England - Dales - Grassington Wharfedale Circular

Walk Summary

A lovely walk with modest gradients. Starts over the low moors to the west of Grassington. Includes a view of the awesome Kilnsey Crag. Returns to Grassington through the pretty Conistone and along the Dales Way. Finale with the impressive Linton Falls.

Date: 27/11/2022

Length: 12.14 miles

Height Gain: 355 m

Terrain: Boggy moorland trails, grassy paths, stone paths, lightly used roads, Landrover tracks, pavements (Skipton)

Navagation: Map/compass and gps required. The route is reasonably well signed. The tracks across the moors are fairly obvious. Key navigation points are shown on the map.

Start: Linton Falls Carpark

Route: Linton Falls Carpark, Linton, Moor Lane, Boss Moor, Threshfield Moor, Malham Moor, Conistone, Dales Way, Grassington

Map: OL2 Yorkshire Dales Southern And Western Areas

Weather: Cloudy with sunny intervals,

Walkers: Nun

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Moor Lane

Captain's Log

Moor Lane

I parked at the Linton Falls carpark near Grassington. As I kitted up I was disappointed to find spots of light rain pattering on my face. The forecasters had promised me a sunny day today. What do they know? On the footpath over to the village of Linton, I looked north-westwards and could see a menacing haze of rain making its way down the Wharfedale valley towards me. At least I think it was making its way towards me; maybe it was drifting away from me. There was no wind and it was hard to tell. I crossed my fingers and hoped for a dry day.

The pretty village of Linton felt as though it was waking up as I walked through. One house had 5 pints of milk and a dozen eggs delivered to their doorstep. That was either a big family or one hungry resident. Over to the southeast, apart from a few wisps of cloud, the Burnsall and Thorpe Fells looked quite bright and cheery. Maybe I'd be lucky and sidestep that worrisome Wharfedale weather.

A trails bike was parked near the start of the Moor Lane track. There was no sight of its owner. How odd. A sign on the gate indicated that motor vehicles weren't allowed along the track and that there were police patrols in the area. I passed the lane later in the day, and the bike was gone. Further up the Moor Lane track a chorus of baaing started up, from the many sheep in a neighbouring field. At first I thought it might be due to my presence, but when I looked back I could see a farmer's Landrover slowly making its way up the track. Sheep have amazingly good ears, or maybe I've got particularly bad ones. Maybe my ears were just tuned into the grinding, drilling, sirens and engine throbs emanating from the Swinden Limestone Quarry on my left. In some respects it is distinguished by absence, rather than presence. It seemed odd to see so much of a hill that had almost magically disappeared.

Swinden Limestone Quarry

Path To Kilnsey

The next stage of the walk involved walking over a number of moors: Linton, Boss, Threshfield and Malham. It looked like the Linton and Boss moors were Tweed Trouser Brigade haunts. This had the benefit that I could follow good paths across them. On the side of Boss Moor I got a glimpse of Winterburn Reservoir; a tick on my Yorkshire Reservoir Venture, that I hadn't anticipated. As I headed northwards to Malham Moor, I glanced over to the east to see if Malham Cove or Gordale Scar would come into view, but they remained tucked away.

At Height Laithe a farmer had used the medium of white paint and a tyre to convey a message of keeping dogs on leads. At Malham Moor Lane, a larger tyre gave him space to inform me that this was a requirement of the 1953 Protection Of Livestock Act. A rabbit had come to a particularly grisly end in front of the tyre. I wasn't sure whether this was the result of the irate farmer, or whether a car had run over it. The carcass didn't looked squashed and so it may have well been the former.

'CYCLIST BEHIND!' I nearly jumped out of my skin as the cyclist scooted by. The man apologised for scaring me. I'd forgotten that I was on a bridleway. The natural highlight of today's walk was the overhanging limestone crag at Kilnsey. As I made my way down from Malham Moor, I could see a huge limestone cliff that I at first took to be the crag. Once nearer though, I could see that these were the cliffs of Cool Scar Quarry. How odd that such an unnatural feature should be allowed to be created so near to the vatural Kilnsey Crag.

Kilnsey Crag

Looking Back To Rylestone Fell

Conistone Lunch Companions

Conistone

My route didn't quite take me near enough to Kilnsey Crag to get a good view. Some electricity wires were annoyingly in the way too. I've found that the best view is actually when you pass it on the road to Kettlewell. I made my way into the village of Conistone and found some benches in its centre. It was time for lunch and so I sat down on one accompanied by three models of Shaun The Sheep at my side. While eating my bap, the cyclist, who had crept up on me on Malham Moor, approached the centre. I thought about shouting something once he'd cycled by, to see if I could make him jump. Unfortunately he recognised me, and gave me a wave. I waved back.

I took the path that climbs up out of Conistone towards the Dales Way. I caught up with two elderly men and we started chatting. One was from Dent and the other from Leeds, and they said that they regularly meet up 'somewhere in between', and go for a walk. The older man looked as though he was struggling a bit and his walking gait looked a little painful. 'We've done four miles this morning,' he informed me, and so he'd done pretty well. I left them, and continued upwards. I came across a ravine, that was more interesting in reality, that it looked on the map. On the other side of that, I joined the broad balcony over which the Dales Way runs.

Grassington

I found a hole next to the pathway on the Dales Way. Somebody had put some wooden stakes and wire mesh over the top of it. I wondered if it was the top of a mine shaft, but looking on either side, I could see that it was in a line of sink holes. It does make you wonder about the fragility of the landscape that we walk over. Maybe it's best not to think too much.

I made my way down into the centre of Grassington. It was the usual Dales town of gift shops, cafes and pubs. It was quite homely and welcoming. I headed straight out towards the National Parks Visitors Centre, and followed Sedber Lane to Linton Falls. Plenty of water was coming down the River Wharfe making the waterfalls look impressive. I plodded back to the carpark, thankful of a nearby water trough to clean the ends of my trekking poles.

The bad weather never materialised on today's walk. I enjoyed the Dales moorland walking and all the gradients were easy. The route didn't compromise on the views though.

Linton Falls

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