Yorkshire Dales – Magnificent Limestone Landscape

We stay in the lovely village of Clapham at the New Inn Hotel. We stay for four nights.

The New Inn was once an eighteenth century coaching inn but now welcomes travellers coming in by both car, train and bike. The tiny Croft Café is also popular with cyclists on the Way of the Roses and Yorkshire Dales Cycle Way which passes through the village as does the Pennine Bridleway. The village has a variety of interesting shops selling everything from knitting yarn to locally-made crafts. The village shop and post office is now operated as a community shop.

Rooms are spacious, en suite and the hotel is lively in the evening with its roaring fires. Excellent bar and lounges.

Dinner is taken in the hotel’s dining room. 

Lunch will either be at one of the local pubs or cafes, or packed.

There is plenty of parking available at the hotel.

We  walk for three full days and two half days on this holiday. The exact choice of walks for the three full days will be at the discretion of the leader according to the weather and conditions underfoot.  Although limestone is fast draining and therefore not ‘boggy’, it can be slippery on wet days.

There are many walks we can choose from – samples are shown here.

Arrival Day

We will begin our walks on the first afternoon with a short walk, 2 to 3 miles,  through the village along Clapham  Beck.  This is a good track through woodland with an impressive waterfall.  Further along the track is the famous Ingleborough show cave and nature trail.   

Ingleborough 10 miles

This is the highest  of the Yorkshire Three Peaks at 723m.  There are a number of ways up the hill, but conditions permitting, we will head up Clapham beck  and past the massive Sink Hole of Gaping Gill.  The views from both the ascent and decent of Ingleborough are fantasic.  Our return route will be initially westward towards Ingleton, but then back east along the lower slopes of Ingleborough.  This walk is approximately 10 miles and has some strenuous stretches on the approach to the peak. 

 Crummackdale  10 miles

Walking from the hotel we head east to the picturesque village of Austwick. A gradual ascent takes us up to the limestone escarpment of Moughton Scar at the head of Crummackdale. We cross this amazing feature with its clints and grykes and return via the hamlet of Wharfe in a landscape little altered for centuries.   Please note that boots with ankle support are advised when crossing Moughton Scar. For safety this traverse will be omitted in very wet weather.

Ingleton Falls Kingsdale 9.5 miles

Starting in the pretty village of Ingleton we begin our walk along the famous Ingleton Waterfalls trail.  Once beyond Thornton Force we extend our walk north and walk along the lower slopes of  Gragareth Scar.  We drop down into Kingsdale Valley for the return journey.  There is the opportunity to go into Yordas Cave.  Bring a torch for this. Heading south the route reaches the end of Twislton Scar and re joins the Ingleton Waterfalls Trail for our return to the village.

Final morning Norber Erratics 6 miles

There will be a 6 mile walk from the village, mainly along old drove roads, but some rougher tracks.  There is an area of glacially deposited rocks known as the Norber Erratcis.  With luck, you will see the magnificent views down the valley to Austwick

Note

Alternative to any of the full days would be a walk to Settle.  Take in Stainforth force and Lancliffe, come back via train from Giggleswick or bus from Settle.

The Yorkshire Dales was designated a National Park back in the 1950s, largely due to its fascinating geological history. The Dales as they are today were primarily formed by glaciation and the natural weathering of the carboniferous limestone that characterises much of the area.

Carboniferous limestone is a soft rock and if you scratch it with a sharp object it will mark quite easily and produce powdered rock. It’s also soluble to rainwater over a very long period of time and eventually, the many joints and fissures in the rock get eroded away. So this means we have many caves and rock features that add to the interest on our walks in this area.

Gaping Gill would be an example, as well as the limestone pavements that abound. The action of rainwater on limestone, as well as the numerous waterfalls and streams, has shaped this magnificent walking area. The area drains well through limestone so there are few boggy and wet areas.

 There are many lovely villages, each with their own special “feel” about them, such as Settle, Ingleton and Austwick.