Favourite Walks and Rambles

[Callunna]

I do have Endomondo on my iPhone but so far haven’t the patience to set it all up. I’m sure it will be worth it when I finally get round to it, especially for completing the Barlick walks project. (If anyone wishes to help out on this, please DO let me know!)

In the meantime I also have a free pedometer app which is much more straightforward if you just want to know how far you’ve been, how many steps you’ve taken, what your average speed was and how long it took. You more or less just press a Start and Stop button (which suits me fine!).

The walk was actually 1.7 miles and apart from some of the greyhounds having difficulty negotiating stiles it was a great afternoon out.

Having a very intelligent and agile lurcher like Gracie has spoiled us - I didn’t realise that although greyhounds are beautiful, graceful and on the whole gentle creatures, they are in fact thick as a brick up top. Even their owners admitted they were “Special Needs”.

I say gentle, but one of them took a small chunk out of Gracie’s leg at one point. Apparently anything furry and moving (Gracie’s tail, rabbit, whatever) triggers off an attack in this particular dog.

[PanBiker]

Took the opportunity to catch a bit of the snow before it all disappears, a thaw seems to have set in but still very cold in the wind. Just done a quick circular through a few of the fields and lanes around the town. Went down behind Robinson Court and the back of the stable out into the fields behind Fernbank. Snow was up to a foot deep on the path up to here. Turned up through the fields to Cow Pasture Farm and on up onto the lane to Hollins. Left here and down into the bottoms and then a right up the side of the beck and on up to Springs Farm. Not a lot of water in the beck yet but a few of the field drains into it starting to flow. It will certainly earn its keep when this lot goes although it is likely to be a slow melt. Through the farmyard and up into the field above the dam and out onto Esp Lane. Back down home from here via Westgate and Walmsgate. Endomono tracker on my phone shows it as 2.5 miles, completed in just short of 50 minutes. A decent CV workout but note to self to get the bikes out as soon as possible. Need a bit more of a "run in" before getting back up to three peaks country.

[Wendyf]

Good to hear that you are out walking again Ian. We have a 14 mile walk planned on the Dales Way in April from Buckden to Ribblehead but I am finding the thought a bit daunting at the moment. The muscles and the lungs are OK but my joints say NO!

[PanBiker]

Sounds good Wendy but I know what you mean. Our lack of activity since early November when family matters took over have certainly taken their toll. We have been on odd rambles recently but I know a lot more miles will be needed to get back to the level that we were at last summer. We went out on the bikes most nights for anything between 5 -10 miles and then walked at every opportunity with the odd foray onto the higher fells. I like the individual circulars on the Yorkshire three peaks, a few different ways of doing each and I never tire of my favourite Penyghent. I love the walk and the hill is one of the prettiest you could possibly find. I have done it in all weathers and each time on the hill is a different experience which is what I love.

[Stanley]

I'll settle for Valley Gardens, Butts and what could be my last coal order of the winter at B&Ds. (Mind you, I thought that the last time!)

[PanBiker]

Good to hear that you are out walking again Ian. We have a 14 mile walk planned on the Dales Way in April from Buckden to Ribblehead but I am finding the thought a bit daunting at the moment. The muscles and the lungs are OK but my joints say NO!

Have you done this yet Wendy, or is it yet to come? Would love to hear how you went on, please post when it's behind you.

[Wendyf]

It was supposed to be last week Ian when my brother & sister in law came to stay, but we decided against it for various reasons.
Apart from a couple of health problems among the party our main concern was leaving poor Alfie home alone for the whole day with him being old & not too well.
The plan was to get the early morning bus from Skipton to Buckden, then walk to Ribblehead in time to catch the train back, so we would have been under pressure to get to the station on time. It would be a shame to miss out that section of the Dales Way, so we'll have to look again for a way of splitting it up into shorter sections.
We got a soaking going up Weets on the Thursday then had a glorious 6 and a bit mile walk on the moors above Widdop reservoir last Friday. My hip has been complaining since, so I'm glad we didn't attempt the 14 mile walk!

[Sue]

We had a lovely walk along the tow path of the Nantes to Brest canal yesterday. We just walked from one tow path to the next and back, about 4 miles. It was a lovely stroll after a lovely lunch sat out in the garden of the creperie. Mustn't get too used to this. Back home on Monday. I arrived in jeans, two jumpers, thick socks and a thick coat. I haven't used the coat since it stopped raining on Sunday. The last two days I have been in a thin T shirt and jeans and today I have abandoned the socks.

[PanBiker]

Your walk sounds nice Sue, especially with a visit to the creperie, always a bonus. Wendy, your planned walk sounded good but understandable that you gave it a miss with your present circumstance with Alfie. I think I will struggle to get back into the bike rides and longer walks at first but at the end of the day, you can only do what your body lets you. You don't want to be paying for a nice walk for days after the event.

[Stanley]

"you can only do what your body lets you" How true Ian and the trick is to find the lim its and not exceed them. I'm afraid I'm getting to the point where the mileage is taking its toll but not depressed by it. Just Nature taking her course!

[PanBiker]

Got back on the horse so to speak yesterday with a jaunt up Weet's in the afternoon. Strange as it might seem, its about 8 months since I was last on a hill. We are taking Dan up Phenyghent in a couple of weeks and I thought it a good idea to try and put a few miles in before the event. Had a bit of lunch and set off at about 2pm, made the trig in 40, minutes, not my best time but not bad after the lay off. Spent a bit of time listening with my little handheld radio. Put a few calls out but no takers. quite windy so I set off back down, 1 hour 24 minutes in total for the 4.31 miles. Not many on the hill at all to say it was quite a nice day.

[Stanley]

How dare you waste time walking up Weets! On the other hand, a bit of fresh air might have sharpened your brain up.....

[PanBiker]

One thing I noticed as I got to the summit was the amount of Cotton Grass on the top. I came home over the tops from Carleton yesterday and It's a similar story over Elsalck and Earby moors. The rougher fields are awash with it, never seen as much before.

[Wendyf]

I noticed all the cotton grass over the tops last week. Isn't it wonderful up there? I got a bit weepy and emotional about it when I was driving to Skipton on Thursday

[Stanley]

Wendy, "weepy and emotional" reminds me of David Moore at Nelson College who got very annoyed one morning when an English Literature teacher was late for his annual assessment interview. When the bloke eventually arrived he apologised and said that on his way in he had seen a dead bird by the roadside and was so affected he had to stop immediately and write a poem. As David said, "What could I say? After all I pay him to be sensitive!"

[Wendyf]

We had a lovely walk with friends yesterday from Wycoller to Haworth following the "Bronte Way". Leaving one car at Laneshawbridge we drove to the Wycoller car park on the Haworth road to start the 9 mile walk. We arrived in Haworth about ten minutes too late to catch the 1.14 steam train to Keighley, but enjoyed a leisurely cuppa and a wander through the town before catching the next train. The last stage was a bus back to Laneshawbridge, a short drive to pick up the second car then up the hill to home. A really good day out!

[Stanley]

The two car strategy is a good one isn't it. It means you can do a section of a good walk that otherwise would be a bit too much. We once did the same up near Arisaig and walked alongside Loch Morar and back down to the road. I remember it particularly because it wasn't till we got back I realised that both Muck and Eigg had sore teats due to the rough heather catching them all the way. I felt so guilty!

[Wendyf]

It was a bit unnecessary in this case as the cars were quite close to each other, but it saved us a couple of miles and we were worried about the length of time we were leaving Alfie at home alone. In fact he seemed to have enjoyed a day's total relaxation without us to worry about!

[PanBiker]

Another favourite local one is to park at Horton in Ribblesdale and then get the train up to Ribblehead. You can then walk up to Chapel le Dale and return to Horton via Ingleborough summit. It's the only way you can get a circular in easily on Ingleborough. The other two hills in the group have natural routes.

[Wendyf]

Just back from a walk up Weets. It was lovely up there with a refreshing breeze keeping us cool.

[Wendyf]

Bertie & I went for a lovely walk yesterday with a friend from Earby. We set off from Margaret's house on Red Lion Street, up Gaylands Lane past Highgate farm and out onto the moor where we took a quick detour to see the Bronze Age burial mound. Joining the Pennine Way we then went up Clogger Lane and across the old Skipton/Colne road, continuing on the Pennine Way to the trig point on Pinhaw and beyond to the edge of the moor above Lothersdale. We followed the path along the wall side and looped right back round to the road again coming out by the other cattle grid close to the "porridge stoup" at the Elslack junction.
The next bit of the walk was new territory for me as we took the footpath into the forest and went down through the woods towards the reservoir (which I believe serves Barnoldswick). We ate our butties under the chestnut tree in Elslack before walking back along the old railway line, taking a look at the Roman Fort and walking part of the way along the Roman Road, which was hard going as the field has just been ploughed up and reseeded. Being good local historians we kept our eyes open for Roman pottery on the field...I picked up a good sized sherd from a large hand built pot, but it's more likely to be 17th or 18thC than Roman. Back onto the railway track, turning off at Booth bridge and following the bridleway back into Earby.
The walk was about 9.5 miles and took us four hours with couple of stops. Highly recommended!

[elise]

The reservoir does serve Barnoldswick, the water main appears above ground to cross the canal at Cockshott bridge by the marina at the rear of West Craven High School.

[Wendyf]

Thanks Elise, do you know when it dates from? It looks like a relatively recent construction.

[Wendyf]

Found the answer on the site already HERE

[Wendyf]

A nice walk this morning, about 5.5 miles starting at the car park up near Pinhaw. We followed the Pennine Way down towards Thornton in Craven then walked along the old railway track to Elslack and then back up past the reservoir, through the woods and back to the car.