The Ecstasy of Wilderness: May 2009

This is the first walk which I did with a group. Felt more relaxed as I would be with experienced walkers who would be doing the navigation for us. Now, it would be just walking and admiring the scenery around, without having to worry of getting lost. However, I felt there was something amiss: It seemed that I was just following ....and following blindly, without much of a clue of where I was exactly on the map. There was the lack of silence/ sound of nature. Too much noise, too much talking, too much footsteps, ... Nevertheless, it was good to have a mixture of both kinds of experiences.

I asked Zixiang along for this walk with the Dalesbus Ramblers who I met in the Grassington pub during my previous Dales walk. Took a train to Leeds the day before, and stayed in a B&B. Had to do so in order to catch the earlier train to reach Ilkley on time. Met Duncan (one of the Ramblers' leaders) on the train. At Ilkley, joined the rest of the dalesbus ramblers where we took the bus to the starting point of the walk - Bolten Abbey (Cavendish Memorial).

It was quite an easy walk with some gentle ascends: along River Wharfe, before straying away from it to cross some pastures and plantations. Passed a few waterfalls. Finally emerged from the plantations out into the exposed moorland where the real climb began - all the way up to the top of Simon's Seat (Trig point: 485m above sea level). A bit of panting and strain on the legs towards the end, but we were all rewarded with a breathtaking view of Yorkshire Dales. Towards North-West was where I did my previous walk - at Appletreewick. "Something I like about the Dales is... the different shades of greenery that define the rolling pastures and hills. It kind of looks very similar in every direction you view. Not very complicated. Maybe just a little boring after being there several times." Anyway, we had a break at the Seat. Lunch - some packed sandwiches, while trying very hard to withstand the strong cold wind. Gloves were not helping. Fingers and face were totally numb and painful. Quite unbearable!

Then, the tough part came: the steep rocky descend to the bottom of the hill. I have always feared steep descends. It was scary. Any slip would mean ??!!!?? Should have invested in walking poles, but till now I never bothered about purcharsing them as it would just mean adding on weight to my load. Descending also put a lot of pressure on knees. Couldn't help it though...So the irony: Love climbing...Fear descending..Hahaha!!!

The rest of the paths were flat, leading us back to Burnsall, passing Appletreewick. Was having some abrasions by then, and wasn't really enjoying the last part of the walk. Finally arrived at Burnsall at 4pm. That meant we had walked for about 5 hours - Not too long, just about the right length to not feel very exhausted. While waiting for the Dales bus back to Ilkley, we had some coffee and dessert at a Tea Room - a nice cosy place for rest. Bus finally arrived, so back to Ilkley, then train to Newcastle, via Leeds and York. A long day but at least we had achieved something over the weekend, rather than rotting at home. More upcoming walks after January exams...stay tune!

It was another great day for walking. Though chilly - 2 degrees, the sun was up. Dry. Perfect visibility. :) I left Holly Tree Farm (Thorpe) after a very filling 'English Breakfast'. It was 10am then. The walk to Grassington where I started my official walk took an hour, passing endless stretches of whitish-green fields. The unique colour was due to frozen water droplets/ ice on the grass. Beautiful!

The walk today took slightly longer than the previous day's. From Grassington (an attractive small town set amongst the rolling hills of Upper Wharfedale with its picturesque cobbled square, stone cottages and winding alleyways), the next 4 hours took me through Grass Wood Nature Reserve, Conistone and Lea Green. Grass Wood is a beautiful swathe of ancient semi-natural woodland that once formed part of the much larger Forest of Wharfedale. It is a fascinating place with many native tree species including oak, ash, hazel and birch as well as over 70 varieties of flowering plants that thrive in the calcareous soils beneath the tree canopy. It was a pity that I did this walk during the winter, hence there wasn't much left to admire. However, hidden amongst the trees were the impressive stone ramparts and ditches of an ancient British hill-fort known as Fort Gregory - a well-preserved remains of a small Iron Age settlement. Getting lost added on to my adventure. I stupidly made a wrong left turn, and experienced quite a hilarious adventure of squeezing through dense woods. After some time of trial and error, I managed to get out of the Grass Woods by a different exit. But...at least I was out of the 'forest'! Phew!

I followed the road, by the river, reaching the Conistone with superb views towards the impressive bulk of Kilnsey Crags. Conistone is an attractive Craven village that boasts many fine old farmhouses, a large maypole and the oldest church in the southern Dales. From Conistone, a footpath led up through spectacular dry limestone valley of Constone Dib - one of the 'natural wonders' of the Yorkshire Dales. This deep steep-sided gorge was scoured out by glacial meltwaters towards the end of the last Ice Age when the permafrost prevented the water from seeping down through the limestone bed-rock. In places, Conistone Dib closed in to little more than a narrow passage beneath towering limestone crags, whilst the 'lip' of this dry valley was a narrow cleft in the rocks that required quite a bit of scrambling and climbing. It was fun and exciting to do some 'small-scale rock-climbing'!!! Was rewarded with a stunning view at the top of the valley! I paused to admire it! :) "Best walk ever," I thought.

Next section of the route was following the gradually-ascending grassy paths across rough grassy moorland to reach Bare House Farm - a deserted farmhouse situated high on Grassington Moor. It was said to be the place where the early Viking settlers stayed. Finally field paths led back down across Lea Green (Iron Age settlement) to Grassington where I ended my walk for the day.

Time for some sightseeing around the interesting town, even though I had been there for quite a number of times during my previous host UK visits. Had a lick on an ice-cream, followed by dinner at a pub accompanied with half a pint of Calsberg....while waiting for the bus. Was a coincidence that a friendly guy saw my walking gears and started chatting with me. I learnt that he was part of the Dalesbus Ramblers who did free guided weekend walks. Anyone was welcomed to join...which I did for some of my next few walks. From what I saw, most of the ramblers in the group were retired people. I was impressed by the healthy lifestyle most UK people live by. I hope to retire in the countryside...will see...*wink* :)