The Dales Way Day One

The Dales Way 2009

Day One: 31^st May 2009.

Weather: Wall to wall sunshine all the way

Ilkley to Burnsall: 14.5 miles on SatMap Active 10 GPS

I usually have a day zero on my long walks where I get up to the start and have an overnight stop prior to getting up and walking into the morning light. But as Ilkley is only an hour away from home I called in 22 years of favours and cadged a lift with my youngest daughter and her soon to be ex-boyfriend – and that was a shame, I quite liked him really and he supports MCFC as well. It was nice to be driven over and we found the old bridge at Ilkley after faffing around the town centre for a while. It’s an excellent place to start the walk, with its lovely 300 year old stone bridge straddling the River Wharfe – our companion for most of the next two and a bit days. Everyone had a snigger as I spent a while rubbing suntan cream into my hairy pins – if you’ve hairy legs, you’ll know what I mean – so ladies make sure you have a shave before you go! We started off at Ilkley Old Bridge and promptly crossed over to the wrong side, what a good start, but we didn't walk too far, and after explaining that I was only after a good photo shot, we got back to the real path sharpish. There is also a lovely small nursery next to the bridge, it was very busy and had some nice pots and plants on show – but I wasn’t going to carry a tray of lobelias for 84 miles.

The old bridge

Just before Addingham

The River Wharfe

..and again

One of the first things that you notice on this walk is the deep peaty colour of the river, which was almost ruby coloured in places with the bright sunlight penetrating deeply to the river bed. We followed the River Wharf floodplain all day long (apart from where it cuts through the Strid) and for the first few miles it was fine, and fairly peaceful apart from the odd Peacock crowing. We were soon strolling along the well worn path through fields, passing meadows and occasionally along minor roads. The first village we passed was Addingham with its old church and much history within. There is an Iron Age ditch that can be seen within the church grounds and when they extended the church here they found a bunch of Anglo-Saxon burials and the field is now a scheduled ancient monument. I’m not surprised there is so much history in the Dales as it really is a wonderful place to reside and visit. As we left the village to return to the river via a suspension bridge, there was a little teapot ice-cream van – so we just had to ask for a couple of 99’s – aahh. There was plenty of wildlife as well to look at as we wandered along, including many Black Headed Gulls screeching at each other, lots of Mallards and their chicks, Bearded Tits, and a brightly coloured Jay with its beautiful plumage. There was no sign of any Kingfishers yet, but Swallows were in abundance, and most notable were the Sand Martins, flitting in and out of their sand burrows in the riverbank. Because it was so sunny and the air still, the young bullocks were taking up position in the shade of the trees next to the nearest style on the path, and they wouldn’t budge for anyone, or any walking pole come to that. So we had to climb the fence a couple of times to get around them. The next few miles were close enough to the road for the noise to be a bit intrusive, but still it was OK until we approached Bolton Abbey and the Priory. A short section of road walking and we were passing the cars of all the great and the unwashed – every section of society was out today. I know the Yorkshire Dales are beautiful but so did everyone else today and for the next three miles the place was heaving with day trippers. As we crossed the road to enter the Bolton Abbey estate a thoughtful home owner had left bottle of water on a bright blue bench, for those walking the Dales Way and a painted reminder that we still had nearly 80 miles to go.

The walk towards Bolton Abbey

Bolton Priory remains and some stepping stones

As we made our way around to the Priory remains the crowds gradually increased along the riverbanks, reaching a crescendo just beyond the ruins where there was a car parking area. Here people were crammed into spaces cheek by jowl, in all shapes, form colours etc. Some like beached Walruses, some with delicately laid out picnics and others setting fire to everything within 6ft as they cremated their BBQ’s. Not great for walking but very entertaining, including a massive belly flop dive from about 20ft up a cliff - a collective groan went out as the lad hit the water. Needless to say most of the pictures included a host of extras. The set of stepping stones across the Wharfe was mainly occupied by young families’ crossing over and then running back along the bridge to the other side again. If ever you are planning a LDP, make sure you start on a Monday and definitely not the last day of the school holidays. Beyond the Abbey the crowds thinned out a little, but there were still plenty of people promenading along the path, just like harking back to Victorian times when people took their pleasures simply. It must be an even more beautiful area when it is quiet – maybe midweek early morning with a hard frost and soft light – I think I’ll return later in the year. Luckily for us it was lunchtime as we approached a wooden bridge and the cafe here was lovely and cool and surprisingly empty – outside was very busy – they like to hang on to their money in Yorkshire tha noes. A break gave us a chance to rest and have a relaxing lunch before moving on along the Strid, an area of woodland where the river narrows down to cut through some hard conglomerate, that gives rise to some small falls.

The Strid and peace at last

Flowing through a narrow cut in the conglomerate

And a little further on, you can walk along the riverbed

The rushing water and the shade from the trees cooled the surrounding air and because the midges weren’t out yet it was very pleasant walking. The crowds melted away and we stayed down by the river as long as we could away from the made up path above. After Bolton Priory and the old remains the walk was along the Strid - a riverside walk along sandstone rock that has been shaped with boulder holes and has a few falls along the way. From here it became a bit more peaceful, with plenty of ducks and chicks bobbing about. The River Wharf is flowing very brown from the peat swept off the moors above. The sandy cliffs are populated with Sand Martins and they are very busy in and out of their burrows. The route along the Strid by the river is along and over mossy boulders that were OK in the dry, but would be a little dodgy in the wet, which presumably is why they have made up the rather sterile path above. The Strid woods have been managed for many centuries and that is an ongoing process, with some of the oldest trees over 300yrs old. There is a delightful carved seat hewn from a rock boulder alongside the path, a lovely spot to contemplate how far is left today. A couple of miles later the next spot to cross the river is at Bardon Bridge, where we actually saw a fly fisherman patiently reel in a large rainbow trout. The Bardon Tower remains could be glimpsed through the trees, but they don’t look spectacular from the river bank and I didn’t fancy a diversion away from the path.

Back along the Wharfe

The beginnings of old field patterns

The Wharfe near to Burnsall

The crowds eased once more and peace settled upon us as we had only a few miles left for today’s journey, and were along the floodplain until Burnsall. It was a wonderful warm and sunny day and the valley veered around to the west to end the day with the sun on our faces. As we passed by Appletreewick there was a wedding party taking place in a huge tented marquee with a couple of tepee’s attached. The brass band struck up as we went along – what a wonderful setting for a wedding – a hard act to follow and I’m glad my eldest didn’t see it! Further around the bend was a large white tepee for the bride and groom, isolated from the rest of the party, but not very sound proof!

Appletreewick through the trees

More Wharfe

Can you spot the Grebes?

With about ½ a mile left we spotted a huge morass of cars and people parked up on the cricket pitch at Burnsall. It looked like a squatter town, with BBQ smoke drifting across the parking lot – a bit of a jarring note at the end of the day. So we dashed across the bridge to the Red Lion Hotel and a quenching pint that hardly touched the side. By the time evening came around and all the boy racers had buzzed off, peace returned. The Red Lion bar remained busy but we ate in the restaurant and it was good food and service throughout. Afterwards we took a stroll around the village and saw a massive cloud of midges down by the river, with lots of well fed Swallows and Martins darting up and down. Despite the crowds it was a good day and my better half survived the first day OK - feet not sore, legs good and not too tired - 14.5 miles in hot weather, I'm impressed. What I’m not impressed with is the fact that it took 3 x 1ton bags to empty the car park of rubbish – why?