Location : Ribblehead / Dent / Sedbergh / Staveley / Kendal / Windermere / Bowness-on-Windermere
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Introduction
This is the diary of a walk by Peter and Jeanne Donaghy and John and Gillian Laidler in June 2009.
The Dales Way from Ilkley to Bowness-on-Windermere is said to be between 78 and 84 miles (depending on which source you quote) so as four 70year olds we wanted to make our walk as gentle and pleasant as possible. Therefore we decided to spread the walk out evenly over 10 days and to engage the services of 'Sherpa Van' to carry our bags between pre-booked B&Bs/pubs. This proved to be a wise and efficient move, although we seriously misjudged the distance at least on one occasion. We were almost entirely guided by Terry Marsh’s splendid book The Dales Way (Cicerone 2nd edition 2005 reprinted in 2008) but as back-ups (very rarely required) we took OS Explorer maps 297, OL2, OL30, OL19 and OL7.
We used the Garmin Forerunner 205 sports watch to accurately measure the daily walk from accommodation to accommodation, and we found that in fact we had covered a total of 90.7 miles
Day 1: Ilkley - Bardon Bridge (Drebley): 11.6 miles
We set off cheerfully after a pleasant night’s stay at the Riverside Hotel some 200 metres from the official start of the Way. The whole day proved to be an ideal introduction as we walked mainly on well-waymarked footpaths alongside the River Wharfe. Shortly after leaving Ilkley we passed through the delightful village of Addingham where we paused to visit St Peter’s Church with its distinctive blue-faced clock. it was not long before we came across the historic Quaker Meeting House at Fairfield, no longer in regular use but currently undergoing restoration. We were pleased to come across the offer of water and a bench to rest on just before crossing the A59 at Ferry House Cottage near Bolton Bridge.
It was generally sunny, although we did need to shelter from a heavy shower before crossing the footbridge close to the ruins of Bolton Priory. Walking on the undulating slopes through a pleasant wooded section we came across a “money-tree” and in a further mile or so we were able to enjoy a welcome stop for refreshments at the Cavendish Pavilion. This is obviously a popular spot for the many visitors to the adjacent Strid Wood with its beautiful trees and wild flowers. Eventually we found ourselves at Barden Bridge where we then had to deviate for a further 1.6 miles along a busy road to reach our overnight stay at Little Gate Farm, Drebley. However we were compensated by views of the ruins of Barden Tower and a genuine farm-sourced dinner.
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Move on to Day 2: Barden Bridge (Drebley) - Grassington
See other walks by Peter Donaghy.
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