David at Conistone Pie in Wharfedale
I am now just six days away from starting my 268 mile Pennine Way adventure from Edale in Derbyshire . . . . hopefully! MacsAdventure who have booked my 22 nights accommodation enroute are still trying to sort out a B+B for Edale. The Coronavirus pandemic has mean't most of the places I am staying in are only just opening up again. Indeed some have decided not to open for business at all this year and therefore MacsAdventure have had to find alternative accommodation. However I am cautiously optimistic that I will be all set to go on this coming Saturday . . . 1st August.
The village market square in Grassington in Wharfedale
Washing day at Chapel Fold on the northern edge of Grassington
Wharfedale has always been one of my favourite destinations for walking. It is only a half-hour drive from home in Harrogate. When we lived in Hong Kong we always made sure we did a family walk in Upper Wharfedale when we came back to the UK in the summer holidays. One of our favourites was from Hubberholme up to Scar House, along the limestone escarpment to Cray and then back along the beck to Hubberholme. Our children were still quite young but really enjoyed the delights of this walk, especially the waterfalls in Cray Gill. The day usually included lunch in the George pub in Hubberholme and a visit to the norman church of St Michael and All Angels. Fond memories!
Newly erected Dales Way signpost on the outskirts of Grassington
One of several stone-stiles leading up onto Lea Green above Grassington
View from Lea Green looking south to Grassington and distant Cracoe Fell
As I looked across Wharfedale I decided to play a music track from an album by one of my favourite christian singers. Lauren Daigle's album 'Look Up Child', particularly the song 'You Say', was a daily track that I played while walking across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago in 2019. I also played 'On and On' by Housefires that my daughter Susie had suggested me listening to while walking on the Camino. I was entirely on my own with no other walkers in sight so it was brilliant to have these uplifting soundtracks accompanying me as I stepped across the landscape.
Dramatic 'sky-scape' above Wharfedale as I walked north on the Dales Way
Limestone pavement alongside the Dales Way
I always feel a sense of excitement when approaching Conistone Pie, despite it only being modest in terms of height. However its shape and position overlooking Wharfedale is quite dramatic. I scrambled up onto the top of the 'pie' to be rewarded with truly magnificent 360 degree views! It was awesome! I could see the fells of Upper Wharfedale including the summit of Buckden Pike and Yockenthwaite Moor. Below in the valley I had a great view of Kilnsey Crag . . . this huge, overhanging limestone cliff was shaped by the glacier that once filled the valley and plucked away at its sheer rock face thousands of years ago. Amazingly the UK Climbing website lists over 230 named routes up the crag. Glaciation is my favourite aspect of 'physical geography' and as I stood on top of Conistone Pie with extensive views up and down the dale I found it incredible to imagine it full of glacial ice with crevasses and moraines! Totally awesome!!
Conistone Pie above Wharfedale
View across to Littondale from Conistone Pie
The village of Kettlewell in Upper Wharfedale
Kettlewell is famous for its annual 'scarecrow festival' however because of Covid19 it has been decided to hold it virtually on-line this year.
The name Kettlewell is 'anglo-saxon' and comes from 'chetelewelle' which means bubbling spring or stream. In the 13th century a market was established in Kettlewell with mostly corn being sold outside the King's Arms. Textiles and lead mining in the late 18th and early 19th centuries revitalised the village creating the houses and cottages we see today, although there are a few buildings with origins in the 17th century (see photo below).
In 2014 the Tour de France Stage 1 from Leeds to Harrogate passed through the village. Wharfedale was then a dramatic back-drop to the world's greatest cycle race!
17th century 'Cam Cottage' in the heart of Kettlewell
Winding path through Bastow Wood on approach to Grass Wood
Wild orchids in Bastow Wood
* click on video above to see the River Wharfe channeled into
the narrow rocky confines of Ghaistrill's Strid!
** it may take a few seconds to upload
The Pennine Way is Britains best-known National Trail winding its way for 268 miles, over wild moorland and through quiet dales, following the backbone of northern England. I have been told to prepare for a 'tough walk' climbing approximately 40,000 feet (12,000 metres). In their Pennine Way guidebook Stuart Grieg and Henry Stedman state in their introduction:
'Nothing in life worth having comes easy', or so the saying goes
and this applies to the Pennine Way. Many experienced and hill-
hardened walkers leave Edale and never finish; but those who do
can stand proud and claim to have walked one of the toughest paths
in Britain.
So I am excited and ready to go! I am praying for good weather, particularly on the more remote moorland sections. I know what I am undertaking and realise it will be a tough challenge. It will be for me a 'pilgrimage' . . . . as since I climbed on my local mountain, Blackstone Edge, as a boy I have always dreamed of walking the entire Pennine Way. So on the 22nd August I hope to walk into Kirk Yetholm in southern Scotland after 3 weeks of exhilerating and challenging walking!
Regards
David
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