Our Annual Long Walk - 2017 - The Three Feathers


FIRST FEATHER

Yorkshire Bridge – 27ml with 4300m ascent

15 folk met at the Yorkshire Bridge Inn at the appointed hour of 8am, funnily 11 females and only 4 males had us wondering where all the fellas have gone?!

Any way it was nice to see a few familiar faces and a couple of new ones.

Onwards and upwards, the first climb of many today was Parkin Clough to the top of Win Hill 1519ft. 5 minutes at the top saw us descend to Twitchill Farm and the road to begin the assent of Lose Hill, gaining the top we realised the top of Lose Hill and the Mam Tor ridge would be covered in low cloud. Reaching the summit 1561ft we donned our overcoats as it had turned cold and was slightly raining.

 We walked along the ridge dropping off Back Tor passing Hollins Cross and ascended Mam Tor 1696ft. Dropping to the road we re-grouped and began the ascent of Rushup Edge 1804ft, first elevenses were took at the crossroads onto Brown Knoll. The path to Brown Knoll has been over paved and made a pleasant change to bog hopping (it’s worth mentioning how much the flora has returned from this desperate path after only one year of the paving). At the summit of Brown Knoll 1866ft we had our group photo and began the descent to the top of Jacobs Ladder.

Ascending to Edale Rocks onto Kinder and finding Kinder Low 2076ft we followed the Pennine Way to the Downfall and had our second elevenses.

Dropping off Kinder we found the Snake Path and followed this to the Inn in some fine weather, the cloud had dissipated and a pleasant afternoon developed.

After lunch in the Inn, we found the Roman Road behind the inn and followed this to Alport Bridge. Our last re-group at the bridge saw us still following the Roman Road to the Summit of Win Hill (again) 1519ft.

Descending down Parkin Clough again one in our group took a nasty tumble and we were assisted by a couple of lads going up for a night on the hills. Clearly a bit shaken she continued on and most made it back to our cars for 7pm. Lavinia and Bev diverted to the pub for some ice (Lavinia bumped her head in the tumble).

Many thanks to Raj for assisting leading most of the day (saved me a job) and thanks to Peter for sweeping Sharron along. Nothing wrong with the dear just a little (5mins) behind us most of the afternoon.  

 

 

SECOND FEATHER

Kilburn – 30ml with 3400m ascent

5 thru hikes (who had completed the first feather) met at the White Horse car park Kilburn at the appointed hour of 8am.

I talked them through that we were walking clockwise as that made Helmsley for elevenses and Hawnby for lunch.

Moving south saw us find Oldstead road and Oldstead bank through Cockerdale wood. A bracing couple of miles along the A170 saw us move North onto The Cleveland Way with fine views of Rievaulx Abbey. Walking the first couple of miles of the Cleveland Way in Helmsley where we found the most wonderful Ice Cream parlour of Ryeburn Ice Creams for elevenses.  Negotiating Helmsley we found Deep Dale towards Carlton. Following Carlton Road north for 4 miles took us to Potter House Farm and the first moor crossing today.

The footpath across the moor was non-existent anymore as we followed a grouse track to a wall were we had another short stop to find our spot and how to get back on track. Descending through fields we reached the B1257.

Crossing another couple of smaller moors saw us negotiate another overgrown unused path to lunch at the Inn at Hawnby.

Moving South after lunch along Murton Road saw us climb the bank and descend to Cold Kirby. A long drag on the road took us to the Sutton Bank visitors centre, onto the Cleveland Way again past the Glider Club saw us reach our vehicles at the White Horse.

 

THIRD FEATHER

Kettlewell– 34ml with 5750m ascent

7 folk met up at the car park behind the garage in Kettlewell to walk the last feather.

This completes the 2017 long walk series and with 5 people completing all 3 Feathers.

It promised to be a warm clear day, a lovely day to be in the Dales.

Leaving Kettlewell at 8am we scaled the long drag of a hill of Buckden Pike, descending a bit of a sketchy path we eventually made our way to Cray for elevenses.

Finding the footpath behind the pub we contoured along a hillside parallel with the Dales Way to Yokenthwaite.

Crossing the River Wharfe we began a very warm climb up Horse Head over the moor and descended to Halton Gill, from Foxup we climbed to Foxup Road (track) and followed this to Hull Pot and descended to Horton in Ribblesdale for much needed lunch.

The climb from Horton up Pen Y Ghent was brutally warm, with the lump shielding the breeze it was a long hard drag the ‘wrong’ way up PYG. Once we all hit the top we gingerly descended the scramble and followed the Pennine Way to Dale Head.

Once over PYG we knew the late afternoon would be a little more forgiving with a bit of a sting in the tail.

Along the Silverdale road we found Dawson Close footpath that took us to Litton, finding the Littondale footpath along the side of the river we made our way to Arncliffe and began climbing the sting.

We lost light somewhere on the lump between Arncliffe and Kettlewell. It proved difficult to find the path and once finding some grouse butts we knew we had missed a path. We took stock and with a little ingenuity eventually found the descent to the Slit (what a beast to negotiate in the dark).

We returned to our cars behind the garage worn weary and haggard.

 

 

Congratulations to the following who completed all 3 Feathers in 2017:

  • Aaron Hookway (leader)
  • Kirsty Ellis
  • Bev Birket
  • Lavinia Yates
  • Peter Poppy (sweep and Sharron leader twice)