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General Information
Duration
of tour: 8 days (7 nights).
Season:
31 March to mid October.
Starting
point: Ilkley, Yorkshire.
End
of tour: Windermere, Cumbria.
Most
convenient major city and international airport: Manchester Airport.
2 hours to Ilkley via Leeds.
Breakfast:
in UK will generally consist of sausage, bacon, eggs etc, cereals and
fruit will also be available.
Special
Dietary Requirements: It
is important for you to tell us if you have any dietary requirements
when you book your holiday so that we can inform everyone that you are
staying with.
Baths/showers:
Many rooms with ensuite/private facilities have a shower rather than a
bath, usually because of limited space. Some hotels/guesthouses may
however have a separate room in the house where a bath is available to
guests.
Single
Supplements: are
payable on most of our tours. The
single supplement guarantees the privacy of your own room, however,
rooms can at times be small and in some places may not enjoy the same
facilities as double/twin rooms.
Luggage:
When staying in hotels, sometimes your
luggage will have been taken to you room awaiting your arrival. However
don’t be surprised if your luggage is waiting for you to take it up to
your room.
Route
Notes: Please
note that 1 set of route notes per room booked is included in the cost
of the holiday. If you require more sets of notes then there is a charge
of £25 per set ordered.
Getting to the Start
Outward
journey from London to starting point: Train from London King’s
Cross to Leeds, then change trains for Ilkley (3 - 3 1/2 hours). The
first night's hotel is a short taxi ride/ 15 minute walk from the station.
Inward
journey to London at end of tour: Taxi/walk to Windermere rail
station. Then train to London Euston (change trains at Oxenholme).
National
Rail website is www.nationalrail.co.uk
if you want to look at the journey involved.
Your Accommodation
Below
is described the normal accommodation that we use on this tour. At the
time of booking please be aware that other places might be used instead
if these choices are full or closed for whatever reason.
q
Night 1: Ilkley:
We stay overnight at a Victorian riverside hotel.
All facilities are en suite, and rooms come equipped with
satellite TV.
This is a pub hotel and does great food throughout the day and
there is a separate restaurant area away from the bar. The picturesque
setting, with river views and rowing in the summer months, make this an
ideal place to start our tour.
q
Night 2: Burnsall:
Wharfe View Farm B&B offers 3 large, spacious rooms.
q
Night 3: Cray:
Formerly a Drovers Hostelry and dating back to the early 17th
century, our Inn at Cray near to Hubberholme is a traditional Yorkshire
pub, open all year round to provide warm, inviting and friendly
accommodation throughout the ever-changing seasons. In fine, warm
weather, food & drink can be enjoyed in the beer garden or beside
the cascading Cray Gill, which fronts the Inn.
This place has been likened by Wainwright to a “tiny oasis”.
Enjoy fine home cooked food, traditional hand pulled real ales and a
variety of wines surrounded by original oak beams, a cosy log fire and
stone flagged floors. Stunning
surroundings combine to create a
true gem, in the very heart of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
q
Night 4: Cowgill:
A 17th century listed building, offering authentic rustic
charm, is our accommodation for the night.
All front rooms have river views, and the building has retained
much of its original charm, with open fires, oak beams, and a friendly
welcome.
There is a washbasin; tea/coffee making facilities in all rooms,
rooms may have private but separate or shared bathroom facilities. This
is a very cozy place with the sound of the River Dee running outside the
windows.
q
Night 5: Sedbergh:
Overnight accommodation is provided at a very comfortable Inn, right on
the main street. This offers a superb breakfast and a range of home
cooked pub meals are available in the evening. The Inn has a traditional
English country town feel to it, offering local beers in the
attractively decorated bar and dining area.
All rooms have tea and coffee making facilities, a TV and some
are ensuite.
Sometimes a comfortable cottage owned by the pub, is used for
accommodation about 150 metres away from the inn.
q
Night 6: Burneside
or Kendal:
The small Inn we stay at Burneside is the centre of the local community
home to several cup winning dart teams. The pub has associations going
back over a hundred years to the paper mill in the village and there are
comfortable ensuite rooms. There is a limited selection of evening meals
available. If this is not available you will be transported to Kendal a
couple of miles away and to an attractive guest house there and returned
in the morning, (no extra charge).
q
Night 7: Bowness:
Our final accommodation in the picturesque village, is
a traditional lakeland stone Victorian terraced house, a couple of
minutes walk from Windermere.
Important note: It is very difficult to secure 1 night bookings in
Bowness on a friday/saturday so bare this in mind when choosing your
start date.
PLEASE
NOTE: It is generally normal practice when staying in hotels that you
check-in on or after 2pm and checkout by 10am the following morning.
Guesthouses/bed & breakfast establishments are normally check-in on
or after 4pm and checkout by 10am. |
Outline
Itinerary
q
Day 1 Ilkley:
Travel to starting
point. Optional walk to Cow and Calf rocks and Ilkley Moor. Here you can
find the ‘White Well’ a tiny Victorian spa, not much bigger than a
luxury sized bath, popular in the days when people with pneumonia were
encouraged to bathe in icy cold waters. If the flag is flying, a small
teashop is also open here (2.5 hr round trip). Or, if you are feeling a
little more sedentary have a look around this attractive country town
with its range of specialist local family shops and cafes, there is a
branch (or tea leaf) of Betty’s Tea Rooms here. There is a small
history museum and next to it, All Saints Church, which is built on the
site of a Roman fort, contains some Anglo-Saxon crosses dating back to
the 9th century.
q
Day 2 Ilkley
to Burnsall:
Lower Wharfedale and Bolton Abbey. This promises to be a very beautiful
walk tracing the side of the River Wharfe. Undoubtedly, the
well-preserved remains of the abbey are a popular spot especially on a
weekend, but the spot is beautiful and a nice place to take your picnic.
To continue, you can cross to the other side of the Wharfe either by the
bridge or by a long sequence of stepping stones, one of which has the
motion of a rocking horse while you are halfway across...try it whilst
eating a dairy ice cream often sold locally. The route continues through
the Duke of Devonshire’s estate and into beautiful Strid Woods, with a
little gorge area - The Strid where the Wharfe narrows to a point that it has a
cheese- wire effect on the rocks incising a little gorge. From here the
landscape opens up again as we head past the substantial structure of
Barden Bridge. Thirsty people with a sensitivity for architecture, might
like to take mile or so detour to the pretty village of Appletreewick
which has an interesting ensemble of local stone houses as well as two
nice pubs. Don’t drink too much, or you may end up in the local
stocks! Watch out too for the weather stone, which can tell you the
weather in any weather! You finally arrive at substantial Burnsall
bridge, where you conclude in this pretty village with a superb pub
called the Red Lion for your evening meal. There are a couple of
interesting churches including St. Wilfrid’s from the 1400s. (13.5
miles / 21.5 km, 6 hours).
q
Day 3 Burnsall
to Cray (near Buckden and Hubberholme) Today
is an upland and lowland day. Firstly follow the Wharfe past attractive
Linton to the market town of Grassington, with is cobbled streets and
teashops. The route then leaves the river to start heading across
drystone wall fringed upland fields. If you have forgotten your lunch,
you can try to take a mouthful of Conistone Pie, a limestone hill
feature which looks like a pie! There are great views over rocky scars,
over dales and limestone pavements, before descending to reacquaint
oneself with the river as you reach the old lead mining village of
Kettlewell with 3 pretty looking pubs, this was the setting for the film
‘Calendar Girls’ filmed in 2003. Rejoining the river, thread your
way through sheepy fields to Buckden an even smaller village. Rest on
the green before the last mile and a half off the official route over
the hill to Cray, a tiny hamlet. Cross a handful of stepping stones over
Grey Beck to gain the cosy Inn where you are normally staying. Quiet and
pretty dales scenery abounds. (15 miles / 24km, 7 hours).
q
Day 4 Cray
to Cowgill and Dentdale:
Today
is the hardest walk. You follow the Wharfe towards its upper youthful
sections, the water spilling off limestone terraces and small
waterfalls, we first pass Hubberholme with its attractive church and
torrents, at Yockenthwaite try to find the tiny stone circle. Further up
at Beckermonds, you are at the source of the Wharfe from two small becks
or streams. Say goodbye to the infant river here, we climb stiffly up
and out of Wharfedale over Cam Fell. The farmland here can be
boggy! A steep ascent from Cam houses, the last farm in the Dale, brings
us to a broad track and the highest point of the walk 1710ft / 521m,
then start descending along what was once a Roman road, cutting across
the Pennine Way Footpath and down into Dentdale. Views hopefully of the
Yorkshire three peaks; Penyghent, Whernside and Ingelborough. Walk down
towards Ribblehead and then there is a further moorland section re
ascending slightly to cross over to Denthead and then you are confronted
with the magnificent viaduct on the Settle to Carlisle Railway, which
almost seems to be a natural part of the surroundings. Another mile of
steep descent along the pretty River Dee, brings us to our Inn at
Cowgill, a quiet pretty place, there are occasional cars, but you are
more likely to be awoken by the sound of owls, sheep and the sparkling,
splashing river. (17.5 miles / 28 km, 6 hours).
q
Day 5 Cowgill
to Sedbergh: An
attractive
valleyside and river crossing day through Dentdale to
Sedbergh. At the foot of the steep Howgill Fells. The Dee becomes wider
and more ‘fluid’ as you go. After about 4 miles there is a welcome
diversion offered across the river in the village of Dent, built of grey
limestone with cobbled streets and well protected traditionally
maintained buildings, this was the birth place of Adam Sedgwick in 1785,
an important geology professor who much influenced Charles Darwin later
on. There are a couple of welcome tea shops and the George and Dragon
pub serves ale crafted by the Dent Brewery only a couple of miles away.
St. Andrew’s church has a beautiful interior. Following the river some
more, we finally ascend over a slight ridge and down into Garsdale and
cross the river Rawthey and up steeply to the small town of Sedbergh at
the foot of the wildly undulating Howgill Fells. Sedbergh is famous for
its Public school and like Ilkey, has a number of family run shops.
There are however, an overwhelming amount of bookshops, as it
claims to be England’s book town, worth knowing if you are out of
reading material by this stage of the walking tour! (11 miles / 17.5 km,
5 hours).
q
Day 6 Sedbergh
to Burneside: Returning
to the Rawthey, we follow this attractive river, before joining the
River Lune walking past some
more viaducts reflecting the glorious Victorian era of
engineering. At Crook of Lune you will discover a beautiful parabolic
arch bridge, which is probably 500 years old. The view from it towards
the Howgill Fells is a beauty. The Way now follows across an undulating
landscape of sheep pastureland, with views of the Howgills and also now
towards the Lake District. You will reach Black Moss Tarn, a tiny lake
tucked into a fold of the meadows, often with swans and geese floating
upon it. A good spot for a break before descending, meeting briefly the
rivers Mint and Sprint and onwards towards the 14th century
Burneside Hall, a Pele tower to protect inhabitants from the Scots and
the ‘Border Reivers’ who caused mayhem in this land. Arriving at
Burneside, the first realization is that this is an industrial rather
than tourist village dominated by a paper mill relying on the waters of
the River Kent. The oldest parts of this mill are worth having a look
at, with its interesting clock tower. You may be staying at Kendal
tonight in which case you will be transferred to this town, which until
recently was where Clarkes shoes were manufactured. (17 miles / 27 km 7
hours).
q
Day 7 Burneside
to Bowness:
We follow the attractive River Kent to Staveley passing
interesting former mill areas, which in some cases have been creatively
redeveloped into housing. The millponds however still remain and often
trout can be seen jumping for fly. A few miles bring us into Staveley,
an attractive village worth a coffee stop with its interesting bell
tower. The walk then becomes increasingly rural and then onto wilder
areas. On a good day a short diversion up to School Knott will reveal a
great Lakeland panorama including the Coniston Fells, Crinkle Crags and
Scafell. Then you descend to wards Lake Windermere, which remains
elusive until you finally leave woodland, and descend into Bowness on
Windermere, a rather brash tourist town on the lakeside, this expanse of
water is England's largest natural lake. (10 miles / 16km, 4 hours).
q
Day 8: End of Tour. If
you are leaving via Windermere station this is a mile and a half away
and will cost around £7 by taxi. There is also a limited local bus
service. You could also consider walking the Cumbrian Way.
Included
Bed
& breakfast with ensuite facilities where available. Luggage transfers
from Inn to Inn. Full route notes and map package.
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