approached my car, the sun appeared for the first time of the day and cast a golden glow on the hillsides. I did think of going back to Linton Falls to catch them in this golden glow, but no sooner had I thought it, the sun went in again.

I'd enjoyed the walk. It had been a fairly easy with good paths and some great views into the Wharfedale valley. It would be a nice summer walk although I could see Linton Falls being a bit of a honey spot for tourists.