Walk through the Dales

Dacre Banks is one of a string of villages in lower Nidderdale that were industrially important due to the waterpower the River Nidd provided. A modern sawmill yard is eye-catching.

Otherwise our exit from Dacre's houses was just five unremarkable minutes. However the start of our proper walking, on the Nidderdale Way no less, was and is of note being a peculiar messy scramble at a farm. All that lasts only a few hundred yards and then came a mile or so on pasture land with oak trees, an easy gradient with some tracks, one called Monk Ing Road. There is a length on old flags or trod but the stones are rather dislocated.

We were in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, in a valley of villages set in green. On the highest point of the far horizon stand Brimham Rocks, half veiled by trees. There was more of this grit stone all around in the drystone walls, the dark blocks brightened by green algae, lichens and mosses.

The hamlet of Heyshaw is nice with only one house looking out of place. By now the scattered white balls of the eavesdropping station at Menwith Hill were visible miles away.

At an altitude of a thousand feet the horizon turned to rock and there were quarry heaps of the stuff that have been colonised by heather. There was also a towering communications mast and that together with rain had us scurrying off, hurrying down quite steep paths through the winter withered bracken, past little overgrown quarries to find shelter for a quick snatch at a sandwich.

The black cliffs along the tops gave the place an extra sombre feel, and I think this is a rainy part of the world. A raptor, a big one with narrow scythe shaped wings, hovered very high, stooped for perhaps 50 feet, hovered again, then closed its wings and dropped near vertical and fast.

Our walk trundled on quite nicely on a good grassy track and then began a slow descent that parallels the line of the valley floor. A buzzard cruised on broad wings, the rain persisted, and there was a sighting northwest to wilder lands.

We counted down the valley villages and named places as we tracked above them - Glasshouses where flax and hemp were milled, Wilsill, Low Laithe and Smelthouses, all small, New York even smaller though again with mills. A beck reminded of the River Nidd, gaggles of walkers that we were back on the beaten track, and soon Summerbridge was near and we were done. A steady walk, a good work out, easier if the ground were frozen or dry.

Directions

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

1. Downhill through village from Royal Oak Inn towards Summerbridge, left to Cabin Lane, left to Grange Lane, through farmyard, up concrete ramp, immediately small gate on left on ramp (waymark) and right (wall to right), fieldgate, snickelgate, right on drive for 20 yards, left across grass and scramble up 20 foot bank to waymark on telegraph pole.

2. Through farmyard between barns, track out (usage route), 150 yards, swing right on track (arrow) up to second of two fieldgates on left ('arrow').

3. Field-edge (wall to left), gateway (waymark), stile in fence 25 yards to right of corner and immediately right 50 yards to wall stile, angle up left, 10 o'clock, to stone stile by fieldgate.

4. Left to track (fingerpost), right at crossroads, between houses to field-edge route, some stone slabs, fieldgate, fieldgate, gate, ladderstile/fieldgate then 1 o'clock to right of farmyard, stile (waymark).

5. Cross track, wall stile, left 20 yards, right to road, 30 yards, track on right (fingerpost), cattlegrid/fieldgate.

6. Fieldgate to moorland track (fingerpost).

7. At mast, ladderstile/fieldgate on right and straight down on path, fork right on path to return to wall after about 200 yards, fieldgate in wire fence, 20 yards and right to continue down by wall.

8. Where wall to your right turns right, sight 1 o'clock across little valley and get there on grass track which curves. Find two adjacent fieldgates up bank.

9. Right-hand of the two fieldgates, the one next to wall with wire fence beside it (no signs), 11 o'clock down grassy gully, fieldgate to track, cattlegrid/fieldgate, into farmyard for 20 yards.

10. Right to track.

11. At right-hand bend go straight on to grassy track and fieldgate, through field then good track.

Fact file

Distance: Five and a half miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: The Dales.

Start: Dacre Banks near Summerbridge.

Right of way: Public.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer 298 Nidderdale.

Date walked: Monday December 26, 2005.

Road route: From York, via Knaresborough.

Car parking: Roadside.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: Inn at Dacre Banks and Inn at Summerbridge.

Tourist and public transport information: Pateley Bridge TIC 01423 711147.

Terrain: Valleyside.

Points of interest: The massive mill wheel by the church bearing the village name.

Difficulty: Tricky navigation.

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: 16:00 Friday, January 13, 2006