A tough start to this 3.5 mile route, but it’s worth the pull some stunning landscapes

Fact File

Start: Car park in front of Langcliffe Primary School

Distance: 3.5 miles, (approx 1.5 hours)

Going: Easy, apart from a long, steep pull at the start

Map: OS Leisure 2, Southern and Western Dales

Toilets and refreshments: Toilets at car park in Stainforth and in Settle. Pubs and cafes in Stainforth and Settle

This week’s walk is a bit trickier than some of the others which have featured in Dales Life due to the steep pull at the start.

But a steep climb can be rewarding. Not only is it good exercise, it also fills you with a sense of achievement at the end.

And in this case, offers some fantastic views looking down Ribblesdale from the top of the steeply climbing path alongside the spectacular Stainforth Scar, a former quarry.

To reach this vista is a walk up from Langcliffe, following the green lane between walls from the village then striking up through fields.

The houses in the distance look tiny, despite it being just a 20 minute climb.

The dome of Giggleswick School’s chapel is also visible, with Pendle Hill rising in the distance.

Climbing a little further, the ground levels off and a track leads off left to a farmhouse, Lower Winskill.

This may have been place that Thornton-born writer Harry Speight referred to in his 1892 book The Craven and North West Yorkshire Highlands, when he spoke of the early home of Tommy Twistleton, the Craven poet. However, it may have been Upper Winskill, a few hundred yards further on. Either are interesting enough to inspire poetic thought.

Walking on, crossing rough grassland alongside a limestone pavement, a wall still leads to the bridleway which runs up from Stainforth to pass Catrigg Force and join the Langcliffe to Malham road.

Just before the road is a ruined lime kiln, one of many in the area which produced the alkaline powder needed to counter the acid level in the pastures.

Following the quiet road back toward Langcliffe (B6479) is Winskill Stones reserve, run by the charity Plantlife, which, thanks to a campaign led by the late TV gardener and conservationist Geoff Hamilton, raised money to buy and protect this limestone pavement and its rich and varied wild-flowers.

Down the road is an even better preserved lime kiln, before you reach Langcliffe again. The village has some fine and attractive buildings, including the former vicarage and Langcliffe Hall, home to the Dawson family in the 17th Century, visited occasionally by family friend Sir Isaac Newton.

Step by step

1. From the car park entrance in Langcliffe, with your back to the school, go right following Stainforth footpath sign. Soon take the path that leads off to the right past some houses and into a walled green lane between fields. Ignore Stainforth footpath leaving the track into the field on the left and instead stick with the track until it ends in a gate.

2. Go through the gate and swing right along a wide green path. Through two more gates into a field, with clear path, and climbing steeply ahead. Continue up this to the top and go ahead into a wide gap between the walls.

3. Ignore the walled track on the left leading to Low Winskill House. Instead, just beyond this, follow the footpath sign diagonally across a field and over a stile into a track. Go right here, following the track up to the road.

4. Go right and then follow a footpath signed “Catrigg Force”, swinging left with wallside to a gate. Don’t go through the gate, but instead go right and follow wallside, with limestone pavement on the right, to a stile in facing  wall a dozen yards to the right of the wall corner. Go over this stile and walk ahead to meet bridleway.

5. Turn right on this and walk on to meet Langcliffe to Malham road. Turn right and follow road back to Langcliffe.

* Please respect the countryside and private land. Anyone embarking on these walks does so at their own risk and the Craven Herald can take no responsibility for the complete accuracy of the route