Walk Description

Today we decided to give the high peaks of Ingleborough, Penyghent and Whernside a miss and walk from Horton along the Pennine Way up Ribblesdale and then return to Horton via the Ribble Way.  We arrived at Horton a little later than usual and as we drove through the village most of the free parking was already taken.  As we were going to walk up Ribblesdale I decided to park in the large field on north side of Horton.  The field contained a large refreshment tent and was already half full of cars and minibuses.  SEWA International were holding a Three Peaks Challenge today and most of the cars were for people supporting that event.

We left the car park, crossed the bridge and headed up the Pennine Way away from Horton.  This follows the route of the old packhorse road from Settle to Langstrothdale.  This first section of the path climbs steeply and it wasn’t long before I could look across Horton to the quarries.  This section of the Pennine Way passes through an area of shake holes and potholes most of which are conveniently situated almost next to the path.

The first potholes that I saw were the Sell Gill Holes.  There is one hole either side of a natural bridge that carries the path.  The stream flows into the upper entrance and falls into a hug underground chamber 210 feet deep.  I spent a little while investigating the holes.  There was a narrow path around the lower hole and although I did walk along it, I didn’t go too far as the path went a little bit too close to the edge of the hole for me.  We rejoined the main path and continued along it for about half a mile when we went in search of Penyghent Long Churn.  We quickly found the small stream that drops 180 feet into Penyghent Long Churn.  Once again despite the urge to get close enough for photographs, I made sure that I didn’t get too close to the gaping chasm.

We then went back to the main path until we reach a fork in the way just north of a wall.  The Pennine Way turns left here and leaves the old Settle to Langstrothdale road and follows the Settle to Hawes packhorse road.  Just south of Old Ing was a small hill covered with golden grass that shone in the sun, this was the inappropriately named Dismal Hill.

Just before we reached Cave Hill we kept an eye out for Calf Holes or Dry Lathe Cave as it is also known.  These holes were just over the wall in a delightful spot.  As seems to be usual in this area, a pleasant stream dropped in a single graceful fall into one of the Calf Holes.  The larger more interesting looking hole was strewn with ropes.  These holes are the entrance to a cave system that emerges from Brown Gill Cave about a quarter of a mile northwest of here.

After we left Calf Holes we climbed to the trig on the summit of Cave Hill and although this wasn’t the highest point of the walk, it was the highest top that we visited today.  After a quick bite to eat, we rejoined the Pennine Way and headed for Ling Gill.  According to Wainwright Ling Gill is Ribblesdale’s most beautiful wooded limestone gill.  He said it was “a gorge of striking cascades in a chaos of boulders nearly 200 feet below the top of vertical walls of rock.”  However the path no longer has good views down into the gill as the view is blocked by the trees that fill the gorge.  Ling Gill Bridge was built in the 16th century from slabs of stone from the gill bed.  In 1765 it was repaired at “the charge of the whole of the West Riding.”  This bridge marks the end of this section of the Pennine Way’s journey through limestone country.  The Pennine Way now continues over the peaty moorland towards Cam Fell and then down to Hawes.

We left the Pennine Way here and headed south west towards Nether Lodge, where we joined the Ribble Way.  It wasn’t long before we reached God’s Bridge, Steve as usual went exploring whilst I stayed upstream of the bridge.   This is Brow Gill Beck, whose waters went underground at Calf Holes and emerged from Browgill Cave a few hundred yards up hill from here.  We then continued along the Ribble Way, skirting the western slopes of Dismal Hill where we visited Birkwith Cave.  This is another popular pothole and gorge.  Then having spent much of today looking at entrances to the ‘underground’ we headed for the limestone scars of Over Ground.  From here we continued along the Ribble Way until we reached Top Farm, where we then headed down hill via Fawber to New Houses and then joined the monor road back to Horton.

This had been a lovely walk in pleasant spring sunshine packed with many interesting sights and despite Horton being full of walkers, we met very few people on our route.  Although the walk took nearly 6 hours, it hadn’t been rushed and we had taken the time to explore interesting features along the way. 
 
 

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.