Yorkshire Walks

This morning was bright and very pleasant but some rain was forecast for later in the afternoon. We drove to Stump Cross Cavern on the Pately Bridge to Grassington road near Greenhow. A few hundred yards on the Grassington side of the cavern is a small muddy area where we could park off the road. We were keen to get going to make the most of the good weather and we began walking at about a quarter to ten. On the hillside opposite our car park there were two men in camouflage jackets behaving rather oddly. They kept lying on the ground and seemed to be reaching into the ground, I assumed there must have been burrows of some kind but they were to far away to be sure. We set off along the road towards Grassington and after about 200 yards we turned left onto a rough stony track. A few yards inside the gate a white car, with a sticker proclaiming "Wensleydale Foxhounds Supporter", was parked. We continued along the track for a quarter of a mile to a permissive path through a gate on the right of the track. The pleasant green path leads down to some old mine workings and the remains of a dam and stone spillway. These remains are at the head of Trollers Gill - a limestone gorge leading down the side of Wharfedale. Skyreholme Beck flows down the gorge and disappears down a series of sink holes part way down to reappear just below the end of the gorge in a series of lovely clear springs with watercress growing in them. After the gorge there is another old breached dam from the nineteenth century just above Parcevall Hall - a minor stately home and gardens open to the public. From here we walked along the lane through Skyreholme village and sat on a seat above the road to have a break with a lovely view across Wharfedale and a flock of noisy squabbling gulls in the field opposite. We continued through Appletreewick village, full of lovely old stone buildings, to a track down to the River Wharfe just beyond Low Hall. There was a ewe in the field next to the track, clearly in labour and we watched her for a while hoping to see a lamb born but her contractions were not coming fast enough and we could have been there an hour before there was any action so we pressed on up the river side to Burnsall. We crossed the river at Burnsall and headed upstream again. This is a lovely part of the River Wharfe with limestone cliffs and rapids forming some really picturesque reaches. Just before we came to the little suspension bridge that take pedestrians over the river to Hebden, we stopped to watch a dipper flying from rock to rock in the fast flowing river then diving under water to pop up again next to another rock. It's amazing how such a fragile creature can deal so expertly with the churning water of the rapids. We crossed the river and climbed up the valley side to Bank Top on the Pately Bridge/Grassington road. Just before the top we found a dry-stone wall in the sunshine with a great view over Wharfedale so we stopped for another break. It was very warm and comfortable in the sun. At Bank Top we crossed the road and continued along a track called Backstone Edge Lane on the map. After about two miles on this track. There is a gate in the fence and a track which lead through a couple of fields down to Hartlington Moor Lane and then on to a permissive footpath around Grimwith reservoir. There were lapwings and curlews all around us, filling the air with their calls as we crossed the moor from Bank Top to the reservoir - a lovely sign of spring. As we crossed the dam there was a flock of oyster catchers, with their distinctive orange legs and bills, all in a line on the black concrete wall. I tried to get a photo but my camera chose that moment to malfunction and by the time I was sorted out they had all flown off. We walked through the picnic area to the far end of the reservoir and took the footpath over the craggy limestone hill (Knot Head & Nursery Knot) back to our car on the bend near Stump Cross Cavern. The whole route had been about 12 miles and had taken us about 6 hours including our stops. It's a very varied route with a limestone gorge, wooded riverside, open moorland and the reservoir. Quite strenuous but well worth the effort.