Dales High Way: Skipton Castle Woods

Sunday 9th April 2023

After the glorious sunshine of the day before on my first walk along the Dales High Way out of Saltaire, I woke to thick fog, but at least it wasn’t raining. However, on paper, this section of the trail was not the most interesting, so I wasn’t too worried about the weather. After packing up my tent at Ghyll House Farm Campsite, I set off along the Dales High Way descending through grassy fields towards the village of Addingham where there is a path that is notoriously muddy and after prolonged rainfall it is recommended to divert through the village. After all the rain we have had recently, I thought it was prudent to branch off into Addingham, walk along the main road and eventually climb out of the village on an arrow straight road that is known locally as the Roman Road, though it is more likely to be prehistoric and has been dubbed Rombalds Way. After climbing to over a thousand feet, the tedium of the dull surroundings was relieved as I gradually began to descend while crossing the northern slopes of Skipton Moor and eventually deciduous trees appeared beside the stream, Jenny Gill, where I dropped steeply down through the trees. By this point the fog had begun to clear and the views north revealed the town of Skipton with the sun soon appearing through gaps in the clouds which signified that the weather this day was going to be much better than it had at first appeared.

The steep path led me down to a road past many people, particularly cyclists, into Skipton, which made me realise that the Dales High Way passes through a comparatively large number of towns and villages, so you are never far away from an opportunity to resupply. After passing through the centre of Skipton I dropped down to the canal, a branch of the Leeds and Liverpool, onto an alternative route that took me through Skipton Castle Woods, instead of the apparently dull walk over the grassy Park Hill on the main route. Initially I had an exciting walk along a raised path between the Eller Beck and the canal before entering the wood where ramson covered the banks of the valley and filled the air with the smell of wild garlic. Tragically, it wasn’t long before I was torn away from this idyllic scene onto a path that climbed steeply up near Sougha Gill. At the top of the path was a bench that I was very happy to use so I could catch my breath and eat my lunch while looking down into the picturesque valley. The path continued through woods decorated with wood anemones and celandines before bringing me onto Short Lee Lane where the Dales High Way could have soon been rejoined, but that would cross the busy A65 road  and onto a golf course, so I decided to stay on Short Lee Lane for another alternative route.

This took me onto the pavement around a roundabout and along a good path beside Grassington Road that was lined with celandines and daffodils before returning me to the main route of the Dales High Way after passing Craven Heifer Inn. The trail now took me across several grassy fields, finally into the Yorkshire Dales National Park and onto open moorland where a conical peak drew me towards it. The path across the moor was a little boggy, but not excessively, and as the gradient steepened the ground became drier while I climbed up to the top of Sharp Haw where a bit of a wind was blowing, but it was great to be at the top of a hill, though I didn’t stay there long. Immediately I descended steeply back down the hill and around the smaller Rough Haw on a good path that was not as boggy as the approach. Blue topped posts guided me all the way down the hill and onto an enclosed lane where some sort of matting, like thin carpet, was very slippery as it was wet. This surface might have worked when dry but this is Yorkshire so it was wet and I almost slipped over several times. It didn’t last long and after passing through a sunken lane, decorated with celandines, I reached the village of Flasby. Now the Dales High Way kept to the bottom of a valley as I passed many sheep through grassy fields while following the Flasby Beck upstream until I reached the village of Hetton.

The sun that had greeted me in Skipton was now a distant memory as I climbed out of the valley on another arrow straight track, this one known as Moor Lane, that took me over the moor until finally I started to descend and past Winterburn Reservoir, which did not look picturesque due to the overcast skies and a lack of trees that would have broken the tedium of bare grassy slopes. The Dales High Way steadily climbed again, apart from a brief descent to cross Ray Gill, during an unrelenting ascent that took me up to the Wheets, a hill that was the highest point on the trail thus far at 414 metres, which I felt was very cruel to expect me to climb after such a long walk. The path was often good and this kept me going wearily all the way to Wheets Top where I found a wall and a trig point, which I had to visit, before joining an enclosed lane that descends steeply to a road. The descent continued down the road all the way to Gordale Bridge where I turned off the trail to visit Gordale Scar, which is an awesome ravine that I would consider to be best place in the whole of the Yorkshire Dales. Previously when I have been in the area, in 2009 and 2014, I have allotted plenty of time to explore, but I was now at the end of a long, tiring walk and I had another long, tiring walk the next day, so I had no time. Despite it being past five o’clock in the evening I couldn’t pass by without a visit, so I walked up beside the Gordale Beck until I turned the corner and beheld the awesome scenery of Gordale Scar.

Even the approach is awe-inspiring with tall cliff-faces that slowly close in on you until finally I turned the corner and saw the cathedral of rock that is Gordale Scar. I was disappointed that I didn’t have the time or the energy to explore so I reluctantly turned around and headed back out to the road. Rather than returning to the Dales High Way, I took an optional route into Malham that passes Janet’s Foss, a beautiful waterfall that was spoilt by the vast numbers of people surrounding it. I quickly headed away through the beautiful little dell whose banks were covered in wild garlic and dog’s mercury. There was a dramatic change in the scenery after I passed through a gate into grassy fields where the only interest was provided by celandines and primroses beside the stream. Eventually the path took me into Malham where I found my campsite and I finally ended this long walk that was probably the longest that I have done since I was in Wales seven months previously when I wasn’t carrying a heavy rucksack. This day left me feeling very tired so I was happy to be in Malham.