Blubberhouses Moor

Monday, 25th April

11.7 Km (7.2 miles) - 2hr 55 mins

Only 6 miles from our front doorstep and you feel like you are in the wilderness !! This walk is on the opposite side of Ilkley's more famous Cow and Calf Rocks and affords great views both back down the Washburn Valley and across to Ilkley's more famous location. 

The walk started at Trimble itself (GR SE179529). This small hamlet if a favourite starting point for many ramblers, not least because the Timble Inn used to offer refreshment after one's exertions.  Sadly, in the current economic climate it only has limited opening times and (strangely) Bank Holiday Monday isn't one of them !!  Bah ! I was quite looking forward to a pint!

After a short stretch of road walking the routethen heads past Sourby and climbs towards Ellescar Pike (GR SE159522).  Here the true moor walking begins as we followed High Badger Gate - a path!  Apparently,and  according to the guide book, a badger was a corn merchant and the moors are criss-crossed with route used by these merchants. 

Our next port of call was finding Geocache GC1K2KP This was easier than expected as the heather had all been burnt leaving the rock, under which the cache was hidden, more exposed than it would have been.

A stride further on took us to the high point of the walk at Lippersley Pike (GR SE143524).  From here it is a quite strenuous stretch (although, thankfully a short one) across Gawk Hall Ridge to Gawk Hall Gate itself.

Here, I'm sad to say, the guide book did not really help and the way is quite confusing across Blubberhouses Moor itself.  However, we managed it and landed (eventually) at Anchor Farm.  From here it is a short stretch through Beecroft Moor Plantation and back to the starting point.

Another good day's walking (apart from the confusion across the moor).  The weather was mixed, starting with bright sunshine but becoming cloudy and breezy on the way.  Still, a good way to spend a Bank Holiday.

Set of pictures available from this link

Twisleton Scars

Friday, 22nd April

11 kms (6.84 miles) - 2:35mins

A glorious day (Good Friday) with hardly a cloud in the sky, although there was quite a haze, as Gill and I got into some training for our Diabetes WellWalk which is due to take place at the end of May.

Chapel Le Dale, where the walk starts from, has long memories for me.  My mother went to school here.  Sadly, the school is now a bunk barn but in the early 1940s she would walk some three miles from home near Blea Moor Tunnel to attend school. Secondly, in the early 1970s I was part of the Skipton (Congregational) Scout Group.  Each year we would man a checkpoint at the Hill Inn for the annual Dalesman Axe Walk.  I can't find any mention of this competition now, so can only presume it no longer takes place.  Anyway, we would arrive on the Friday evening to pitch camp and then spent the night in the Hill Inn.

A group of hungover men would then stand around waiting for the competitors to descend from Ingleborough to be checked in before the set off up Whernside.

Enougn reminiscence, the walk starts at Chapel Le Dale (GR SD 737771) and the first port of call is St. Leonard's Church.  Here lie the bodies of a number of navvies, killed whilst working on the Settle to Carlisle railway and, in particular, Ribblehead viaduct which is only a couple of miles away. The route takes a path by the church and climbs away to Ellerbeck, one of those distinctive Dales farms that looks idyllic in warm April sunshine but must take on a different complection in January and February.

Here the route turns away and heads straight across the moor, with spectacular views back across to Ribblehead and Ingleborough which looms large throughout the whole walk.

Ewes Top (GR SD705760) provided a welcome stop for some lunch before descending Twisleton Scar End and briefly joining the long string of walkers on the Ingleton Waterfalls Walk. Whilst they headed for Beezley Falls, we turned left onto the old Roman Road that leads under the Scar back to Chapel Le Dale and the walks end,

Superb weather, if a little hazy and a good start to a month that gives four Bank Holidays and the prospect of more walking to come.  

Set of photographs from the link

John O'Gaunt's Castle

Sunday, 10th April

10 Miles (16.4Km) - 3hr 26 min

Well, it's been a while.  For various reasons I haven't been able to get out and about (well, walking wise) since the middle of March.  However, with bright blue skies and the temperature reaching the high teens I felt it was time to get back into the routine, although I probably wouldn't have chosen a 10 mile hike - but that's part of the story !

The walk starts from a Forestry Commission car park (SE 236522) on a sharp bend on the road between Norwood and Beckwithshaw.  The first section is on metalled roads that leads across some fairly barren moorland before skirting Scargill Reservoir and then drops down into the valley before a short climb to Long Liberty Farm and the second reservoir known as Beaver Dyke. This is swiftly followed by John O'Gaunts Reservoir.

The day was absolutely glorious with hardly a cloud in the sky and temperatures rose pretty quickly (I left the car park at approximately 9.30 a.m.).  After skirting around the final reservoir you have the chance to leave the route and visit John O'Gaunt's Castle - in reality the ruins of an old hunting lodge.  However, I chose to stick closely to the route (I thought) until, checking my GPS I found I'd missed a turning and was probably a 1/2 mile off course !  Quick about turn and re-tracing steps time !

The route then cuts across fields eventually reaching Bland Hill (SE 2075310). After a few hundred yards of negotiating the busy B6451 the roadside is escaped to cut through fields and up the hill to Norwood Edge (SE208515).  Here I had my second set back of the day as I blindly followed my nose to nowhere !!  Once again it was a case of retracing my steps with the aid of the GPS to find myself back on some kind of track. 

In fact it was a rather delightful track through Norwood Edge Plantation and out of the (by now) quite fierce sunshine !  The end of the plantation offered the sight of Little Alms Cliff (SE 232522) in the (not too) distance, and, although the finish was in sight it proved the perfect place for a spot of lunch before heading back home !

A delightful walk with fantastic views at some points, especially across Haverah Park with its windmills and the golf balls of Menwith Hill in the background.

Selection of photos available from the link