Despite a dire weather forecast for rather a lot of rain, 9 people turned up at Helwith Bridge for this walk led by Tom Lyons. Waterproofs were donned at the start and didn’t come off until we got back to our cars at the end of the walk.

We started off going uphill, first along Long Lane and then turning right along Moor Head Lane which we followed for about  1 ½ miles meeting up with a minor but very steep, 1 in 5, road which we told not to look at but, needless to say, it was the one we had to take. Leaving this we crossed wet fields to arrive at the first of the day’s highlights. This was Catrigg Force which was in full flow and a magnificent sight to behold. Descending now to Stainforth we had our coffee stop in a handy underpass before continuing on to the second highlight of the day – the superb Hoffman kilns about a mile south of Stainforth. We all thought they were going to be just another example of a kiln but were taken aback when we found we could walk through them. (Should have had torches with us , it was quite black inside). They really were a bit gob-smacking.

Lunch was to be at Settle  but before we could enjoy that Tom took us up another climb, this time through the concessionary paths in woodland, and up to the flagpole at Castleberg. The views over to Settle could have been really good if only we could have seen them! By now not only was the rain still tipping down but the clag had come down to keep it company! Hey ho! Our lunch stop was under a covered archway near Booths but was not a long one as everyone wanted to get going and warm up again.

The River Ribble was roaring away and the weir was a real spectacle as we passed it walking along the Ribble Way. You would not have wanted to fall in today!  We left the Ribble Way at Stackhouse and followed slightly less muddy paths through fields to reach the road at Little Stainforth. As everyone was rather wet and mucked up, (putting it mildly) by now it was decided to follow the minor road for a couple of miles back to our cars which we reached at 2.40pm cutting a bit off the scheduled mileage. However, despite everything, we all enjoyed (well sort of) the day and appreciated the effort that Tom had put in to make the walk a bit different showing us all the highlights. It was agreed that it would make a good walk again but hopefully in drier conditions.

Apologies for the photos, I think the camera got quite a bit wet.

Doreen

 To see who came on the walk please press below

 To see the other photos please press Here then the first photo followed by clicking the arrows on the right hand side