Buckden by Chris Heaton

Fork in the road in Buckden. To the right, Leyburn. To the left, a tough climb over Fleet Moss to Hawes

Classic car driving through Buckden.

Buckden from above the village. photo by Effervescing Elephant

Buckden is situated in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, on upper parts of the River Wharfe in Wharfedale.

It is a small village with a population of under 200, however it is strategically located for tourists visiting the Yorkshire Dales, and in the summer months has a boost in numbers as tourists pass through.

The village has a large hotel, the Buck Inn, a village store, and a residential outdoor education centre – Buckden House.

Buckden is located north of Kettlewell and Grassington.

Just up the dale, where Langstrothdale joins Wharfedale, is the old village of Hubberholme, noted for its Norman church and old inn.

Classic car Buckden

Related

• Buckden.org
• Reeth North Yorks
• Swaledale images

Reeth Yorkshire by UGArdener, on Flickr

By UGArdener on Flickr

Reeth is a village in the Yorkshire Dales within the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England and principal settlement of Swaledale. It is situated at the meeting point of the two most northerly of the Yorkshire Dales: Swaledale and Arkengarthdale.

Reeth became a centre for hand-knitting and also the local lead industry. It was always a market centre for the local farming community. Its 18th-century houses and hotels are clustered around a triangular green. The village has three pubs all situated on the green. They are the Black Bull, the King’s Arms and the Buck Hotel. The village is overlooked by the fells of Fremington Edge and Calver Hill. The village also offers several B & Bs and tea rooms as well as a hotel, the Burgoyne, that overlooks the village green.

Related

Swaledale Images

Swaledale Barns – Andy Coulson

Swaledale is one of Yorkshire’s northern most dales. Running along the river Swale it is often quiet, even in the height of the tourist season. The main towns in Swaledale are Keld in East, Muker, Gunnerside, Reeth and Richmond in the East

Wain Wath Falls

To the south of Swaledale is the more famous Wensleydale, separated by Buttertubs pass

The River Swale by freefotouk

by David McD

Related

• Beautiful Yorkshire

Malham Cove is a natural limestone formation north of the village of Malham, North Yorkshire, England. A popular beauty spot within the Yorkshire Dales, it is a large, curved limestone cliff at the head of a valley. At the top of the valley is a limestone pavement.

a view from the bottom, popular with climbers By: Rick Harrison Flickr

Originally, a large waterfall flowed over the cove as a glacier melted above it. There is now an underwater stream running from Malham Tarn down into the valley below.

By: Jim Moran, Flickr CC

By Vaidas M

By: Rick Harrison Flickr

Malham Tarn

Malham Tarn by Paul Stevenson

Malham Cove featured in the BBC series, Seven Natural Wonders of Britain.

It was featured in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, filmed in 2009.

Related

• Malham Cove
• Peregrine Falcons at Malham Cove

Twixt Austwick and Clapham in Crummackdale lies a group of erratic boulders called the ‘Norber Boulders’. (No grafitti unlike this in USA)

Erratics are large rocks deposited by glacier or ice flows on top of the natural underlying rock strata.
Norber boulders are dark grey green Silurian slates and sandstone grits. They were originally carried up from the fooor of the valley by glacier moving south from Ribblesdale. They were left stranded on top of the lime stone.
Unprotected limestone has eroded by rainfall and the boulders often stand on limestone pedestals polished and scratched by ice.

A great walk with accompanying photographs is available on the walking englishman
See also what to see in Clapham

Yeager Rock above is a large glacial erratic on the Waterville Plateau in Washington USA. Erratic was one of many dropped by the Okanagon lobe of the last glacial period.

Erratic Rock State Natural Site by Frederick Miller et al plus ‘Big Rock Glacial Erratics’ by the same team are the geology books of choice on the subject of ‘Erratics’.

Menston trees in autumn sun

Acer in Autumn sun.

Wharfe Valley from Bleach Mill Lane

St John’s road

Ripponden

Bolton Abbey

A good valley south of Pateley Bridge and Summerbridge near the river Nidd

Nidderdale

Upper Nidderdale, near Pateley Bridge

Lofthouse

Forest at Norwood Edge

Related

• Nidderdale Festival
• Welcome to Nidderdale

If you’re a cyclist in Yorkshire, you’re spoilt for choice if looking for some steepest hill. In the Yorkshire Dales, there are plenty of climbs which touch the dreaded 1 in 4 (or 25% in modern money).

To name a few of the steepest hills.

• Park Rash ascending from Kettlewell a steep section of 25% on a double haipin bend (makes for a tricky ascent.
• Buttertubs from Muker south. Another tough 25% section at bottom, with plenty more climbing at 17%
• Muker From Swaledale South towards Askrigg in Wenselyday (see pic top)
• Fleet Moss from Hawes south. At the top it reaches 20% for a considerable time.

Helmsley near Rosedale Chimney

The Steepest Hill though goes to Rosedale Chimney in the North York Moors, which reaches a staggering 33%. Hopefully, you won’t come across one of the inevitable caravans stuck on the tricky hairpins.

See Cycle Touring in Yorkshire Dales for more

Farndale, aka ‘Daffodil Valley’ by virtue of the ‘Lenten Lilies’ which carpet the valley floor in a sea of yellow each spring. The Daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus, were probably brought to the valley and Douthwaitedale by 12th century Monks and got the old name Lenten Lily from the fact they normally bloom around Easter, a little later than most British Daffodils. If you are not worried by crowds then a weekend trip at the end of March or April will repay your perseverance. Because of the cold weather this year you may find a warmer and quieter time to visit will be mid-week mid-to late April.

Walking The Dove and Farndale

If you are not on your bike ‘Walking world’ has a range of interesting walks including Church houses in Farndale on this site. Wikipedia’s entry for Farndale must have been written by a southerner who dislikes moorland as ‘Farndale is surrounded by some of the most inhospitable moorland in England, and is sandwiched between Bransdale and Rosedale. …… Around the north of Farndale, is the track bed of the old Rosedale Ironstone Railway which forms part of two Long Distance Footpaths these being Wainwright’s Coast to Coast Walk and The Lyke Wake Walk’. Well they are right about walking so forgive and forget. There are many fine walks along the banks of the river Dove starting at the small hamlet of Low Mill where a nearby field is used to accommodate the hundreds of cars which arrive during the daffodil season.

Tea Rooms and Refreshments

Refreshments are available at the Daffy Caffy at High Mill and the Feversham Arms Inn at Church Houses. The “Daffy Caffy” cafe tearoom is situated on the well known daffodil walk in beautiful Farndale, North Yorkshire, England. The scenery and walking is quite magnificent, whether it be along the river or climbing up to Rudland Rigg on the North York Moors. In the hamlet of Church Houses, Farndale, the Feversham Arms ‘serves good food and beer for the passing walker’. Just up the road is St Mary’s Church a small moors village church built in 1831 and well worth a visit even when the Daffodils have gone.

Other Village Activities

Alt country bands, renown folk singers and even Yorkshire Countrywomens Associations use the Band Room in Farndale variously described as ‘England’s tiniest major venue,’ ‘The greatest small venue on Earth,’ and ‘a corrugated iron shed in the middle of nowhere.’ There is a big gig no 29th August 2010 the night before the 103rd Farndale Show staring Megafaun ( I will say that a bit louder). Built for the Farndale Silver Band in the 1920s this 100-capacity wooden building adds atmosphere to most performances if you can get a ticket.
Picking Daffodils is not an activity that can be pursued as Farndale is now a protected Nature Reserve. Leave the flowers for others to see and the seeds to reproduce naturally.

Bolton Abbey in the mist. A beautiful setting

A view through the autumn trees

Related

• More photos of Bolton Abbey
• Windows to the Sky