Barden to Grassington
I parked just below Barden Tower for nothing at 10.00. Straight onto the Dales Way and along the bank of the Wharfe to Burnsall. As it was a lovely warm day with a little breeze but not horribly hot, there were lots of people out. Various groups of DoE Award chasers all very loaded up and some Ramblers groups. Every little place where people could get access to the river was occupied.
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| The Wharfe near Barden |
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| Ducklet |
At Burnsall there is a huge car park which when I got to it was fairly quiet, but it was clearly going to get busy, the ice cream van and the burger man all gearing up for mega sales. I left the Dales Way and took the other side of the river, climbing up and leaving most of the people behind, even bringing my legs out for their annual airing. This section was much nicer for that and as always I helped some DoE young people to find out where they were. After a while I reached Hebden, and then it was through that village and out towards Grassington. The route passed through where there had been a not very old hospital but which has been taken down and luxury homes are in its place. This bit was also quite pleasant and quiet and I stopped before dropping into Grassington for my lunch.
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Grassy ass was a bit busy and not at all how I remembered it, it must be 20 years since I last went there and it was winter and dark then. I had decided not to wait for the bus as it would be 3 and a half hours of waiting so I headed back going all the way along the river. The section near Grassington was madly busy and didn’t really get quiet, Burnsall was even worse, full of young lads jumping off a high ledge into the river. I didn’t stick around as didn’t want to have to do first aid on one of them. Children getting sunburnt. Endless dogs shaking the wet off. Occasional smell of cannabis. The car park was now a sort of mini Blackpool with loads of people in the river, barbeques….After Burnsall it quietened down although some people were in inflatable dingies which seemed fairly stupid, considering the number of rocks and the river being low. The last bit back was quite nice as hardly any people.
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| The Wharfe near Hebden |
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| Hebden Suspension Bridge |
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| Barden Tower from the river |
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| Are these purple poppies? |
At the car, I treated myself to an ice cream.
I just hope there are some really nice bits of Lady Anne’s Way as so far, it’s felt quite hard. Last week was too hot, this week was just too full of people. I think I hate people. Wish it had been a lovely quiet fell in the Lakes. It took me 3.5 hours to get to Grassington and 3 to get back. About 12 or 13 miles.
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