Dales Way - Day 1 (saturday 23rd April 2011) Ilkley to Grassington (16 miles)

So after much planning and phoning of B&B's and campsites, we're off on our dales way adventure on the easter bank holiday weekend. We've learnt our lessons from the Coast to coast and this time have opted to put our bags straight on the SherpaVan, have brought our trusty tent (no super small/lightweight options this time) and stuffed the bags full of compeeds and mars bars! It's a bit overcast when we set off from the Riverside hotel in ilkley but we needn't have worried, we manage to do the whole walk in the middle of a heatwave with not a single drop of rain! Lucky eh? As I write this several weeks later, it hasn't stopped raining since we got back! The dales way is a beautiful walk from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere, 81 miles

through two national parks(the Yorkshire Dales National Park and the Lake District National Park) and takes in plenty of fabulous scenery along the way from pretty villages to limestone scars, woods and moorland and a beautiful walk following the river Wharfe at the start of the path. We used the Dales Way book by Colin Speakman which i'd highly recommend, we didn't take any maps with us, just the book and it was more than adequate (i think it would be very difficult to get lost as you're following the river for much of the way and it's incredibly well sign posted!)

Start of the walk - Ilkley

It's a nice, gentle start to the walk alongside the river, through fields and behind houses and we make our way through Low Mill which used to be mill workers cottages and are now very pretty homes. At the end of the lane we turn up towards St.Peter's church at Addingham which is very picturesque with all the blossom trees in full bloom and take some photos of the churchyard and the clock.

St. Peter's church, Addingham

From here we follow the path along the river, going through the caravan park and continuing along the side of the river, it's a very pretty spot but eerily quiet considering it's a bank holiday saturday! We thought we would've seen a lot more people walking the dales way but we seem to have it all to ourselves! We stop and have a sandwich and a sit down for a bit before carrying on across the B6160(which is very busy and a bit of a blind bend, so take care!) and head through the grounds of the Farfield meeting house which is a quaker meeting house dating back to 1689. Then it's back onto farm track before once again meeting up with the B6160 and heading towards Bolton Priory.

We soon realise why it's been so quiet along the way...everyone in West Yorkshire is crammed into Bolton Abbey! Chris heads across the famous stepping stones, i don't trust myself not to fall in and don't fancy walking the next 10 miles with wet boots! (It's happened before and it's not fun!!) We stop at the cafe for a cup of tea and a diet coke and the sun decides to come out too, so it's off along the path in glorious sunshine for the rest of the day! There's an easter egg hunt going on too and it's a lovely atmosphere with lots of families enjoying the easter sunshine!
Bolton Priory
Chris crossing the Friar's Steps
The next section of the walk along the river up to Strid Woods is absolutely gorgeous, full of bluebells and wildflowers and we head up to the Strid which is a narrow gorge where the Wharfe passes through a two metre wide gap. From here we head along the footpath climbing up through woods before another quiet stretch of riverside walking to reach the Barden aqueduct.

The Strid

Barden aqueduct

After the aqueduct we follow the river along to Barden bridge, along the narrow path at the side of the road and back to the main riverside track. We see a heron at the side of the river on this stretch which is pretty cool! It's absolutely boiling by now and i have to say we're both feeling a little bit tired and looking forward to a little break at Burnsall. We head past Howgill and Appletreewick and it's a very pleasant, gentle walk into Burnsall which as you can see from the photo was even more busy than Bolton Abbey, we literally saw no-one on the walk inbetween the two places because everyone was crammed in here! Still the barbeques smelt nice, we were starting to look forward to our tea! We had a sit down and a drink at the Red Lion in Burnsall, both our feet starting to ache now before setting off on the last part of the days walk towards Grassington.

Burnsall

Then it's back along the riverside path, heading slightly uphill, through woodland and onto Hebden swing bridge, crossing over to the other side of the river. Again, it's a very quiet section of the path and nice easy walking to Linton Falls. From here it's a short walk up a narrow gravel path and into Grassington where we'll be staying tonight. It's a pretty village gathered around the town square with several pubs, shops and guesthouses and we quickly find our accomodation for the night, the Black horse inn. I'm just glad to have a sit down to be honest, my feet are absolutely killing me now and after a quick shower and a few well deserved pints(plus a very fierce pool and darts tournament...which i won, incidentally!) we head back to the black horse for a lovely pub meal and an early night! It's been a fab first day, let's hope tomorrow is just as good!
First pint at the Black horse inn!