We arrived in Grassington on Saturday afternoon after a busy day visiting friends in York on the way up from Suffolk. Our evening was spent having a meal in the Devonshire Arms, the first of the 26 pubs. After a good nights sleep and a filling breakfast at Springroyd House B&B we were fully refreshed to begin our walk.
We set off at 9.30 from the market square and headed up the hill and out of the village, following the well trodden route of the Dales Way. As we reached the second field a few spots of rain began so out came the waterproofs.
Grassington disappeared quickly behind us, swallowed up by the mist. The area of limestone pavement was brightened up with the occasional daffodill still in flower.
We soon felt we had entered the heart of the Dales landscape. As we rounded the edge of Grass Wood there were good views of the limestone escarpment. From here the path followed high above Dib Beck with the valley dropping quickly away below into the ravine.
We took a more gradual descent to reach Conistone.
Conistone is a lovely little village with limestone cottages surrounding a tall maypole in the centre. It was raining more steadily by the time we got here, but that didn't deter from its prettiness.
We crossed the bridge over the River Wharfe and walked through the meadows of the flat valley floor with Kilnsey Crag dominating the view ahead.
1.Tennant Arms, Kilnsey - 11:00am
Comfortable friendly spacious bar. We enjoyed a cup of coffee.
The route then took us along a stretch of road past Kilnsey Crag and on into Littondale.
Leaving the road behind we returned to the riverside meadows as we approached Hawkswick.
We saw lots of Swaledale sheep and lambs along our walk. They would often stop and watch us as we passed by, some even posed for the camera!
We crossed the River Skirfare into the pretty hamlet of Hawkswick. There was then a pleasant walk along the river through the meadows into Arncliffe village.
2.The Falcon, Arncliffe - 1:00pm
Interesting and unusual pub. A very small bar with beer served from a jug. It was very busy on this wet day but we squeezed on to a bench in the hallway and enjoyed a ham and cheese roll.
This was also the original Woolpack Inn from Emmerdale.
Refreshed from our beer and roll we continued along Littondale passing Scoska Wood, following the river. The water level was very low, clearly showing the limestone river bed.
3.Queens Arms, Litton - 2:50pm
A very cosy pub with low beams. Brews their own range of real ales. We tried the Litton Ale, and Leading Light.
There was a steady climb out of Litton on a clear bridle track headed up towards the summit of Birks Fell. This was the hardest part of the days walk. Rather than being rewarded by expanding views of Littondale, they became less and less as we progressed into mist.
The final section of the day was a descent into Wharfedale to reach Buckden. The initial clear cairned path gave way to more gentle route across the moor lower down, eventually reaching a track leading to the road.
Our Bed and Breakfast for the night was at Romany Cottage with Gwen and Tim Berry. We had stayed here previously on our Dales Way walk.
4.Buck Inn, Buckden - 7:30pm
A spacious pub with lots of seating areas. Good basic pub food.
2 comments:
We did the dales way this year too. Although i suspect we were a little less prepared for it than most people.
You can see my report from the road here:
http://allthatcomeswithit.com/archives/category/the-long-walk
Ah, just noticed it was the inn way rather than the dales way. I thought i didn't recognize some of the village names! Still, the same part of the country:)
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