Author Topic: Dales Way trip report  (Read 1785 times)

Ozymandiac

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Dales Way trip report
« on: 14:02:06, 16/08/18 »
 We’ve returned from our Dales Way adventure and had a great time. A special thanks to all those who suggested trails [nofollow] to us!
 
We liked the Dales Way best for:
+ the great walking it offers: beautiful scenery, variety in meadow/river/hills/etc.
 + the villages you pass: often pretty, always useful for food/drink
 + camaraderie. Not Dales Way specific, but we met some wonderful people adding to the fun or lending a helping hand.


What could use some improvement:- the signposting isn’t the best: in some cases, it only offers directions from Windermere to Ilkley and not vice versa. In other cases, no stickers or signs are present at all.

 
Itinerary
We took around 9 days, sleeping in B&B or self-catered. Our system was to book acconomdation from our guidebook 2 days in advance which worked well until we got to the the leg between Wharfedale and Dentdale. We wanted to sleep in Swartgyll Farm  near Oughtershaw but they never responded to phone calls, voicemail and email. A similar problem occurred between Sedbergh and Burneside, where the Moresdale Barn B&B near Lambrigg had stopped doing B&B.Addingham – Ilkley (in reverse, because we couldn’t sleep in Addingham but bus services were excellent).
 0.       Addingham – Ilkley (in reverse, because we couldn’t sleep in Addingham but bus services were excellent).
1.       Addingham – Stangs Lane
2.       Grassington
3.       Kettlewell
4.       Hubberholme
5.       (taxi to Swartgyll Farm) walk to Cowgill (car to Dent, thanks to some lovely folks offering a ride)
6.       Sedbergh
7.       Beck Foot (taxi to Kendal)
8.       (train to Staveley) walk to Bowness-on-Windermere
Afterwards, we stayed in Bowness for a week. We had planned to move into the Lake District, but it was so busy we couldn’t book anything for several weeks (!). Luckily, we had a nice place in Bowness and were able to make some daytrips from there. We made some fine walks around Elderwater, Windermere western bank and Keswick.

 
Gear:
For navigation, we used Trailblazer’s Dales Way guide. Our backup was gps on 2 phones (app: Locus Maps). When we were in the Lake District, we used an OS map.
New additions we wouldn’t go without again are our trekking poles, a couple of Nalgene bottles and some sturdy hiking boots.


All in all: we had a great time and, as alway, look forward to our next hiking trip  :)
 

rural roamer

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Re: Dales Way trip report
« Reply #1 on: 15:29:52, 16/08/18 »
Thanks for posting a report of your trip, it’s lovely when new members return to do that, not everyone lets us know how they got on! The Dales Way was our very first LDP and I’ve just realised it was 10 years ago, as it was 2008 when we did it.  I bet you had better weather than us, when we left Ilkley there was barely any room between the river and bridge, and no chance of crossing anything by stepping stones, we couldn’t see any! There had been a lot of flooding in some parts of the north. When we got back a week later to pick our car up it was much improved though. You mention the camaraderie, we didn’t actually see that many people, maybe its more popular now. Sedbergh to Burneside was our least favourite day as I recall, scenery not so good and lots of mud! I’m surprised the signage is btter the other way as Iwould have thought most would finish in Bowness.


So can we help with your next trip?!  ;D






Ozymandiac

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Re: Dales Way trip report
« Reply #2 on: 15:13:18, 17/08/18 »
Thanks!

We were very lucky with the weather indeed. During the Dales Way, we had very little rain. Some slight fog/droplets around Buckden but that was it. Fun to hear that the stepping stones weren't even visible for you. We still didn't cross the Wharfe that way I admit  ;)

Regarding Sedbergh - Burneside: we were aware beforehand that this might be a less attractive leg so when we couldn't find any sleeping place there, we weren't very disappointed to skip part of it.

Jim234

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Re: Dales Way trip report
« Reply #3 on: 22:20:47, 29/08/18 »
Nice report. Completed in 5 days some four years ago (crazy and daft on reflection)  Loved parts of the way but I could take or leave it from Sedbergh  to Bowness. Certainly the section over the M6 and beyond to Staveley was disappointing. You did the right thing IMHO.


Some of the way marking could be better, the previous year had completed the Cleveland way and could easily have done this without a map.

 

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