I’m walking a variation of the Dales Way with good friend Al from Gloucester. It’s about 80 miles and we’re taking 7 days. To add a bit of extra interest we’re diverting over the 3 Peaks between Kettlewell and Dent.

My wife Jan drove us up to the start in Ilkley and stayed the night at the Cow and Calf Inn. She will return for the last night in Bowness before whisking us back to Derbyshire. During the trek our bags are being moved between accommodation each day by Brigantes.

Today we walked 14 miles along Wharfedale from Ilkley to the Red Lion in Burnsall. Quite a pleasant walk but busy in places. It was a nice day and lots of families were making the most of it.

We diverted to the Craven Arms in Appletreewick for a break and a pint of Night Jar Dark Ale.

Then it was on to our lodgings for the night in the Red Lion in Burnsall and Timothy Taylor Boltmaker.

Here are a few phone photos.

The Strid near Bolton Abbey

 

I have walked a lot of long distance routes over the years, both in the UK and abroad. Some are official trails and others I just pull the maps out and link together paths and tracks.
While reviewing some of my previous treks I realised that I had completed quite a lot of treks running north-south.

I walked from Glasgow (Milngavie) to Cape Wrath, including climbing 26 mountains, in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
I backpacked the Pennine Way in 1974 and walked from Ashbourne to Edale in 2017.
When you add up the mileages that’s roughly half the distance from Cape Wrath to Lands End. So, I’ve decided to fill in the gaps, in fact we will finish in Sennen Cove, a couple of miles beyond Lands End as it’s a pretty village.

To make it more interesting I will be using as many official trails as possible, rather than the shortest route. Jan will be walking with me for all of the treks and I’m hoping to finish in the next 3 years or so.

We’ve already started by walking 4 day walks from Ashbourne to Weston near Crewe, mostly along the Staffordshire Way and South Cheshire Way. Two more days walking and we reach Whitchurch along the South Cheshire Way. From Whitchurch the Shropshire Way takes us south to link with Offa’s Dyke Path to Chepstow in South Wales and so on.

There’s a bit of a gap to the north too between Milngavie and the end of the Pennine Way (Kirk Yetholm). We are planning to do this in June and September this year, by which time we should have reached Whitchurch as our southerly point.

It’s been quite interesting seeing areas we either haven’t visited before or it has been a while since our last visit. We are also finding new pubs and real ales to visit at the end of each day.

It’s a good time of year for the birdlife too. So far, aprt from the usual suspects, we’ve seen 3 Goosanders between Alton and Leek. Heard the first Chiffchaffs this year on 22nd March. Seen lots of Lapwings, a Cormorant, a flock of around 20 Curlews and much more.

Here are a few phone photos.

Ashbourne to Alton

Alton to Leek

Leek to Scholar Green

Scholar Green to Weston near Crewe