A Short Wander in Crummack Dale

Sunday 19th January 2014 

This afternoon we went out for a short family walk in Crummack Dale with friends and here's a quick photo looking across upper Crummack Dale.

Looking across Crummack Dale

Dales Way - Day 2: Burnsall to Buckden

Monday 16th December 2013 

A mixture of moorland and riverside walking, in intermittent rain, from Burnsall to Buckden 

Distance: 23.5km; Ascent: 490m; Overcast with lots of rain showers; Solo

See tracked route in new window

After yesterday's surprisingly good weather, it was perhaps no surprise that the overnight rain had yet to clear when I set off walking in full waterproofs at around quarter to nine this morning.  When I reached the river it was clear that the rain had been heavy last night as the river was now even more swollen than yesterday with a couple of sections of slightly flooded path to negotiate.

Swollen River Wharfe near Burnsall

Flooded path near Burnsall

I passed Loup Scar on the far side of the rapidly flowing river and continued on upstream, slightly drier now that the rain had stopped.  Soon I reached a footbridge, which I crossed to reach the north bank and slightly calmer waters.

River Wharfe at Loup Scar

Suspension Bridge

Two to three kilometres of walking westwards brought me to the impressive white water of Linton Falls.  The footbridge just above the falls allowed me to get a good view of the huge volume of water tumbling down the falls below.

Linton Falls

By now it had started raining again so I continued on upstream past a weir to reach the busy market town of Grassington, where I stopped for a bite to eat on a handy bench in the town square.

Weir near Grassington

Grassington marked the point that I left the river behind for the moorland to the east of Wharfedale.  I ascended northwards out of town on a good track, which became a grassy path after around a kilometre.  By now it was dry again and there were good views across northwards and westwards as I continued across the pleasant grassy moorland of Lea Green, with occasional areas of limestone pavement, past a 150 year old Lime Kiln before reaching Scot House Lane.

Lime Kiln

Crags near Scot Gate Lane

Here a puzzling footpath sign seemed to indicate a right of way down through the crags below to the left.  Unfortunately although it looked interesting I was up against the clock if I was going to reach Buckden in time for the mid afternoon bus; therefore I left any exploration for another day.

Looking across towards Knipe Scar and Middlesmoor Pasture

There were good views across Wharfedale towards Knipe Scar, which marks the end of the long ridge that extends SE from Birks Fell (on whose summit I finished the 2000ft peaks of the Yorkshire Dales).  Soon the rain started again, so I sought shelter in some woods in an attempt to stay dry whilst eating lunch.  To save time I opted to follow the road into Kettlewell before picking up a footpath again on the west bank of the Wharfe.

Beck in Kettlewell

Looking downstream from Kettlewell Bridge

By now it was 1:30pm, so it was clearly going to be touch and go whether or not I'd make my planned bus from Kettlewell; therefore I quickened my pace along the riverside footpath.  The ground was quite damp in places, with occasional sections of flooded field to negotiate.  I passed a number of barns on the way to the Starbotton footbridge, which I reached at quarter past two - things were now looking better for catching the bus from Kettlewell so I continued on up the valley.

Barn in upper Wharfedale

Meander in upper Wharfedale

The walk to Buckden passed without incident, although it was quite muddy in places with flood debris evident along some of the river bank.  In the end I made it to the bus stop a whole five minutes early!  Soon I was on the warm bus starting my four hour return journey home via Skipton, Leeds and Manchester.  It had been a good couple of days of mainly low level walking and I plan to return to complete the remainder of the Dales Way at some point.

Buckden Bridge

See also my Social Hiking live map from the walk.

Dales Way - Day 1: Ilkley to Burnsall

Sunday 15th December 2013 

A riverside walk alongside the River Wharfe from Ilkley to Burnsall via Bolton Abbey and The Strid 

Distance: 23.5km; Ascent: 380m; Dry with occasional sunshine; Solo

See tracked route in new window

I had been toying with the idea of walking the Dales Way for a while now, and this weekend seemed to be a good opportunity to walk a couple of days of it.  Therefore early this Sunday morning I caught a train across the Pennines to Leeds and then onto Ilkley, from where I set off walking at around quarter to ten.  Soon I reached the start of the Dales Way at Ilkley Bridge.

Ilkley Bridge

Sign at the start of the Dales Way

I headed west out of town, past a tennis club and across riverside fields with glimpses of sunshine.  The river looked to be quite full, presumably from all the recent rain - and it was forecast to rain some more later this afternoon.  This path seemed to be popular with joggers as I met a fair few between Ilkley and where the path joins the road 2km west of the town.

River Wharfe just west of Ilkley

Around a kilometre of minor roads lead me to the attractive cottages of Low Mill Village and onwards to pass St Peter's Church, whose interior dates from Tudor times according to the handy nearby sign.  A short walk through the eastern edge of the village of Addingham brought me back down to the River Wharfe.

St Peter's Church, Addingham

River Wharfe near Addingham

After passing through a caravan park there was now a pleasant couple of kilometres of riverside walking through sheep fields.  This ended when I reached the B6160 road, which I crossed to find the Farfield Friends Meeting House that dates from 1689.

Farfield Friends Meeting House

A field edge footpath offered a pleasant alternative to walking along the road for the next kilometre, but unfortunately it seems to end prematurely, which results in having to walk along the busy B6160 road for around half a kilometre before escaping back down to the river again.

Looking upstream from Bolton Bridge

At Bolton Bridge, where I entered the Yorkshire Dales National Park, there were good views further up into Wharfedale.  Continuing on upstream, on the west bank of the River Wharfe, I entered the pleasant parkland of the Bolton Abbey estate where I soon stopped for lunch on a handily located bench in the winter sunshine.  After a little over a kilometre of enjoyable riverside walking I reached the impressive remains of Bolton Priory, which dates from the 12th century.

Bolton Priory

Bolton Priory

I took five or ten minutes out of my walk to have a quick look around the ruins of the priory, before crossing to the east bank of the Wharfe by way of Waterfall Bridge.  The next couple of kilometres were clearly a popular spot for a Sunday afternoon stroll as I reckon I passed at least a hundred other walkers!

Waterfall Bridge

Bolton Priory

Around a kilometre and a half after passing the priory, I reached a very busy car park next to the Cavendish Pavilion cafe and visitor centre.  The reason for the busy car park soon became apparent as I entered Strid Wood: the estate was holding a Christmas event along the next few hundred metres of woodland path, complete with elves and Santa's grotto!  However given the I didn't have Isabel or Olivia with me there was no need to stop, so I continued onwards along the Green Trail to reach The Strid.

The Strid

This significant narrowing of the river was impressive to look at today given how full the river was, and it reminded me slightly of the Linn of Dee (although with a few more trees!).  However the river looked to be very dangerous here so, as advised by the signs, I kept well back from the edge whilst admiring the awesome force of the river being forced through such a narrow gap.

Continuing on through the woods I reached Barden Bridge.  Here I seemed to leave the crowds behind as from here on I only saw a handful of other walkers for the rest of the day.  It was a pleasant sunny afternoon as I continued northwards along the east bank of the river towards Appletreewick.

Afternoon light north of Barden Bridge

Tree north of Barden Bridge

I reached the road just east of Burnsall in fading light just before 4pm.  I crossed the bridge and headed to the tearoom for a well earned teacake and tea :-)  After feeling suitably refreshed I headed to my accommodation for the night to find I was the only guest at my B&B - well I suppose it was a Sunday in December!  A fine pub dinner washed down with a couple of pints of real ale was an excellent end to a good day's walking :-)

See also my Social Hiking live map from the walk.

Off for Two Days on the Dales Way

Tomorrow morning I am setting off for a couple of days walking on the Dales Way up Wharfedale from Ilkley to Buckden.  The following Social Hiking map shows my planned route (in pink), which should get overlaid with my progress (in orange) assuming that that I have signal and/or my SPOT works properly!  Once I've finished walking, I'll be uploading blog posts for each day at some point in the next few weeks.

See map on Social Hiking site or full size in a new window

Loch Morlich

Friday 4th October 2013 

A pleasant circular walk around Loch Morlich 

Distance: 6.5km; Ascent: negligible; Sunny; with Lynsey, Isabel and Olivia

See tracked route in new window

It was our last full day in the Cairngorms and as the weather was nice we decided to head out for a bit of a family walk.  We set off from the beach car park shortly after 11:30am and wandered down to the beach before picking up the red waymarks of the Loch Morlich Trail.

Abhainn Ruigh-eunachan

Creagan Gorm & Meall a'Bhuachaille

Soon we crossed the Abhainn Ruigh-eunachan to reach the south shores of the loch with good views back over the water towards Creagan Gorm and Meall a'Bhuachaille.  A few hundred metres further on we stopped for a picnic lunch and to enjoy the autumn sunshine down by the loch.

Meall a'Bhuachaille

Continuing along a mixture of generally good paths and tracks we soon reached the western end of the loch, where we crossed the River Luineag just downstream of the loch.

Looking up the River Luineag towards Loch Morlich

Spider near Rothiemurchus estate entrance

Soon we joined the Old Logging Way on the north side of the road, which brought us back to our starting point and the nearby sunny sandy beach, surrounded by pleasant pine woods with views of the Cairngorm peaks.

Loch Morlich beach

Pinewoods at Loch Morlich beach

Looking into the northern coires from Loch Morlich beach

Pine tree on the sandy Loch Morlich beach

Braeriach and the Rothiemurchus Pine Woods

Monday 30th September 2013 

A very windy walk up Braeriach from the Sugar Bowl before descending to the Rothiemurchus woods 

Distance: 26.5km; Ascent: 1300m; Windy, low cloud and sunshine; Solo

See tracked route in new window

Braeriach is a mountain that I've been thinking about climbing for some years now but had never quite got around to it.  Whilst backpacking over Ben Macdui in August last year I got my first decent views of Braeriach's impressive SE facing coires and concluded that I definitely needed to investigate further!  Therefore given I was spending this week just about within walking distance of the summit I decided to spend today climbing it.

Looking into Coire Cas

I caught the 07:20 bus from outside Aviemore train station up towards the Cairngorm ski area, getting off at the Sugerbowl car park.  I followed a good path through the woods and down to cross the Allt Mor by way of a footbridge.  This ascended on the west side of the burn, past some reindeer, heading towards the obvious gash of the Chalamain Gap.  There were excellent views from this path into Coire Cas and back towards Meall a'Bhuachaille in the morning sunshine.

The path heading towards the Chalamain Gap

Looking back towards Meall a'Bhuachaille and the Pass of Ryvoan

Soon I reached the bottom of the NE side of the Chalamain Gap, where I stopped for a quick break to admire the views.  Continuing through the very bouldery ground of the gap itself, the view to the SW started to open up towards Sgor Gaoith.

In the Chalamain Gap

Sgor Gaoith from the Chalamain Gap

I now got my first glimpses of my planned hills for the day and annoyingly they were covered in cloud!   Nevertheless I continued along the path, descending into the Lairig Ghru where I stopped for another rest before beginning the main ascent of the day.  Whilst I was resting here another walker, Steve, passed me and he was also on his way up Braeriach - in fact he would be one of only three other hillwalkers I would encounter today.

Sron na Lairig from the north

In the Lairig Ghru

Soon after passing the memorial plaque to Angus Sinclair, I began ascending up the slopes on the west side of the Ghru on a good path.  Higher up the path looked to have been improved quite recently and soon my suspicions were confirmed by the two signs below.

Path work signs

There were excellent views from up here, including back across the Lairig Ghru towards Lurcher's Crag.  However straight ahead Sron na Lairig and Braeriach still looked to be covered in cloud.

Lurcher's Crag from Sron na Lairig

By now the wind was pretty strong, which made crossing the boulder fields quite interesting!  Around here I met a backpacker coming the other way, who told me that he'd spent a very windy night in his tent in the bealach below The Devil's Point.  I continued to ascend up into the mist and soon met up again with Steve where he had stopped for lunch.  After skirting round the east side of Sron na Lairig in the cloud, a view down into Glen Dee suddenly appeared for a few minutes - but it didn't last for long and soon I was surrounded by cloud again.

Carn a'Mhaim and the River Dee from Sron na Lairige

On the summit of Braeriach

A short ascent brought me to the extremely windy eastern ridge of Braeriach, where I met Steve again.  The wind was noticeably less strong ten metres or so away from the coire edge so we carefully continued westwards for a kilometre to reach the summit cairn of Braeriach (Munro, Marilyn), the third highest peak in the UK at around 12:30pm.  Surprisingly it wasn't actually that windy at the summit cairn itself - although a few metres south of the cairn there was a howling gale!

Summit cairn of Sron na Lairig

We didn't linger on the summit for very long and soon retraced our steps to the bealach, from where we ascended to the summit of Sron na Lairige (Munro Top).  Returning to the path we descended the north ridge and soon dropped out of the clouds to be greeted by the spectacular views northwards and across to Lurcher's Crag on the far side of the Lairig Ghru.

Descending Sron na Lairig in the sunshine

Looking across the Lairig Ghru towards Lurcher's Crag

There were also good views from the tops of the crags down into the impressive high pass of the Lairig Ghru itself.

Looking down into the Lairig Ghru from Sron na Lairige

Descending Sron na Lairig

Once back down in the Lairig Ghru I bade farewell to Steve, who was heading back through the Chalamain Gap whereas I was planning to descending through the Rothiemurchus forest to the road at Coylumbridge.  I followed the Lairig Ghru path NNW and after around 2km I reached the first trees.  There were excellent views of the forest ahead and the Monadhliath Mountains in the distance on the other side of Strathspey.

Looking across the Rothiemurchus forest towards the Monadhliath

It was quite warm in the afternoon sunshine - very different conditions to a couple of hours earlier on the summit of Braeriach!  There were good views back towards the Lairig Ghru, which seemed to where all the clouds in the sky today were gathering.

Looking back towards the Lairig Ghru from the edge of the Rothiemurchus pine woods

Entering the Rothiemurchus forest

Walking through the pine woods of Rothiemurchus was a delight on such a lovely afternoon, and I appeared to have them pretty much to myself!  I had walked this way previously on the 2009 TGO Challenge, but that was on a wet and grey day so it was nice to be back in better weather.  I continued along the good footpath to reach a junction.  Here I toyed with the idea of walking to Loch Morlich and catching the bus from there, but in the end I decided to stick with my original plan and walk to Coylumbridge (mainly because if I missed the bus, Aviemore would only be a few kilometres walk away).

Rothiemurchus forest

Allt Druidh

The path ran near to the Allt Druidh before crossing the burn at the Cairngorm Club Footbridge, which is now 101 years old.  Plaques on the side of the bridge give distances and times for walking through the Lairig Ghru.

Cairngorm Club Footbridge

Cairngorm Club Footbridge

Soon after crossing the bridge I forked right at a path junction and continued, initially through an area of denser woodland, to reach a car park and the campsite at Coylumbridge at around 5pm.  After wandering along the road for a few minutes, I gave up looking for a bus stop and just opted to flag it down outside the campsite, which luckily seemed to work!  It had been a good long walk of contrasts in the Cairngorms :-)

Track junction on the way to Coylumbridge

See also my Social Hiking live map from the walk.