Forty years of fabulous walks on the Dales Way (From Craven Herald)

Forty years of fabulous walks on the Dales Way

10:19am Thursday 23rd April 2009 in

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It is hard to believe that the popular Dales Way walk, tackled each year in its 82-mile entirety by more than 4,000 serious long-distance walkers, is 40-years-old next month.

It is arguably one of the most picturesque walks in the county, and many more thousands of people walk one or more of its sections during the course of the year to embrace and enjoy the contrasts of riverside paths and limestone tops.

Its anniversary is being marked with a public walk on Saturday, led by Colin Speakman, who led the first walk along the trail four decades ago.

The walk, almost 40 miles of which passes through Craven, was created by a small group of West Riding ramblers. The original idea was to create a walk which followed the course of the River Wharfe, taking in some of the most spectacular features of the Yorkshire Dales from its starting point in Ilkley.

However, the route was extended when the group from the West Riding Ramblers’ Association decided that the Wharfe’s source, high on Cam Fell above Langstrothdale, was too remote a place to end the walk.

They decided instead to link the walk with Dentdale, take it onwards to Sedbergh and then to Lunesdale and the old Yorkshire boundary at Crook of Lune. From there, it goes across a series of gentle valleys and finishes on the shores of Windermere.

Craven’s element begins three miles into the walk, at Addingham, and wends its way via Bolton Abbey, Barden, Appletreewick, Burnsall, Grassington, Linton, Kettlewell, Starbotton, Cray, Buckden, Hubberholme, Yockenthwaite, Raisgill, Beckermonds, Oughtershaw and Ribblehead.

Colin Speakman, vice-chairman of the Yorkshire Dales Society, which has its office in Settle, was a young teacher at Lawnswood High School in Leeds when he joined fellow ramblers to devise the route.

Their inspiration had come from the 1968 Countryside Act, which offered local authorities powers to create new public access areas alongside rivers and canals.

The Dales Way route followed rights of way, with gaps filled by new access agreements.

After Colin and his wife Fleur had done an initial survey and a group of Venture Scouts had further explored the route, the Ramblers produced a short route description in May 1969.

A public walk of the first seven miles achieved an enormous amount of support, with 120 people taking part. The Dales Way had been launched.

Twelve years later, in 1981, the Dales Way Association was formed. It aimed to bring together walkers and accommodation providers, supported by the publication of a number of guide books, maps and accommodation guides.

Colin is in no doubt about the reasons for the popularity of the Dales Way: “It’s the quality of the landscape which makes the walk so special, as well as the fact that this can be a walk for all the family; not too strenuous. For many people, the Dales Way provides their first experience of walking and they get hooked,” he said.

Despite the association not yet having achieved its initial aim of having the Dales Way confirmed as a National Trail, it is fully recognised and supported by the national park authorities in the Yorkshire Dales and Lake District.

Both hail it as an outstanding example of sustainable tourism, which helps to support the local economy while minimising damage to the area’s special environment.

On Saturday, walkers will meet at the historic bridge in Ilkley, where the Dales Way starts, at 9.30am and a special shuttle bus will be provided to get them back from Bolton Abbey at the end of the hike.

Dales Way Association members will subsequently be walking the entire route in day stages over the spring and summer.

Information about the Dales Way can be obtained from the association’s handbook or by logging on to its website dalesway.org.uk.