I think I alluded to the poor summer weather in my previous post - wall to wall rain for the whole of July! Well August has given us some glimpses of the sun, but last week promised three whole days of 'non rain' which prompted us into immediate action.
We immediately emptied the camping cupboard (yes that is a thing; everything you need for a trip in one place - makes an impromptu camping holiday very easy with no tick lists needed) into the car, called at the local supermarket for food supplies and headed up the A59 towards the Yorkshire Dales.
The Dales are on our doorstep now, just half an hour to Skipton - gateway to the dales, and then you can take your pick. Our usual site at Kettlewell wasn't available at such short notice so we settled for a pop-up site at Cracoe called Jean's Field. It was basic, but great - flat field, clean loos and a water tap, what more do you need?
We have camp 'set-up' down to half an hour now, and with that out of the way we set off to explore, following a footpath north out of Cracoe and over the fields towards a village called Linton, just outside Grassington. After about an hour, we arrived on the picture postcard village green, surrounded on one side by a trickling stream with a beautiful stone footbridge, on another the the Fountaine Hospital, a Grade II listed Palladian style almhouse that was built by Richard Fountaine to provide shelter to the village’s poor in 1721 (it is still used today as a home for the elderly), and behind us, The Fountaine Inn, a perfect place to sit with a drink and enjoy watching as families picnicked and children paddled in the beck in the sunshine.
Sustained, we made our way back via a different route, this time climbing the hill on the opposite side of the valley to cross higher land, behind a quarry, before following a steep track back down into Cracoe to Jean's Field to prepare our barbecue and fall asleep to the sound of owls.
I had never heard of Cracoe, but it is apparently quite famous as it is the home of the real life Calendar Girls. In 1998, a group of ladies from Cracoe and neighbouring Rylstone earned national notoriety after they made a nude calendar in aid of leukaemia research. Five years later their story gained even more fame as it was turned into a hit film starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters and it has also been adapted into a stage musical.
The next day we followed a circular route, through Linton, along the River Wharfe to Burnsall before returning over the fell, via Thorpe, to Cracoe, a route of about 19km.
The first part of the walk, from Cracoe to Linton, was the same as the previous day, along the valley across farmers fields and arriving on the village green. One of the fields had been left to wild and the grasses were taller than us - long trousers required!
Arriving in Linton, we headed across the narrow stone footbridge and followed first a lane, then a footpath, down to Linton Falls, situated on the River Wharfe and consisting of a natural limestone waterfall and a pair of artificial weirs. We walked past the 12th century church to cross the river at the stepping stones, some parts in the middle quite challenging after all the rain we have had, before following a grassy path beside the Wharfe towards Burnsall, crossing at Hebdon via the suspension footbridge.
The river looked deep and was fast flowing in places, tumbling over and between the rocks as it squeezed through a narrowing at a gorge, before widening again as we approached Burnsall, where many families had descended to take advantage of the rare sunshine, kayaking, swimming and picnicking beside the water
After stopping to rest and have a drink at The Red Lion, perfectly situated on the river bank, we continued through the pretty village of Burnsall, before following a footpath and ascending. It was a steep climb, across grassy fields and wooden stiles, and we were sweating and breathless when we finally reached the top , but the view over Wharfedale, one of the Yorkshire Dales' longest and most beautiful valleys, was worth it.
Passing through picturesque Thorpe, a tiny village which is home to only forty people, we climbed once again to skirt Elbolton Hill, one of the Cracoe Reef Knolls and locally known as 'the hill of the fairies'. Elbolton's fairy hill is one of several supposedly magical places lying within the Barden Triangle, an area around the head of Lower Wharfedale, also featuring the reputedly haunted Trollers Gill and Dibble's Bridge which was allegedly built by the Devil.
Our path then took us downhill beneath the Cracoe Reef Knolls, a series of conical-shaped limestone hills which are the geological remnants of an ancient coral reef, along Thorpe Lane and past Threapland House Farm, to arrive back in Cracoe for a well earned drink at the Devonshire Arms, before packing up and heading home.
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