An
exhilarating 90 miles across the glorious high country of the Yorkshire
Dales
Walk this
spectacular landscape from Saltaire to Appleby-in-Westmorland
Explore
its rich history, geology and culture
Return
with a breathtaking train ride along England's most beautiful railway
More
than just a walk
"For those who love
long-distance walking, this new 90-mile route from Saltaire, near
Shipley, to Appleby will be a delight."
- Ann Clarke, Westmorland
Gazette
"Their description of
the route makes you want to pull your boots on and set off
immediately."
- Mike Priestley, T&A
"An excellent and
innovative route which is to be highly recommended for dedicated
fell walkers - my feet are itching to get started on this
walk!"
- Peter G. Davies, FoSCL
magazine
"Promoted through a
superbly illustrated Companion booklet, rich in local geology,
history and wildlife, with detailed OS-based maps in an excellent
Route Guide, the Dales High Way is a sure-fire winner for all keen
Dales walkers."
- Colin Speakman
Yorkshire Dales Review
28 walkers and 3 dogs enjoyed a Taste of A Dales High Way on
Sunday, as part of the hugely successful Settle-Carlisle Walking
Festival.
The 10 mile circular walk from Settle was jointly organised by
the Friends of A Dales High Way and the Yorkshire Dales Society
and led by Chris Grogan. After climbing from Settle, past Jubilee
Caves and along the Pennine Bridleway to Gorbeck, the walkers
joined the route of A Dales High Way at Langscar, climbing up to
Nappa Gate, between Kirkby Fell and Grizedales and down besides
Attermire Scar amd Warrendale Knotts.
Returning to Settle in good time, after suitable refreshments
at the Lion, a group hopped on the train to Ribblehead to enjoy
the music on offer at the Station Inn.
Ride2stride 2012 is the first Settle-Carlisle Walking Festival.
After proving such a great success the demand for future events is
going to be hard to ignore.
Strong winds made for a particularly tough competition in the
58th annual 3 Peaks fell race.
Thankfully the rain stayed away for the day, a rare respite in
what has proven to be the wettest April on record. And although
the sun shone, it was still bitterly cold.
With the harsh conditions, no-one was expecting any racing
records to be broken. But the first four runners, led for most of
the way by Joe Symonds of the Hunters Bog Trotters, still managed
to finish the 23-mile course in under three hours.
For many others, the tough going took its toll. Of the 745 who
started, over 100 didn't make it to the finish line at Horton-in-Ribblesdale.
This year saw a slight route change on the top of Pen-y-ghent,
with runners heading north along the ridge from the summit for
half a mile, before dropping west to rejoin the original route.
This one-way system was designed to avoid the runners passing each
other on the steep western escarpment.
Runners reported snow on the top of the summit.
The organisation of the event by the Three Peaks Race
Association was, as ever, flawless.
Way marking the route of A Dales High Way has begun with the
unveiling of a new sign at the start of the 90-mile long-distance
trail in Saltaire.
The new sign was designed by Bradford Council and erected at
the entrance to the car park on Victoria Road earlier this month.
Julia Pearson, chair of the Friends of A Dales High Way, said:
"We're delighted with the new sign and grateful to Bradford
Council who have been very supportive of the Dales High Way
project from the beginning. We are now ready to start way marking
the first stages of the route."
The Friends have raised the funds for the way marks and
obtained the agreement for a design with all the authorities
responsible for those areas which the trail crosses. Positioning
of the way marks for the first stages has also been agreed with
officers from Bradford District Metropolitan Council and North
Yorkshire County Council.
Over the summer volunteers will put up the way marks between
Saltaire and Skipton.
"We still have to finalise a timetable with the Yorkshire
Dales National Park Authority and Cumbria County Council, but we
expect that the way marking of the entire route should be
completed by the end of next year," said Julia.
A new Inspirational video short, The Yorkshire Dales - when are
you coming?, has been released by the Yorkshire Tourism Agency -
Welcome to Yorkshire.
There are views from the route of A Dales High Way,
including stunning aerial shots of Malham Cove
It is one of three new videos about the region and is intended
to be used by the regions tourist destinations to help promote the
area. The videos were premiered at this year's Y12 - the biggest
tourism conference in the UK, held last month at York's Barbican
Centre and attended by over 1,400 people.
It is estimated that there are 216 million visits to Yorkshire
each year, worth £7 billion pounds. The Agency also unveiled it's
new business plan. Gary Verity, Chief Executive of Welcome to
Yorkshire said: "We have a five year plan to keep Yorkshire
as high profile as ever and with the support of the industry and
our patrons worldwide we will continue to ensure Yorkshire has a
loud and credible voice on the global stage."
Bradford Council is to review controversial grouse shooting
rights on Ilkley Moor.
The shooting rights were awarded to the Bingley Moor Estate
Partnership in December 2008, but there have been complaints from
walkers about the behaviour of the Partnership's game keepers. The
licence contains a clause which allows either party to end the
agreement after five years, with six months notice.
Edward Bromet of the Bingley Moor Estate Partnership, which
also organises shoots on the adjoining Bingley and Burley Moors,
said shoots took place for just six days last season, but the
partnership carried out management on the moor 365 days a year.
They pay the council £10,000 a year for the shooting rights.
The Friends of Ilkley Moor, set up to help maintain, conserve
and improve access to the moor, say they are unhappy with the way
some dog walkers have been treated by gamekeepers, and have
concerns about the land management work carried out by the
partnership.
The review, expected to be formally approved today, says
councillors should consider "the economic aspects of the moor
and the shoot", "the operation of the shoot and the
interface between it and the public" and "the views of
key agencies, representative bodies and users of the moor."
An early stage of A Dales High Way crosses the moor, but sticks
to rights of way which should be unaffected by the shoots.
"At £6.99 this is an
excellently-produced, pocket-sized publication, printed in full
colour on quality paper."
- Mike Priestley,
T&A
"This pocket sized book
contains many interesting photographs and informative descriptions
of the history, geology and the culture of the area - worth buying
for these alone."
- Jay Dingley, Strider
"It contains
large-scale coloured maps for every two to four miles of the
route, and these are full of detailed helpful directions."
- Keith Wadd,
West Riding Rambler
"If you fancy hiking
the 93 miles from Saltaire to Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria,
this beautifully designed and illustrated book would indeed be an
ideal companion to have in the back-pack."
- Jim Greenhalf,
T&A
hugely successful Settle-Carlisle Walking
Festival.
race.
new sign at the start of the 90-mile long-distance
trail in Saltaire.
The shooting rights were awarded to the Bingley Moor Estate
Partnership in December 2008, but there have been complaints from
walkers about the behaviour of the Partnership's game keepers. The
licence contains a clause which allows either party to end the
agreement after five years, with six months notice.
