Wigtwizzle - Norman Smith's Travel Blog.: north yorkshire

Showing posts with label north yorkshire. Show all posts

Kingsdale and Dentdale

This is a great way to get over to Dentdale from Ingleton, starting with the wide limestone valley of Kingsdale which is followed by a high pass over to Deepdale which is a side valley of Dentdale. An added bonus is the waterfall of Gastack Beck which starts life high up on the slopes of Great Coum.

There are many changes in the geology as your journey progresses. It starts with the limestone of the Twistleton area of Ingleborough and progresses to the peat bogs and sandstone of Whernside on one side of the valley and Gargareth and and Great Coum on the other before you finally drop down to the green pastures of Deepdale and Dentdale.

Dent village is a delightful spot with many cobbled streets and its centrepiece of St Andrew's Anglican Church. Cafes and inns make it the perfect place to stop for an hour or two. I did take some phone photos of the village but unfortunately these got deleted.

I didn't fancy returning over the pass so instead, carried on up to Dent Head (where the Settle to Carlise railway station is situated) and back on to the main road to Ingleton. The drive to Dent Head is lovely as well, especially where the valley of the infant River Dee narrows. There are lots more cascades and waterfalls in this section and you also pass Artengill and Dent Head railway viaducts. If you are very lucky you can see one of the steam trains which still run on this line.

Kingsdale beck and Whernside

Kingsdale Beck

Scots Pines, Kingsdale Hrad

Kingsdale Beck

Back Gill, Kingsdale

Whernside

Deepdale Lane

Distant Howgills

Deepdale Lane

Whernside

Deepdale

Dry Stone Wall

Great Coum

Gastack Beck Waterfall

Grey Skies At Top Cow Pasture Rocks

Cow Pasture Rocks in another place I've blogger about a couple of times before. Situated not far from the road from Horton in Ribblesdale to Ribblehead, it is an ideal place to stop due to its limestone pavement. It may not be the biggest pavement in these parts but it is still a good spot to grab some photos plus, I reckon that if you are fit enough, you could navigate yourself on to the summit of Ingleburough but I'll leave that for someone else to try!

I didn't hang about too long though as it was drizzling and rather cold. On a nice crisp clear day, you can get some stunning shots looking across to Pen Y Ghent with the lime stone making a perfect foreground.

Langstrothdale

The uppermost course of the River Wharfe runs through Langstrothdale, but Wharfedale does not begin until the Wharfe meets Cray Gill, downstream of Hubberholme. The name Langstrothdale derives from Old English and translates as 'long marsh' or 'marshy ground'.

The dale was first colonised by Anglians in the seventh century, with Norse invaders arriving later. In Norman times, many of the isolated settlements were allowed to remain, but were prevented from expanding by an arcane ruling known as the 'Forest Law'. At that time, Langstrothdale was well forested, and the upper northern part of the dale (which is now moorland) was a royal hunting forest known as Langstrothdale Chase or as the 'Forest of Langstroth'.

The dale became part of the lands owned by the Clifford family and in 1604, due to the then Earl of Cumberland's 'extravagances', the lands were sold to pay off his debts. This allowed many Dales folk to purchase their own farmsteads.

Also, in the age before mass transportation, the road through the dale was part of a packhorse route from Lancaster to Newcastle upon Tyne.

My visit started off in quite nice weather but, as can be seen from the photos, it quickly deteriorated and the rain moved in, but not before I managed to walk part of the valley and take some photos. I love all the old beech trees which are scatter along the river bank as they do lend themselves to good photography compositions but I'm afraid disease is spreading amongst them which is resulting in a lot dying.

It's nice to be out and about in this area in any sort of weather though and a bit of rain never hurt anyone.