Pete's Walks - The Dales Way
About the Dales Way
The Dales Way is a long-distance path that runs for about 84 miles through the north of England. The name is a bit of a misnomer really, as although the walk starts at Ilkley and passes through part of the Yorkshire Dales, it ends at Bowness-on-Windermere in the Lake District.
The walk was created in 1968 by members of the West Riding branch of the Ramblers Association. The route goes more or less northwest from Ilkley, largely following a number of rivers. About the first third of the walk follows the Wharfe, then after crossing the Pennine watershed the Dee is followed for a few miles. After crossing the river Lune, the Kent is followed a short distance as the Dales Way crosses the gentle hills in the south-east of the Lake District.
The Dales Way is a well-known and well-established path. There are a number of guide books for it, the one I used was written by Paul Hannon – much of the factual information in this journal derives from that source.
Side note: The guide book writer Paul Hannon was inspired to create the Westmorland Way after reading Alfred Wainwright comments in the Coast-to-Coast guide book, where AW said he hoped people would not just follow his footsteps across the country but would also follow his example in thinking up long-distance paths of their own. These were the same words that inspired me to create the Chiltern Chain Walk! Not satisfied with creating one route of his own, Paul Hannon went on to devise the Cumberland Way and the Furness Way as well – thus creating a trio of walks in each of the three ancient counties that went to make up the modern county of Cumbria (Furness being the isolated part of Lancashire that was in and around the Lake District). The Furness Way is one walk I am considering doing in the future.
Path between Grassington and Conistone Pie (Day 2)