Dales Way Day 6: Burneside to Bowness (10 miles)

Saturday 28 April, 2007

Today started with another grand riverside ramble, this time on the Kent. At some point after Cowan Head I arrived in the Lake District National Park. After Staveley height is gained on a succession of lanes and paths, the surroundings sprout knolls and crags and the hills display
their splendour.

After the marvellous viewpoint of School Knott the path is downhill to the lake in grand surroundings. Or it should do. On the three occasions I’ve been here only once have I stayed on the correct path, by Matson Ground and Brantfell Farm. For the second time I headed downhill prematurely and walked through endless housing estates before eventually navigating to the lake shore. I’d walked all the way to Bowness-on-Windermere without putting a foot, wrong until the last three miles.

Talking of feet – they were sore, with some blistering. I’d been walking in Brasher Ultralight boots. They are comfortable on day walks but probably not up to trail walking.

I met the German couple in the garden of a Bowness pub for a comprehensive debrief whilst waiting for a lift home. We left them off in York with an open invitation to visit them at an unknown address in Düsseldorf.

All things considered I was pleased with the walk. Despite some foot and stamina problems I’d kept to my schedule and walked more strongly as the walked progressed.

The Dales Way is a grand walk which I’d recommend to anyone, particularly as a first long walk.

Day 5: Sedbergh to Burneside (17 miles)

Friday 27 April, 2007

After an indifferent night at the Dalesman, sleep disturbed by music from the bar late into the night, I set off on the penultimate day in glorious weather. The first day apart, the gods were very kind. In fact the ground was much dryer and firmer than I had reason to expect in April.

The walk along the Lune, under the Howgills, was, as ever, magnificent. This stretch of the Lune must be one of the finest riverside walks in the Dales. The river teems with wildlife. I had a rare sighting of a Kingfisher on my last visit to its banks. Yet the M6, high on the hill side to the north, remains visible for much of the way.

It was on this section that my body adapted to the exercise: I actually began to enjoy the exertion.

The Crook of Lune is an idyllic spot: sparkling water, ancient bridge, renovated mill and picturesque cottage. I spoke briefly to an occupant of the mill. Her mother, who had provided drinks and a chat on both my previous visits, was still fit and well and offering hospitality to passing Dales Way walkers. Today must have been her day off; her daughter supplied the water.

The M6 seems to be in view for an age before it is eventually crossed and quickly left behind. The Dales have been left behind, the Lake District not yet entered. My memories from previous visits were that this in-between interlude was dull and lacking in interest. It must have been that the weather was poor or the spirits were low: today it was magnificent.

I didn’t see any walkers until I was having a final refreshment stop on the approach to Burneside. Tom and June, last seen at Cowgill, were charging down the hill as though it was their first mile on the trail. I beat them to the Jolly Anglers by ten minutes.

The reunion was enhanced an hour later when the German couple appeared, looking very much the worst for wear. They’d had a hard day, made worse by route finding errors. By the third pint their spirits were lifting. When they took their taxi to Kendal they were happy.

The Jolly Anglers is a good pub with fine food. It was a terrific evening. I particularly enjoyed the Landlord’s reaction when I asked for a non-alcoholic beer; I settled for lemonade. The rooms are basic and over-expensive though.

Accommodation: Jolly Anglers, Burneside, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 6QS (01539 732552)

Day 4: Cowgill to Sedbergh (10 miles)

Thursday 26 April, 2007

Another Dales Way couple, Tom and June, were at breakfast. They’d walked over from Raisgill yesterday and, like most other couples were using the Sherpa Van to move their bags along the trail. Unfortunately, Sherpa don’t cater for solo hikers on this route.

Tom and June, very fit in their late sixties, introduced themselves as being from Barrowford in Lancashire, “a place you’ll never have heard of.”

He was a retired Policeman who’d worked in that area for many years.

“We’re practically related”, I said. “I was reared within a mile of the Barrowford Cop Shop. I retired from Humberside Police seven years ago.”

The walk down to Dent was through lovely emerald green meadows in bright, warm sunshine. I was looking forward to a coffee in the village but little stirred and nothing was open as I walked through at eleven.

The revised route, over the River Dee at Brackensgill is a great improvement on the original by Rash Bridge, cutting out a mile of, admittedly very quiet, road walking.

Despite a long break on the hill above Millthrop admiring the Howgills, I was in The Dalesman in Sedburgh in plenty of time for a nap, leisurely potter around the town and visit to the laundrette.

Accommodation: The Dalesman Country Inn, Main Street, Sedbergh, Cumbria, LA10 5BN (015396 21183)

Day 3: Buckden to Cowgill (19 miles)

Wednesday 25 April, 2007

I was walking a bit further than I would have wished today. Ideally I would have spent the night in Ribblehead and taken my preferred alternative route by the Craven Way Track over the shoulder of Whernside to Dent the following day. That was not to be; there was no room at the (Ribblehead) Inn.

Because of the longer day I was hoping for an early start. In the event my leaving was later than I’d hoped: the breakfast and company were much too good. I said my farewells to the Leeds ladies, who were travelling at a slightly slower rate, and my hellos to a young German couple who weren’t.

The walk along Langstrothdale is one of my favourite sections of the walk. The Wharf runs fast wild in wild, remote and lonely surroundings. The long haul along Oughtershaw Side, up to the Cam High Road, can be, and was, trying. The only southbound Dales Way walkers were met on the climb, they were walking home to West Yorkshire.

When I first came this way with Rita we were greeted at Cam Houses with the offer of tea and a snack. Never did a bacon butty taste better. On the second occasion there was no bacon, but an invite to help ourselves to a brew of tea in the camping barn. This time the buildings were deserted.

It was cold on the Cam High Road, the only company was a trial biker manfully adding his own meagre scars to the horrendously churned and rutted track. I did my best to be rude.

The last few miles from Gearstones were a bit of a grind. I hit an energy gap. Not terribly surprising in view of my lack of preparation and fitness, but unwelcome nevertheless.

I eventually got to Lea Yeat after six, tired and footsore. No actual blisters had developed though.

After tea, a snack and a shower I couldn’t be bothered walking the mile back to the Sportsman Inn for a meal.

Accomodation: Quaker Meeting House Bed & Breakfast, Lea Yeat, Near Cowgill, Dentdale, LA10 5RF (01539 625592)

Day 2: Grassington to Buckden (12 miles)

Tuesday 24 April, 2007

I had a leisurely start from Kirkfield and shopped for fruit in Grassington before heading for the new route out of the village, avoiding Town Head Farm. The weather was dry and set fair for a dry day.

Up until that point I thought I was the only walker on the way Then I met two Leeds ladies and walked with them much of the way to Kettlewell. They were staying at the same digs in Buckden.

The walk to Kettlewell is along a high limestone terrace, giving improving views down into the valley and up towards the dale head, with Great Whernside and Buckden Pike lying sentinel over the Wharf: a taste of Dales walking at its best.

After a soup and roll break at the Racehorses Hotel a further riverside walk, pleasantly accompanied by herons and curlews, brought the day’s exertions to an early close at the Romany Cottage. The welcome there was warm and genuine, with the evening being enhanced by an improved Buck Inn.

Despite a gentle two days of walking my feet were beginning to complain: no blisters, just sore toes and heels.

Accommodation: Romany Cottage, Buckden, Skipton, BD23 5JA (01756 760365)

Day 1: Bolton Abbey to Grassington (12 miles)

Monday 23 April, 2007

It was about eleven when I left my lift and set off over the Wharf footbridge at Bolton Abbey. OK, I’d cheated a little and, this time, skipped the first miles from Ilkley to make up for the late start. The missing 5 miles, whilst a pleasant enough walk in the urban fringe, are merely a prelude to the first class walking that follows (that was my excuse anyway).

The rain started just as I emerged from Strid Woods into open country and continued on and off for the rest of the day. Probably because of the weather there were few other walkers about leaving me to enjoy the riverside stroll along the Wharfe in the company of the birds.

The walk was pretty well uninterrupted, save for a 45 minute soup and roll break at Burnsall. I was drying off over a cup of tea in the kitchen of Kirkfield before four.

Accommodation: Kirkfield, Hebden Road, Grassington, BD23 5LJ (01756 752385)

Dales Way Introduction

The Dales Way was the first long-distance walk I’d attempted. That was back in September 1992 with ‘er indoors, Rita. We enjoyed it so much that we walked a couple of trails a year for much of the rest of the decade, until Rita’s health problems put an end to her active participation.

I walked many more paths, including a second visit to the Dales Way in spring 2000, with a friend. Then, somehow, I drifted away from my usual walking companion, lost the walking habit and got fat.

I got a grip in 2007, adopted a plant and fish diet, forswore the booze and got off my bum a little more frequently.

It was time to walk the Dales Way again, this time as a solo walk. I wasn’t sure I’d enjoy walking alone. In the event I loved it.

The Dales Way Handbook from the Dales Way Association is an invaluable planning resource. I used my 1990 edition of the “Dales Way Companion” by Paul Hannon, in conjunction with route updates from the Dales Way Association website. The way has changed remarkably little in the 15 years since I first walked it.