Tracks and Trails

Start and Finish: Barden Bridge
Approximate time for the walk: 5 hours
Distance: 9 miles
Landscape: Millstone grit scenery with waterfalls, terminal moraine
Map: OS Outdoor Leisure 2, Yorkshire Dales, Southern and Western areas

Description of the walk:
A. Start from the bridge in Barden Bridge. Cross the bridge and follow the right-bank down stream. Continue straight-ahead down the right-hand bank to reach Strid Woods and then continue along to reach the Strid itself.
B. From the Strid, continue straight-ahead where the path now broadens to reach the Cavendish Pavilion.
C. At the Cavendish Pavilion, turn left over the wood bridge and straight ahead through the field onto the road. Continue straight-ahead up the road, to reach brow of the hill. Turn right now, away from the river and go through a gate and straight-ahead up hill along this well-signed footpath. A little higher, the track descends to the Valley of Desolation
D. When you reach the Valley of Desolation, cross the Posforth Gill using the footbridge to reach the far side of Gill. From here, take the left folk path to lead out of the valley of desolation. This leads out via a ladder stile and a forestry track through woods to come to open moorland which is Barden Fell. Continue along this well-signposted track to Great Agill Beck.
E. At Great Agill Beck, cross over it and gradually gain height with the path. Continue along this path to the top of Simon Seat, (1591ft) with a survey pillar on the top.
F. From the top of Simon’s seat, take the Howgill footpath leading down in a south-westerly direction. The track then goes down in to the right of the moor, descending into the woodland hillside of Howgill. Continue walking on this path until you reach a road. Cross the road and continue straight ahead on the path, passing farm buildings to arrive at the riverbank, near Drebley steppingstones.
G. From the river, turn left to take the path as goes down the right-hand bank of the river Wharfe before it leads back to Barden Bridge and the end and conclusion of the walk.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 11:31 am and is filed under Yorkshire Walks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.