Stottie Walks

This was an undulating walk through green pastures, beside still waters, on a bright and breezy day. Daniel and Robert started before me and set a slightly faster pace. They remained in sight through the fields to Lothersdale, and I passed them as they paused outside Burlington House – not the home of the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, but formerly a B&B that served me very well ten years ago.

The wind blew furiously on Pinhaw Beacon, but all was calm far below at Thornton in Craven…until a gardening lady, kneeling on her elevated lawn to pick stones from a flower bed, threw them behind her and (unintentionally, I’m sure) over her low garden wall onto the road. I dodged her ragged volley, hurried by unscathed and marched in bright sunshine through sheep fields to the canal. By lunchtime I was seated in The Dalesman Café at Gargrave and was followed in by Daniel and Robert who had dallied in Thornton.

Between Gargrave and Malham the Wayfarer strolls through limestone-walled fields of sheep and cattle, up and down easy gradients. The wind grew stronger on the more exposed pastures, and I began having concerns regarding the next day, when Helen would walk with me over Fountains Fell and Penyghent. As for today, the walk became a bucolic amble on the banks of the infant River Aire. I did the sensible thing at the bridge at Hanlith, choosing the easy line on the west bank instead of hauling myself unnecessarily over the hill on the opposite bank. Helen brewed a welcome cup of tea before taking a walk to Janet’s Foss, Gordale Scar and Malham Cove. She’d travelled by train and taxi and was in need of exercise and fresh air, whereas I’d walked far enough and wanted to reacquaint myself with a razor and fresh clothes. That evening the Lister’s Arms satisfied our needs for drink and food, much as it has done for me during more than fifty years.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here – symbols of resignation north of Ickornshaw

Approaching Lothersdale and the end (for a day) of the Millstone Grit

Approaching Malham village and Malham Cove

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