Walk Description

Today’s walk was from the beautiful Wharfedale village of Kettlewell.  This is a very popular area for walkers and this area of Upper Wharfedale was the location for many of the scenes in the Calendar Girls film.

We left the car park and followed the beck north-eastwards through the village.  When we reached Dowber Beck Gill we left the main path and took the smaller path along the side of the gill.  This is a quiet path that follows the gill as it winds its way up the deep valley towards Providence Pot. The pothole itself always seems to be slightly disappointing to me.  All that can be seen of it is a few bits of scaffolding poles and a concrete cap stone.As we walked up the valley we could see evidence of the harsh winter conditions that had only recently ended.  The bark had been eaten from many of the trees and there were numerous dead rabbits littering the path.

We left Providence Pot and took the steep narrow path across the hillside towards Hag Dyke.   Hag Dyke is a Scout Hostel administered by the 1st Ben Rhydding Scout Group in Ilkley. The Hostel was bequeathed to the group in 1947 and has been run by a group of volunteer wardens for the benefit of Scouts and other Youth Groups ever since.
The building was originally a farmhouse and its’ occupants have been traced back to 1730, but it is probably older than that and could have housed miners working in Dowber Ghyll lead mines, which opened in1680. At 1525 feet it was believed to be the highest house in the former West Riding. A “Dyke” in Dales dialect means a mountain dividing wall and “Hag” means enclosed land or an intake (from the moor in this case). The name therefore means the wall bounding the intake from the moor. The house is reputed to be haunted!!  We now joined the main path from Kettlewell to Great Whernside.  Great Whernside is a typical Yorkshire Dales fell as it has a number of steep rocky sections followed by a very gently sloping boggy ‘skirt’.  The path is way marked and easy to follow, but even though it had been fairly dry recently we still had to make a few detours in order to avoid the worst of the boggy sections.  The steeper parts of the fellside were still covered with snow and we had to take our time crossing them, although Steve demonstrated his ‘quick’ way down.

There was a chilly wind blowing across the top of Great Whernside and we sheltered in the rocks just below the summit whilst we had lunch.  Although we didn’t have the best visibility we could still make out some of the Lake District fells through the haze and we could also see the plumes of smoke from the industrial works at Middlesbrough.
After lunch we walked along the broad summit ridge to the large stone shelter at Blackfell Top.  We then descended through Blackfell Crags and followed the path to the gap in the wall at Black Dyke Hole.  We now had another steep snow covered section to negotiate: Steve “bottom sledged” his way down it, Dave and Josie cautiously descended through the snow and I gingerly tackled the grassy slope.  It was just after this that Steve had a slight mishap; he slipped and ended up covered in mud.  His solution to this mucky problem was to have a quick rub down in the next patch of snow.

It wasn’t long before we reached the col at Little Hunters Sleets, this is the highest point on the road between Kettlewell and Coverdale.  Here there is a sign that proudly proclaims the boundary of Richmondshire.  (I think some of the old ‘shires’ had wonderful names, my favourite is Montgomeryshire) 
Instead of going straight back to Kettlewell along the road, we followed a path up towards Tor Mere Top.  On the way up we had a detour to a small pond full of mating frogs and frogspawn.  We continued up hill until we met the path leading towards Starbottom.  We followed this for a short distance and then turned off onto the Tor Mere Road.  Tor Mere Road goes straight over Cam Head to Cam Pasture and then down to Kettlewell and has wonderful views.  To our left we could see the ridge of Great Whernside and out ascent and descent routes, to our right we could see the long ridge that divides Upper Wharfedale and Littondale.  Ahead of us we could see the main valley of Wharfedale stretching out all the way to Rylstone Fell.  The final descent into Kettlewell was steep but it gave us a bird’s eye view of the village.  It wasn’t long before we were back at the car park, after changing our boots we drove along Wharfedale and stopped for a refreshing drink or two to finish the walk.

It had been a very enjoyable walk, with excellent views and even better company.  Thanks to Dave for planning the route, Josie for keeping me company most of the way and to Steve for his usual whit and banter.
 

Route & Planning

Details and Route Map

Photo Opportunities

Walk Profile

The route map shown here should not be used as a replacement for the appropriate map(s). Before attempting the walk you should check the suitability of this route in relation to your capabilities and experience.