Lower
Wharfedale: Ilkley to Burnsall
The route starts at Ilkley, an old market town marking
the eastern edge of the Dales and heads upstream along the banks
of the River Wharfe. Enroute you pass Addingham and Bolton
Abbey, an impressive 12th century ruin set in the parkland of
the Duke of Devonshire's estate. The path enters Strid
Wood, where the River Wharfe is forced through a narrow chasm
and can be particularly spectacular after rain. More riverside
leads to Appletreewick, the first in a string of delightful limestone
villages and on to Burnsall, idyllically situated on a large
meander in the river.
Classic Dales: Kettlewell
to Beckermonds
From Burnsall the route carries on along the Wharfedale
valley and enters the small market town of Grassington,
the last town before Sedbergh, on the eastern fringes of the
National Park. After Grassington the route leaves the
valley for a few miles and climbs up to a plateau of limestone
pavement. Here, millions of years of rainwater have dissolved
deep crevices in the limestone, splitting the surface spectacularly.
The Wharfe is rejoined at Kettlewell, one of the honeypot
villages of the Dales and the path follows the river gently
upstream past the villages of Starbotton, Buckden and Hubberholme. This
is where Wharfedale officially finishes and the route continues
along the beckside up the narrow vale to Beckermonds.
Cam Fell and
Dentdale
The character of the route changes markedly here as
the path climbs out of the cosy confines of Wharfedale over
the wild moorland of Cam Fell. An altitude of 450m is
reached at Cam Houses giving dramatic views of the Yorkshire
Three Peaks, before the route descends towards Ribblehead and
its famous viaduct. Moor fellsides soon lead to the gentler
countryside of the River Dee and Dentdale. Riverside
paths meander downstream to the village of Dent, with its narrow
cobbled streets and on to Sedbergh, a small market town nestling
under the steep Howgill fells.
Sedbergh to Bowness-on-Windermere
After Sedbergh, the walk skirts under the Howgills
and along the River Lune for a few miles, where the character
of the route changes again. The riversides of the Dales are
left behind, as the route passes through the rolling countryside
separating the National Parks of the Yorkshire Dales and the
Lake District. Views of distant Lakeland mountains become more
impressive as Windermere is approached. |
