Slip slidin' along

Bloomin' weather forecast! For days the meteorologists had been predicting that Friday would be the best day of the week so despite low cloud we set off early to check out another of the "ones that got away".



Leaving Settle - a grey day

This 9 mile circular from Settle follows ancient trade routes across the moors above Long Preston. It was never going to make the book as the route runs south of Settle and the parameters of Dales Rail Trails are walks between Settle and Kirkby Stephen. It's also outside of the great limestone walking routes of the south western Dales but it's not without interest, offering long distant views and almost guaranteed peace and quiet. We never saw another soul all day. 



We left Settle up an old moor road called Mitchell Lane, which was the main trade route between Settle and Long Preston until the turnpike road (now the busy A65) opened in 1750. Whilst I love walking in open countryside I do get a buzz from following the thousands of feet and cart wheels that have passed before me over the centuries.

There was snow underfoot as we crossed a couple of fields - but this wasn't the deep and crisp and even sort. The snow was light, the ground was sodden and we made a bambi-ish clamber up the only real ascent of the day.



Disguised mud

Back onto a rough track we headed south with great views over Ribblesdale and the Trough of Bowland.

As we neared Long Preston we had a choice - into the village and the Maypole for a liquid lunch or keep going and look for a sheltered spot to eat the butties. The butties won - the pints could wait for the end - and we headed east to start the circular return. We found a perfect lunch spot by a footbridge that crosses Long Preston Beck - a stream that starts life high on Rye Loaf Hill, runs east as Stockdale Beck then plunges over Scaleber Force before continuing south as Scaleber Beck, then Long Preston Beck before finally joining the river Ribble.

A sheltered spot for lunch

More fields brought us to another beck - Bookil Gill Beck which is usually easily crossed on a couple of large stones. Not today - the melt water from the fells had swollen the beck to a torrent and we were forced upstream to look for a crossing point. A fallen fence post provided a precarious tightrope that wobbled ominously - luckily the dog ran ahead to test its safety!



Trudging

By now horizontal snow was creeping into every orifice and we trudged, heads down, along Langber Lane, an ancient drove route that in Elizabethan times linked Settle with Otterburn and Skipton. We took a short detour into Scaleber Woods, where the waterfall of Scaleber Force made a fine sight in full spate, before dropping back down into Settle and that waiting pint.

Scaleber Force

Despite the weather it was a grand walk, not very taxing but (until the white out) with rewarding views in both directions.

The following morning we got up to blazing sunshine which just goes to show the only reliable way to forecast the weather is to open the curtains and peer out.

The ones that got away

The hardest bit about writing a walk book is not what to put in but what to leave out. There are so many ways up the mountain or routes down the valley that sometimes it's hard to know which ones to choose.

Our latest guide book is a collection of walks that can all be done from stations on the Settle-Carlisle line. Walking the fells, selecting the routes and creating the maps took most of last year. Inevitably there were artistic differences - disagreements about what went in and what was left out.

I'm a bit of a fan of a tea shop and any walk that includes the possibilty of a scone gets my vote.

The path to Crummackdale - not far from Elaine's tearoom at Feizor

My co-author likes the open fells, the wilder the better, so long as there's a pint at the finish.



Looking south from Great Knoutberry - only the sheep for company

We got there in the end and Dales Rail Trails is finally ready to face the world - 18 circular, 14 linear walks and one long distance trail through the western Dales. There are easy routes through Ribblesdale and strenuous climbs over Wild Boar Fell, classic ascents of Ingleborough and secluded paths to Crummackdale. Together they give a comprehensive coverage of the area between Settle and Kirkby Stephen. There are loads of routes we left out though so we've decided to put them on the Dales Rail Trails website as Out-takes - the ones that got away! 

Escape at last

Its been almost a month since I've written anything on here and what a month its been! A month of proofreading and spellchecking and chasing down those damned apostrophes - and that's only the Christmas cards!

Today, finally, we stopped - the new book is at the printers, the ride2sride programme is designed and ready to go, the website is up and running (have a look at www.ride2stride.org.uk if you don't believe me) and yes - the Christmas cards are written.

It's December 21st and the shortest day so we escaped from the computer and took ourselves up onto Ilkley Moor to the Twelve Apostles stone circle where Yorkshire men and women have been keeping an eye out for the sun for the last 3,500 winter solstices.

Like most of them we failed to spot it so we skipped the dancing naked round the cairn bit and legged it down into Ilkley for that other age old tradition of partaking of mind-altering substances. Cheers!

It's a tough job ....

..... but somebody's got to do it!

In our house no walk is complete without a decent pub at the end of it. In fact we have been known to slow down the last couple of miles and "Whoops, just missed that train - better have a drink while we wait for the next one"

No surprise then that many of the ride2stride walks will end in pubs where the lovely Jeff and his friends will be music making. Today I had a ride up and down the line just checking out the facilities.

The Crown, Horton-in-Ribblesdale

The Station Inn, Ribblehead

The Moorcock, Garsdale

Like I said - tough job but someone's got to do it!

I think we got us a festival



Walkers on Hangingstone Scar, Mallerstang



A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the twinkle in our eye that was ride2stride: the Settle - Carlisle Walking Festival. Well it's really happening!

A little group of us met to talk about the idea and decide whether it really was a goer or just a figment of mine and Tony's wine-addled brains and one of the first things we asked ourselves was "what would success look like?"

We decided if over the course of 7 days - May 1st to 7th next year - we could offer 12 walks from different stations between Settle and Carlisle, 3 music events somewhere along the line and 2 talks on relevant subjects we'd think we'd cracked it.

Well - so far we've got 16 walks ranging from easy strolls around bluebell woods to strenuous hikes over Mallerstang Edge; 3 guided walks around the construction site of Ribblehead Viaduct and Settle Old Town; talks on the part that railways have played in getting people from the grimy urban centres to the heart of the Dales AND music in the station pubs at the end of most walking days.

Jeff and his singing partner Di

Jeff, from the 3 Peaks Folk Club, is setting up the music sessions. He's an organisational genius who's middle name should be "Sorted". In fact I'm seriously considering offering him to Italy for a couple of weeks.

You can follow our progress at http://www.ride2stride.org.uk/

The best Yorkshire puddings in the world - probably!

Allotment life

Poppies on my plot



There's only 26 plots on our allotment site and we're a pretty healthy lot so the 45 people on the waiting list can find themselves hanging about there for a very long time.

On Saturday we had a clean-up day followed by a bonfire and I asked a couple of hefty looking chaps to help me clear a patch at the top of my plot. It was covered in small trees and bushes - a couple of self-seeded oaks, some box, a few ashplants and a spiky fir-tree sort of a thingy (the people who had the plot before me had a gardening business and used the allotment to grow shrubs to replant in their clients' gardens).

I thought there might be enough space to make a seating area but when the ashplants and the spiky thingy had been dragged off to the bonfire we found that there was a clear square about 12' x 12' that will make a very nice mini-plot. So - if you're at the top of the waiting list you'll be my new neighbours at Number 26a Canalside Allotments. The other 44 of you will just have to be patient.