Settle

10:31am Saturday 31st May 2008

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Settle I like. There's a walking equipment shop and next door the Naked Man Café, actually, ambiguously, the Ye Olde Naked Man Café and then, not far and placed just right for this walk, the Greenfoot car park.

Up we chugged, through Upper Settle, a nice part of town, and on and up on a dead-end road, on the Pennine Bridleway, on part of the Settle Loop walk.

This climb touches on Low High Hill, avoids Middle High Hill and skirts High Hill. In result, after a while, the pastureland is all above a thousand feet.

It was quiet, the crunch of the track, gritstone still the walls, a couple of shepherds, then three Apache helicopters on a spin over the southwest frontier of the Yorkshire Dales National Park.

The walk has a wow moment, when you step to a different landscape, there's Sugar Loaf Hill round, green and a sweet five-minute climb for fun. But otherwise, ahead, is a barrier of higher, rougher land of broken rock, the limestone scree slopes toped by vertical crags.

The route takes the only pass through these into the Langcliffe and Attermire Scars Local Nature Reserve where flowered dozens of mountain pansies and hundreds of early-purple orchids, that is Orchis mascula.

There also Victoria Cave, signposted, but severely warned against on a notice on account of rock falls. I can report no more on this, or any of the caves, as Victoria my navigator could not be encouraged into a solo subterranean exploration.

We'd had a lovely walk and had reached the track back down, a green lane with a recent prohibition of 4x4 traffic.

Here we came across a wood, the only shade for miles, and then Ribblesdale and, as we contoured on the slope, an aerial view of the village of Langcliffe, and then Settle, old chimneys and all. It was good to see a flock of starlings and a train.

On the street into town we passed but missed a gate to the Castleberg beauty spot, a one-time pleasure ground, distracted maybe by a notice posted about a proposal for a public sculpture of Ruswarp, Graham Nuttall's dog.

In the 1980s Mr Nuttall was one of the two main saviours of the Settle to Carlisle railway line. He perished hill walking and the 14-year-old border collie stayed with his body for 11 winter weeks', to die shortly after attending his master's funeral.

DIRECTIONS

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. From phone box at northern end of Greenfoot car park, right uphill on path (fingerpost The Green/ info board), left to road in Upper Settle, 50 yards, right to Albert Hill, right fork (dead-end road sign, The Pinfold, fingerpost Pennine Bridleway) and out of village.

2. Left fork to track (fingerpost Settle Loop), ignore a right after 200 yards.

3. Right to road, 100 yards, metalled bridleway on left (signed Pennine Bridleway/Stockdale Lane), 300 yards, ladderstile to track on bend (fingerpost Attermire Scar).

4. At Sugar Loaf Hill path splits for 100 yards then rejoins, fieldgate in wire fence - the right-hand fieldgate (old fingerpost). Path curves left downhill after 200 yards to wallstile (fingerpost) that is 100 yards to right of fieldgate.

5. Right, by wall 100 yards, path on left below scar and uphill 100 yards, ladderstile and immediately left and ignore lesser path on left after 200 yards. Path rejoins wall to its left, snickelgate (Welcome sign), pass scars, snickelgate, 25 yards.

6. Left to stone track downhill, fieldgate. Cattlegrid/fieldgate, 100 yards.

7. Fieldgate on left beside road (three-way fingerpost, Settle two) and path descends gently, three gates then by wall, fieldgate, gateway, fieldgate by ruined barn to walled track into Settle.

8. Left to Castle Hill road, 100 yards, fork right to cobbled road, left to pass Talbot Arms, Chapel Square (signed Greenfoot).

FACTFILE

Distance: Five miles.

General location: Yorkshire Dales.

Start: Greenfoot Carpark Settle.

Right of Way: Public.

Map: Drawn from OS Explorer OL2 Yorkshire Dales southern and western areas.

Dogs: Legal.

Date walked: May 2008.

Road Route: A65.

Car Parking: Pay and display.

Lavatories: Settle.

Refreshments: Inns and cafés in Settle.

Tourist and public transport information: Settle TIC 01729 825192.

Terrain: Hills.

Points of interest: Settle Market Day Tuesday.

Difficulty: 750 ft climb.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.