A Walk Around the Alport Mines

The two of us met with Tony Wood and five others plus the farmer at Hollow Farm for a walk starting at The George in Youlgreave taking in the old Lead Mining features in the area.
The most impressive feature was Page's Shaft near Hollow Farm which is a very large oval-shaped deep shaft with a very large flat grill covering it. You could hear and see water down below.
After going as far as the hamlet of Alport, we made our way back to The George via the churchyard opposite where some miners who were killed in the Mawstone Mine Disaster in 1932 are buried. Mawstone Mine is about half a mile from Youlgreave and there was a large explosion there in 1932.

A Busy Day

Starting the morning off, Karen and I met Keith and Pete in the Old Smithy café at Monyash along with Simon Brooks. Karen and I then went the short distance down the road to the Village Hall for a DCA Council Meeting while the other three were heading for Water Icicle Close Cavern to survey the recent progress in the dig.
After the meeting, Karen and I joined the others in Water Icicle Close Cavern. Karen replaced the Carbon Dioxide monitoring log book and also fixed a sign to the gate leading to the new extensions to explain why the gate was there. Since Keith and Pete had improved the connection point beyond Cherty-Two Choke, I was easily able to get through and soon caught up with the three of them as they were finishing the surveying work while Karen took some photos and also caught us up.
After a look at the new stuff, the two of us headed out as by now it was after 16:00 and there was a planned meeting at the OCC Hut around 17:00 to 17:30.
Karen and I got changed and drove to the OCC Hut to find a large crowd there for Jenni Hargreaves's 50th Birthday celebration. We had some of the loads of food laid on and after the meeting to discuss the arrangements for allowing cavers to visit the WICC extensions, the Club Stand at this year's Hidden Earth, whether the Club should have a Training Officer and accommodation for the caving trip to France in September.
After the meeting, the two of us went home to have a shower and feed the cat the returned to the OCC hut to join the Birthday celebrations.

A Walk Around Some Winster Mining Sites

Karen and I joined a PDHMS event led by Tony Wood on a walk around Winster looking at various old Lead Mining sites.

Afterwards we had sandwiches, chips and beer in The Miners Standard.

A Walk on High Tor

Keith and Pete arranged to be in Monyash café for 09:30 but we decided on a short walk as the weather was so good.

 High Tor with Riber Castle above

We left the car in the car park at Artists Corner car park in Matlock Bath and crossed the Derwent using a metal footbridge than mad our way up a sloping path passing a Donkey Sanctuary and making our way higher and higher, passing the gates into High Tor Gardens and the continued to reach the highest point above the huge limestone cliff of High Tor.

 Donkey Sanctuary

Making our way down the other side, we followed a path at a junction leading onto the exposed but reasonably wide Dizzy Ledge. This was sign-posted as a One-Way system as the path is narrow and it is easier if everyone walks it in the same direction. As it turned out, we met no one else on Dizzy Ledge even though there were some people about on the other paths on High Tor. The ledge is straight-forward and passes a few corners and is equipped with a solid iron hand-rail in sections.

 Dizzy Ledge

After this we started following a path leading down towards the valley bottom. On the way we had a look at a couple of limestone features, now fenced off by the council with wooden fences, which seemed to be mainly small faults in the limestone caused by a landslide some time in the distant past. In fact in case there was evidence of “slickenslides” where two faces of rock have slid by each other.

Eventually we reached the throngs and noise of motorbikes and traffic on the main road through Matlock Bath as you would expect on a sunny Sunday in June. After a quick ice cream, we started making our way up a road leading past the vehicular entrance to the Heights of Abraham, then along the footpath leading past the entrance to Devonshire Cavern and then a hot slog up a path leading through the woods above until almost at Amber Farm, we turned a corner on the path until we eventually arrived at an entrance to the Heights of Abraham.

 Matlock Bath

Passing the entrance and then following a path downhill the other side, we arrived at a vehicle track past the drive of a large house. This soon led to a footpath leading back down to Matlock Bath. We found a tea shop and had a snack then walked back to the car park and headed for home leaving the crowds and heat of Matlock Bath behind.

Water Icicle Close Cavern

While we had been away walking the Dales Way, Keith and Pete had another breakthrough in their dig in Water Icicle Close Cavern, so after breakfast in Monyash the two of us dropped down the rope rigged by Keith and Pete earlier and arrived at the choke at the end of Cherty-Two Passage.

Pete had told Karen that this was tightish and I had a look first at the low passage going off to the right. It was low and a bit narrow, solid on the left and the roof but a bit loose on the right. This led downslope for a metre or so to a tiny chamber with a few small rocks then up again over a few boulders and slabs and I could see that didn't appear to tight or awkward. The problem was that I had gone through down the slope legs first and couldn't easily turn around to pass the upward boulders and slabs. I may have got turned around with a bit of a struggle but if any of the stuff on the right was dislodged it could block us all in!

Going through head first would be easier as I could just continue and climb up the other side. The problem then would be if I couldn't continue, getting back feet-first would be bloody difficult and I would be more likely to knock against some loose stuff..

So, I told Karen to continue and have a look at the new stuff and say Hello to the diggers while I waited hoping that the connection would be improved soon and I could also pass through.

Karen managed to turn around fairly easily and popped through to see the new stuff.

She came back a short while later and reported that the continuation was quite different in character to the rest of this part of the cave and was rifty with lots of chert. There was also a pitch about 8 metres deep (currently blocked at the bottom) which had to be traversed around and a largish chamber!

Excellent! So the two of us made our way back to the surface leaving Keith and Pete to get on with their digging.

We got changed and had a revisit to Monyash café for a celebratory piece of chocolate cake!

Later in the evening Keith and Pete turned up reporting good progress before we went in search of a meal (they were planning to stay at the OCC Hut). The Miners Standard was very busy and so was the Bowling Green so it was down to the chip shop in Darley Dale for fish and chips (chip cob for me) then back to the Miners for drinks.

The Dales Way - Burneside to Bowness-on-Windermere

The last day of The Dales Way and it was cool and cloudy at breakfast time which we arranged for the earlier time of 08:00 as we had to be at Bowness-on-Windermere by 16:00 for our lift back to Ilkley.
Retracing our steps to return to the Dales Way after buying sandwiches at a supermarket on the way, we were walking along the bank of the River Kent in pastures.
Soon we were at the smaller, neighbouring village of Bowston and crossing Bowston Bridge to meet the road from Burneside. Which we followed for a short way before following a jitty between houses and passing a nice housing complex next to the river, which used to be a mill.
Again walking next to the river through fields and wooded areas, we skirted past the village of Staveley. Not far after this we crossed a bridge spanning the A591 then leaving rivers behind, we were on open country and following a minor road from New Hall Farm stopping for a quick rest near the road's highest point on a convenient flat grassy area at the side of the road with views across to some of the Lakeland Fells.
After the quick rest we were on our way again following the minor road as far as a Bridleway which we followed to the left until that came to an end and the way continued in a large field via a gate.
The path continued on open ground with lovely views passing a flowing spring whose water sunk underground again after a few feet leading us past some National Park Rangers mending a farm gate next to the farm at Crag House.
Passing the gate we followed a green track to reach a minor road near the curiously-named house “Outrun Nook” and the along the road for a short distance to reach a farm track leading to the farm at Hag End. The Dales Way wends its way between the farm buildings and the owners have taken advantage of passing walkers to set up a tea shop where we stopped to have a snack, especially as we were making good time.

After our snack we continued on our way with more views on the Lakeland Fells opening ahead with a track leading us on. We reached a junction with another track coming in sharply from the left with a signpost at the junction of the two tracks. There was a “Dales Way” disc attached to the post so that it would be seen by someone coming in the opposite direction so it appeared that we should continue straight on, which is what we did. This brought us to a gate at a bend in a metalled track with “Public Footpath” signs pointing back the way we had come nut no mention of the Dales Way. Well I suppose it was obvious to just continue onwards, which is what we did until we arrived on collection of roads in a residential area. Something was wrong!
Checking the compass I realised we were heading North when we should have been heading South! Checking the map, we realised where we had gone wrong – it was at that path junction with the last “Dales Way” marker about 2/3 of a mile back. So far on the Dales Way we had hardly gone wrong at all and now on the last day we made a mistake in navigation.

So, turning around and heading back to the junction, we could see the place where a Dales Way marker had been probably showing that we should have turned left instead of continuing straight on. Now on the correct route, we saw more Dales Way markers which confirmed our suspicions.
Now there was only a short distance to go and following grassy tracks and crossing farm tracks we arrived at the large stone seat similar to the one back at the start of the Dales Way in Ilkley which said “For Those Who Walk the Dales Way” with views down and across the town of Bowness and parts of Lake Windermere. It was 14:20.

After balancing our cameras on rucksacks and taking photos of ourselves sitting on the seat, we dropped down the slope to reach a road between houses leading down into the town centre. By now the sun was out and it was again getting hot and there were throngs of tourists so the first job was to find an ice cream followed by the walk up the road to Windermere and a lift by the “Sherpa Van” people back to Karen's car in Ilkley and home.

The Dales Way - Thwaite Farm, Howgill to Burneside (10 Miles)

 Karen in front of Thwaite Farm Farmhouse

Another sunny day and very warm. After breakfast and packing up our stuff, we left Thwaite Farm at 09:20 and dropped down through a couple of fields to a footbridge across Chapel Beck. This brought us to a path, a bit muddy in places, leading along the River Lune.

 Path by River Lune

Leaving the river bank for a track and a minor road, we arrived at Crook of Lune Bridge, another lovely old bridge, again a bit narrow for modern traffic.

 Crook of Lune Bridge

R

River Lune

After crossing the bridge, we followed the road as it passed beneath an arch of the Lowgill Viaduct, also a remnant of the Ingleton to Tebay line.

 Lowgill Viaduct

This led us to a larger road for a short distance then past a few houses and up a narrow grassy lane filled with wild flowers which led to open fields. Looking back we had views of the Howgills and to one side, the Lakeland peaks, the most prominent being Ill Bell. Also we could hear the noise of traffic on the busy M6 motorway only a half a mile away or so.

 Distant Lakeland Fells

The Howgill Hills

We soon crossed over the M6 on a narrow bridge joining two fields. After more fields and various farms, we reached a footbridge crossing a small beck at Grayrigg Foot Farm. It was just past Noon so we sat on one end of the bridge and ate our packed lunches.
Continuing onwards again on a mixture of tracks and fields we arrived at the small Black Moss Tarn where a family of swans and their cygnets were swimming in a lovely spot. We took advantage of the lovely location to sit and rest in the heat of the sun for half an hour.

 Black Moss Tarn

 Swan Family

As we neared Burnside, our stopping-over place for the night, we saw the town of Kendal in the valley ahead. All that remained was to pass the old mill on the River Sprint, walk through a field waving flies away, then a short section of minor road and again crossing another field to reach the road into Burneside, passing the impressive Buneside Manor and ruins (now a farmhouse) on the way.

 Burneside Manor

Arriving in Burneside at 15:30and after short rest on a bench in the shade to cool down, we bought some ice cream and cold drink in a shop and sat in a small park have them.
Luckily our accommodation for the night, The Jolly Anglers pub, was just around the corner. Although locked up and no answer to the doorbell or knocking, Karen rung them on her mobile form and we were let in.

The Dales Way - Dent to Thwaite Farm, Howgill (10 miles)

Leaving The Sun in Dent after breakfast, collecting packed lunches and settling the bill, we found the weather sunny and the warmest yet. We called in at the village shop first to get a few snacks and some orange squash as we had run out of the squash we had brought with us.

Dent Village

Following the route we had taken the evening before into Dent, we returned to the route of the Dales Way at the road bridge crossing the River Dee. We saw the first small plaque attached to the gatepost, part of the "Dent Network of Gates" which is an art project involving children's designs cast in gunmetal and attached to local stiles, gate and bridges.
The path followed a narrow strip next to the river with a single wire fence separating it from the hay meadow. It joined the road for a very short length then rejoined the riverside.

 Near Dent Village

Further on we saw the Dutch couple from yesterday going in the same direction as us and following the path as it veered off from the river back to the road. We passed them as they were having a rest at the side of the road and continued onwards for another mile before following a track back towards a ford crossing the river.
The ford was fairly deep and we could see a footbridge nearby and a worn bit on the riverbank where others had clambered up and through a gap in the hedge to a path leading to the bridge. Obviously we had missed the other end of the path by the ford.
Anyway, we crossed the footbridge and saw a man and a lad checking their Dales Way guidebook before moving on. Karen and I sat on the footbridge steps for a few minutes to have a drink and saw the Dutch couple at the ford also looking for the way to the footbridge.
Continuing onwards, we followed an enclosed footpath and crossed the main road to the continuing path on the other side by an ornate gate into a large garden belonging to Gate Manor, then followed the path as it followed the Manor's garden wall and steadily gained height with views down the dale back towards Dent.
The path now continued across pastureland eventually reaching a rough track leading to the tiny village of Millthrop. Taking a road to the left we reached the main road again and a bridge crossing the River Rawthey. From here the Dales Way takes a footpath not far from the bridge. We were only 3/4 of a mile form the town of Sedbergh so we decided to continue along the road and find a tea shop. Despite it being midday, we weren't very hungry so just had a fruit scone and raspberry jam each.

 Millthrop Village

As it was so warm, we also got an ice cream from a nearby news agents and after a quick trip to an ATM, followed the main street for a few yards then on a Public Right of Way passing Sedbergh School and its cricket ground and other sports ground leading us back to the Dales Way at Birks.
This meant missing about half a mile of the official route, but our route was about twice that and also meant having the delights of Sedbergh which we would have otherwise missed out on!

 Sedbergh

 Sedbergh

From Birks we followed a minor road for a quarter of a mile then back on a footpath next to the river. At an old mill building (still in use for some other business), we passed a footbridge leading to Catholes and stayed on the same side of the river following an enclosed path from the mill building's car park.
After a short distance we were in open field again and stopped for a few minutes beneath an old viaduct belonging to a disused railway which we had just crossed. The central portion of the viaduct is made from wrought iron and has several arches in a complicated arrangement as they are side-by-side but the stone parapets which they bridge do not have parallel faces and are at an angle to each other. Quite amazing really.
Again we ended up on a main road for half a mile then back into pasture and through the hamlet of High Oaks. After following a track we reached a junction of footpaths with one leading straight on toward Killington New Bridge and the other to the right to Lincoln's Inn Bridge, which was our way.
We stopped here in a large field next to a hedgerow and took our boots of f to let our feet cool down a bit. Soon Karen spotted a fox coming through a wire fence from the field next door. The fox spotted us, about 30 yards away, and while keeping an eye on us, trotted past only to disappear behind a clump of long grass and not to appear again. Presumably it had gone down a hole.
With our rest over, we replaced our boots and continued on our way. We reached Lincoln's Inn Bridge which is a narrow road bridge which spans the River Lune and which was unfortunately slightly damaged at one end due to a vehicle accident.

The path rose to cross the road crossing the bridge and almost on the opposite side we continued on a track leading to the footpath now beside the River Lune.
Shortly after this we came upon the impressive Lune Viaduct constructed out of red sandstone with a metal section spanning two massive central piers. This viaduct was for the same disused railway (the Ingleton to Tebay line) as the viaduct we had seen earlier. We passed underneath one of the huge arches and then followed a path gradually rising upwards on steeper ground to the right.
This brought us to a gate and a stile and a path leading to Bramaskaw Farm. As we approached the farm, a cockerel came running down the field past us then mounted a nearby hen and started mating!

From here the route wasn't obvious but the farmer had painted large "FP" signs here and there leading past a small stone-built barn with short adjoining drystone walls until we arrived at a gated track.
The track led us to Hole House Farm and then to a large field with a bend of the River Lune flowing past. The problem as that our accommodation for the night, Thwaite Farm, was some distance away above the sloping ground with no path leading to it from this direction. Also there were a number of men working on power lines crossing the field below the farm.
We found our way through a gate into the farmyard and found the owner, Mrs. Parker. As the adjoining holiday cottage was unoccupied she said we could stay there for B&B and showed us in. It's a very lovely two bedroom cottage recently refurbished with amazing views. At first the power was off, due to the work we had seen the men carrying out on the power lines but it was due to be back on at 17:30 and it was now 16:30 so that was no problem.

As we still had our packed lunches, plus a couple of sausage rolls we also bought in Sedbergh, we had these for an evening meal. Otherwise we had planned to ask Mrs. Parker for a lift into Sedbergh for a pub meal, which she would have been happy to do.

The Dales Way - Station Inn, Ribblehead to Dent (10 miles)

After breakfast at the Station Inn we set off at 09:30 on a lovely, sunny day which wasn't too warm and very pleasant.
First we had to retrace our route back the mile and a half or so along the road to rejoin the Dales Way. We had been eating breakfast with three other groups of two who were also walking the Dales Way and were staying at the Station Inn.

 Ribblehead Viaduct with Whernside Behind

We rejoined the Dales Way which flowed a farm track past two farmhouses, then uphill and around the back of one of them with increasing views back towards Ingleborough and also Pen-y-Ghent.
The route crossed a couple of miles of typical gritstone moorland with the song of skylarks and curlews accompanying us with fields of buttercups and other wild flowers.

 Fields of Buttercups

 Wild Flowers

We reached a minor road which went downhill to pass beneath one of the arches of Dent Head Viaduct which like the one at Ribblehead, carries the Settle - Carlisle Railway. Dent Head Viaduct is in a more picturesque setting in a small valley with some trees and pastureland. There is also an ancient packhorse bridge beneath the highest arch.

 Dent Head Viaduct

 Ancient Pack Horse Bridge beneath the Viaduct

We walked along the quiet minor road for a few miles with the River Dee alongside, which was mostly flat limestone bedding with very little or no water at all. We were now in Dentdale which is mostly pastureland with fields and fields of hay meadows full of a variety of wild flowers. These are mainly buttercups so the meadows are an ocean of bright yellow.

 Karen and Chicken

We sat on a bridge parapet by Stonehouse Farm while Karen had a sandwich and were accompanied by a hen hoping for a free feed!
While we were waiting there, an older couple, who we had seen at the Station Inn, came walking past. We were to leapfrog each other on our way to Dent as rest stops were made.

 Lunch stop

Continuing on our way, we finally were back off the road and into pastureland until we reached a road bridge. Another stretch of quiet minor road followed, thankfully a lot shorter, leading to a recently felled wood. We stopped in the shade of some trees just before this wood with wise views back along the way we had come and had our lunch keeping an eye out for any more irate farmers but yesterday's incident proved to be a one-off.
After lunch we crossed the area of stumps of felled trees, already planted with a mixture of saplings to regenerate the wood, and then followed a series of meadows interspersed with short sections of farm tracks until we arrived back on the minor road once more.

 Dead Moles on a gate. Left by the Mole Catcher to show the Farmer he had done his work!

We were only supposed to walk along a short stretch of road and then follow a footpath to the right which should have brought us to a ravine called Lenny's Leap which has a usually dry resurgence cave but didn't see any signs and up to this point the route had been well sign-posted.
Thinking we must have missed the footpath as we had been on the road for a lot longer than expected, we saw one of the couples of walkers from the Station Inn walking towards us and at the same time spotted a footpath sign pointing to the right.
The couple, who sounded Dutch, told us that we had missed the earlier footpath but this one would get us to the same place a little further along the Dales Way. The sign said it was the way to Tommy Bridge. The correct footpath would have taken us to Lenny's Leap and then across the River Dee by Nelly's Bridge. The route would then have followed the opposite side of the river for about a third of a mile to re-cross the river by using Tommy Bridge. So, in effect we hadn't made the route any shorter or longer, just a bit longer on the road than necessary.

 Hay Making

Looking on the map, we had almost reached Whernside Manor which used to be a caving centre at one time. As we started down the footpath to Tommy Bridge, we heard the Dutch couple telling the other older couple who were just behind us about missing the correct path as well. The footpath sign for the path to Lenny's leap must either either be missing or well hidden.
On reaching Tommy Bridge we stayed on the same side of the river and followed the footpath signs across a large field away from the Dee and then downhill to a road and a bridge crossing Deepdale Beck.
A hundred yards down this minor road brought us to a footpath sign and a worn path along field edges next to the Beck. Again, the water appeared and disappeared. Soon we came the the confluence with the Dee where there was a large stagnant-looking pool with loads of small fish which were swimming around and crowding like hungry piranha around any insects landing on the water.
Just there the gap between the field fence and the river was wider than it had been and the two of us sat for a few minutes on the riverbank which was about 10 foot high and faced with drystone walling just above the pool. Karen was dropping pieces of bread from her remaining half a sandwich and giggling as the hungry fish swarmed around each piece and grabbed it. As we were doing this, the older couple passed us again on their way to Dent where they were hoping to get some soup at a tea shop before continuing onwards to their stopover place at Sedbergh.

 Cobbled Street in Dent Village

We finished feeding the fish and shouldered our rucksacks for the last little bit to Dent, arriving at the Sun Inn at 15:45. Joy of joys, it had a sign outside proclaiming a “Football Free Pub”. So we would be spared yet more World Cup television!

 The Sun Inn, Dent

Dent Church

The Dales Way - Swarthghyll Farm to Station Inn, Ribblehead (6 Miles)

Because of the availability of accommodation within a reasonable distance for a day's walk, we booked a night at The Station Inn at Ribblehead right next to the historic Viaduct carrying the Settle-Carlisle Railway. So today would be a short day.
So, after cooking our breakfast and collecting sandwiches as ordered for lunch, we set of at around 10:00 with a cloudy sky heading towards the neighbouring farm of Cam Houses. It looked like it might rain so I was wearing my Rab Bergen jacket. The ground as a bit soft and boggy in places so I wore my gaiters for the first time on this trip instead of carrying them in my rucksack.
Karen disturbed a Snipe which was in the grass next to the footpath and it took off and flew around. We then spotted two young chicks left on the ground, so we hurried on so as not to disturb them. We also had our first glimpse of Ingleborough, one of the “Three Peaks” in the Yorkshire Dales, in the distance.

 Ingleborough in the Distance

Just as we got to Cam Houses, it started to drizzle. Just as we found a sheltered spot under some trees near the farm, the drizzle turned to light rain and we waited for a short while to see if it would stop.
The rain eased off and we started walking once again. Very soon it started to rain lightly again, so we stopped again and got our waterproof overtrousers on.
We continued onwards, cutting through the corner of a pine wood, across a farm track then up a short steep section to meet the Pennine Way at a set of signposts and a cairn. Karen had received a mobile phone signal and got a text message from Keith saying he and Pete had another breakthrough in Water Icicle Close Cavern and had progressed another 100 metres with easy digging continuing!

 Dales Way and Pennine Way together

We followed a wide track which is on the route of an old Roman road from Ingleton which is also shared with the Pennine Way for a short distance. We realised it was past Noon so stopped at some boulders near where the track joined a minor road. As it had stopped raining, we sat with our backs to a boulder which sheltered us from the bit of wind that was blowing.
Just as we had finished eating, the farmer drove by on a quad bike on the track yelling "Oi, keep to the footpath! That land is private!". We packed up as were on our way anyway.
We walked along the minor road mostly on the open grassy verge heading toward Chapel-le-Dale and Ingleton, passing the continuation of the Dales Way as the Station Inn is a mile and a bit off the route. At the junction with the road to Horton-in-Ribblesdale, we bought an ice cream from the burger van that usually parks there and ate them while sitting on a bridge parapet watching a group of cavers getting ready to have a trip in one of the many caves on Blea Moss.

 Ribblehead Viaduct

After the ice creams, at about 14:00, we entered the Station Inn and dropped our stuff off in our room then went for a short wander around the area by the Viaduct looking at cave openings and limestone features.

 Station Inn, Ribblehead

Weather Forecasting Stone on the Station Inn

Karen and one of the nearby caves

Another view of Ribblehead Viaduct