Along the Wharfe

BURNSALL nestles in the high fells; we nestled in the car. The ducks hunkered down on the green, the benches were upturned by the wind, the Wharfe View tea rooms were shut, but Mrs Gamble sold us very welcome canisters of take-away tea and we watched the river rush under the five arch bridge and pondered on Bill Nighy's selection of a sweet Stones song called Winter as a Desert Island Disc.

Eventually we girded our loins and set off, first reading an info-board. Indeed the village is beautifully positioned; scenes from the Calendar Girls film were shot here.

This is a walk on a stalk, but a nice stalk, along the wide River Wharfe. And, as always, our spirits rose after initial feebleness. Especially as the climb up the shapely Kail Hill was ever so nice along stonewalled tracks.

On the tops the wind blew hard but the air was clear and the views stretched far over the fells and deep into the valleys. Up ahead the skyline is jagged with the crags of Simon's Seat high on Barden Moor.

Drystone wallers were having their lunch break, we took ours in the lea of one of their walls and listened to the curlews. Then the sky cracked open and the sun flashed over the limestone of Trollers Gill, the roof of Parcevall Hall and the wall-veined grasslands.

As we took a steep descent on a bit of road we passed a better sandwich stop, a bench among daffodils and with a view over the valley to Simon's Seat.

Hail pinged off our ears but we were happy, until Howarth Farm. This is an unbelievably squalid acreage. Of all the thousands of farms we have been through this takes the biscuit, a desolation of rubbish, a bonfire site with plastic and wheel hubs, all sorts.

I guess it generates more wind-blown litter than all the visitors to Wharfedale. Adjacent is a little caravan site, and this is the only time I have ever felt sorry for caravaners.

We escaped the debris at a perimeter gate with a 'beware of the bull' sign, as if there would be a bull loose in a caravan site. Further on a Primitive Methodist Chapel bore the notion 'God is with us', if he were he would direct a salvo of thunderbolts at Howarth Farm, if not him (or her) then perhaps the terrestrial authorities; after all this is the Dales National Park.

Within a half a mile we had recovered our equilibrium and were walking by the Wharfe on the Dales Way, with the tang of garlic, the promise of bluebells and the river tight in the valley, surging round boulders and roaring over cascades.

For the last and lovely couple of miles, the valley opens out and the flow is wide and the scene has an almost Scottish look. A super walk despite the blot on the landscape.

Directions:

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. Over bridge, squeezer on right to riverside path (Dales Way), footbridge.

2. Left to track, cross road, track uphill (signed, keep wall/fence to left), becomes walled track, swings to left at large barns.

3. At major tracks junction (ignore arrowed rock) 20 yards across grass to path so wall to right (signed New Road). Gated wall stile on right, left across corner to ladderstile then keep up by wall to left (3-way fingerpost, New Road). Gated step-stile and left, 20 yards, over fallen wall and keep by wall to your left.

4. Ladderstile and right to road, left at junction.

5. Right to farm drive. Public right of way passes by barns but sensibly keep to the track (usage route) which swings right in yard, gateway, pass below barns.

6. As track bends left downhill towards caravan site, straight on for 30 yards to gated wall-stile, stile and grassy path (barn to right).

7. Gated squeezer in wall on right and left to road, 100 yards, path on right (signed Burnsall two miles) to riverside path. After 1 mile pass swings right at wall (signed) and crosses field by barn and house to re-join outward route.

Fact file:

Distance: Six miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: Yorkshire Dales National Park.

Start: Burnsall.

Right of way: The route is along public rights of way except a short 'usage' deviation.

Date walked: Friday March 19, 2004.

Road route: Burnsall is on the B6160 Grassington to Bolton Abbey road.

Car parking: car park £3, or roadside.

Lavatories: Car park.

Refreshments: Shop, Wharfe View Tearoom and The Red Lion inn.

Tourist & public transport information: Grassington TIC 01756 752774.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL2 Yorkshire Dales Southern and Western areas.

Terrain: Riverside and fells.

Points of interest: Info-board describes disabled access for half a mile, north along the west flank of the River Wharfe from Burnsall.

Difficulty: Some climbing, good surfaces.

Dogs: Suitable.

Weather Forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 10:00 Saturday, March 27, 2004