Glorious views from Airton

Fact File

Start: Airton village green. SD902 592

Walk distance/time: 5.5 miles, two hours 45 minutes approximately

Height climbed: 206 metres

Going: Tracks and paths throughout, leisurely walking

Map: Ordnance Survey OL2 Yorks Dales Southern and Western

Facilities: Town End Farm Shop, Airton

Craven Ramblers are a friendly, social group who organise two walks a month.

They have about 200 members, and average about 20 people per walk.

They walk from the second Saturday of every month and fourth Sunday, and the average distance is about eight miles.

They also have social events and two coach trips a year.

The first is to Osmotherley in North Yorkshire, with a choice of two walks (a nine mile and a seven mile), followed by a meal at the Queen Katherine Pub and then back home.

For details on the group or how to join, visit the website www.cravenramblers.org.uk.

The following walk, a circular from Airton, has been set by Craven Ramblers’ chairman Henry Mason.

1. From the village green at Airton, cross the main road and go along the lane signposted Otterburn in a south westerly direction. After approximately 175 metres, turn left along a narrow lane going due south, signed Bell Busk. Follow this lane for 225 metres, where the lane takes a left hand bend.

2. At this bend, an unsurfaced track leads off to the right (Kirk Syke Lane). Go along this track, which is stony and can be muddy in wet weather. Follow along through the woods and over the ford until you arrive at a clearing, which is a convenient place to stop for your first rest break – along a wall to your left, facing south.

3. Continue along the track, through a gate and past a barn on the left. You will shortly come to a gate leading into a field. Go through this gate and follow the wall on your left for about 200 metres, where the path takes you through the wall by another gate on your left. You are now into an open field, which can be crossed by following the fence on the right, which takes you over the fast running stream and into Bell Busk.

4. At the road, turn left and follow the tarmac for 250 metres, where another road leads off to the left. Turn left here, over the bridge and then immediately right along a track which takes you over the River Aire. Follow this track in a south easterly direction and when the track takes a left hand turn towards Crag Laithe Farm, keep left on the straight stretch of track until it turns sharp right. At this bend in the track, go through the gate facing you and make for the trig point at Haw Crag, which is ahead and slightly to the left.

5. This is an ideal spot to stop for lunch, where there is a 360 degree, panoramic view all around this part of the Yorkshire Dales in all its glory. From the trig point, walk east to the corner point of the field where there is a gate and ladder stile into the next field. Go through in the same direction for about 150 metres where the Pennine Way runs across from right to left. Unfortunately the path here is almost indistinct, but turn left and walk NNW for about 350 metres downhill, aiming for the telegraph pole on the right and onto the field corner where you go through a gate.

6. From here, the Penine Way is easy to follow down to the roadside. Stay on the path and cross the river at a footbridge. Follow with the river on your right. Look out for a small gate in the wall on your right and go through the gate and continue to the road. Turn right along the road for 50 metres.

7. Cross over the road and go through a stile and follow the path with the river on your left over stiles and fields back into Airton.

* Please respect the countryside and private land. Anyone embarking on these walks does so at their own risk and neither the Craven Herald nor Craven Ramblers can take no responsibility for the complete accuracy of the route. Restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route – it is advised that anyone planning to follow the walk should take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.