The
Mrs's Dales Diary
This
page follows the Dales Way down Mid Wharfedale.
Mid
Wharfedale
Stage
13: Grassington to Barden Bridge
It
was one of those mornings that shouted at you "It
doesn't matter what you had planned, today you have
got to get out into the sunshine". As such
days have been all too rare this year, we ignored the
slightly fragile feeling caused by the Saturday night
excesses and resolved to make serious inroads into what
remained of the Dales Way. So, once Margaret had
completed her filial duties, we prepared to depart.
However, by this time- 11:30- and contrary to
all forecasts, it had clouded right over. What
was going on? Were the forecasts wrong or was this just
a junction 36 problem? We gambled on it being
the latter and true enough, by the time we got as far
as Kirkby Lonsdale, we had left the cloud behind and
it was a good an Autumn day as you could reasonably
hope for. The only downside was that half the population
of England seemed to have had the same idea and progress
was rather slow. Eventually we reached Skipton
and then a very busy Bolton Abbey where we turned north
up the Wharfe.
Foolishly
I had told someone on Saturday night that the logistically
difficult stages were now behind us and in the lower
part of the valley there was a good bus service. Sadly
that is not the case on Sundays. Not even on half
term Sunday. So the bike was making its second
appearance on the Dales Way. The aim was to walk
from Grassington to Barden Bridge, having previous deposited
the bike at the end point. However when arrived to deposit the bike we found that there
was no pub and the café marked on the map at
Barden Tower was actually a restaurant that closed at
4 p.m. and reopened at 7 p.m.- not exactly ideal for
leaving one's tired wife around sunset whilst the car
was retrieved.
Barden
Tower
|
Lady
Anne Clifford's Tower and Bike
|
Margaret,
however, seemed unperturbed so the bike was chained
to the Barden Tower board and we drove up the dale to
Grassington. This was when my forebodings really started
to kick in. The road was not only rather longer
than on the previous biathlon, it was considerably hillier
and although this meant it had superb views, I was not
looking forward to having to cycle it after the walk.
Appletreewick
from the high road
Once
we found just about the last parking place in the massive
overspill car park at the Yorkshire Dales Centre at
Grassington (the bus company forewent thousands in revenue
today) I consulted the map and noticed there was another
route along the east side of the valley that did not
look as hilly and had the merit of being much quieter,
so that was an option. Two other possibilities
were to go as far as Burnsall and then return on foot
to the car or to leave Margaret at Appletreetwick which
was a little off the track but where there definitely
were pubs, whilst I headed south to the bike and north
to the car.
Linton
Weir
|
Downstream
from Linton Weir
|
Comforted
by having such options, we made our way down to the
river and rejoined the Way, trying to make up lost time
by getting stuck into sausage and ketchup butties as
we walked. The guide book (which is largely superfluous
here other than as a source of information as opposed
to direction) describes the section from Grassington
to Burnsall as "immensely popular" and indeed it was
and understandably so. It is easy terrain and
delightful scenery, both natural and man made, right
from the beginning. First Linton weir and bridge,
and shortly afterwards Linton church with its stepping
stones approach.
Stepping
stones to .....
|
.....
Linton Church
|
Near
Hebdon there is another set of stepping stones and a
quite exciting suspension bridge, much wobblier than
the one over the Kent at Sedgwick!
Upstream
near Hebden
|
Suspension
bridge and stepping stones
|
Just
before you reach Burnsall there is the mini gorge of
Loup Scar where we stopped to eat the rest of our lunch
(other than that which went to the ducks) and, as we
had been going well, we took the decision to do the
full walk to Barden Bridge.
Loup
Scar gorge
|
Picnic
time
|
Burnsall
itself was an anti climax. The Way bypasses the
village and had we more time (or chosen the curtailed
walk) we might have branched off to explore. However
we pressed on, over the bridge and into a field where
it looked as if we might be challenged to pay 50p to
enter. I rehearsed my script about reporting the individual
for operating an unlicensed toll on a public right of
way. However no challenge was issued and we continued
on our Way, now much less populous.
Burnsall
Church
|
Burnsall
Bridge
|
We
saw the road leading off to Appletreewick but Margaret
was still happy that the wait at Barden Tower would
not be too onerous.
Cows
in the Way
|
Team
Picture
|
Near
Haugh, the character of the Way changes as we passed
through a wooded ravine that looked quite splendid with
all the autumnal colours after which we discovered yet
another set of stepping stones, this time to Drebley,
but whereas the previous sets had both been busy, no
one was interested in these.
Haugh
Wood Ravine
|
Footpath
to Drebley
|
The
sun was getting lower in the sky and we were starting
to slow somewhat by the time we reached Barden Bridge
where there was a line of cars neatly parked on the double yellow
lines with their rather expensive parking tickets tucked
under their windscreen wipers!
Autumnal
Evening Splendour
|
Barden
Bridge
|
All
that remained was to climb the hill to the Tower, pick
up the bike and retrieve the car. I decided that I would
take the easterly road back. Margaret seemed happy
enough, she had some coffee left, plenty of extra clothing
to put on as it got colder and darker and the guide
book to read whilst there was still light.
The
easterly road turned out to be a bit of a brute. After
the steep downhill to the river there was an almost
as steep uphill to Appletreewick, which looked a lovely
little village with two pubs- if anyone reading this
ever replicates our journey I recommend that on this
stage you leave the wife at Appletreewick. Or
even better- you stay at Appletreewick and let the wife
cycle back for the car.
I
have to say that all along this route, without exception,
all the drivers I met on the road showed me the utmost
consideration even though they must have been cursing
at being stuck behind this aging peddler wobbling his
way along. Near Hartlington I made a mistake and
followed the signs to Burnsall, forgetting that I should
have kept up the hill. In consequence I lost time
that I could not regain and height that I could at the
expense of more time retracing my route. It seemed
quite a long way along Scuff Road to Hebden and even
further to Grassington but after a very unimpressive
50 minutes I arrived at the car. By the time I
got back to Barden Tower I was outside the time parameters
I had told Margaret it would take but, bless her, she
said she was only just starting to get worried and had
not yet got too cold.
The
bike will definitely not be making another appearance
on the Dales Way which, if everything goes to plan,
we will finish at the next attempt with one long section
down to Ilkley. And hopefully a little celebratory
reward!
Don,
22nd October 2007
Distance:
7.1 miles with 745 feet of climbing (plus
7.7 miles and 968 feet on bike)
Cumulative 76.9
miles
|
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