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Dales Trails

Druids Writing Desk, Brimham Rocks/Photo by Arnold Underwood

TRANS-DALES TRAIL 1      Ingleton to Ripon

"A PRE-RAMBLE"

The Yorkshire Dales are so well endowed with paths, bridle-ways, and lanes that there are innumerable possible routes across them - hence the reason for calling this walk 'Trans-Dales Trail 1', as it was anticipated that other Trails would be devised. There is a definite feeling of achievement if you complete a walk that actually goes somewhere, from "A" to "B", rather than in a circuit from the car park at "A" back to "A". Most visitors to the Dales will be doing the latter, walking in circles, with only a few hardy souls passing through on the long-distance paths. This means that footpaths in some areas are being over-walked whereas the paths linking those places see much less use.

This 60 mile trek passes through some of the best Yorkshire Dales scenery, visits some delightful locations and uses some ancient green lanes, tracks, and paths that appear to be rarely walked. When planning this Trail I saw the possibility of a west to east crossing of the Yorkshire Dales via routes and places new to me. The walk could start at Ingleton simply because I had never approached Ingleborough from that side. As it turns out Ingleton is a pretty good choice as it quite accessible being on the A65 Skipton to Kendal road, it's not far from the M6, and has pretty good bus links with Lancaster and elsewhere. The chosen route would cross Old Cote Moor between Littondale and Kettlewell, follow Nidderdale down to Pateley Bridge, and visit Brimham Rocks and Studley Royal - all places I hadn't previously visited. This led to a logical end on the steps of Ripon Cathedral. Ripon is of course not far from the A1 with bus links to Harrogate, York and elsewhere.

The Route/Map drawn by Arnold Underwood


Route created using TrackLogs Digital Mapping
Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

It all seemed straightforward on paper, but would it work in practice?
Yes, it did - Peter Tomkinson and myself completed the walk as planned in September 1995.
For a full description of our route you will need a copy of the guide to Trans-Dales Trail 1. If that whets your appetite you can then try it for yourself.
Good Walking

Arnold Underwood & Peter Tomkinson

Booklets for Trans-Dales Trail 1 are no longer available, but the route description can be downloaded for FREE as a pdf file.

Click here and follow the instructions to view or save the document - Trans-Dales Trail 1

This page was created by
Arnold Underwood

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