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

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal crosses a wonderful part of the country, linking the two industrial cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of 127 miles (204 km), it crosses the Pennines, and some of the best scenery in Yorkshire and Lancashire. The canal follows the flatest route possible. But, given presence of Pennines and other hills includes an inevitable 91 locks on the main canal.

There are several pleasant walks along the banks of the canal. Some of the places the canal passes through include:
# Leeds
# Kirkstall – The old ruined abbey makes an interesting visit

Saltaire on a rare perfectly sunny day.

• Saltaire – visit the old village and mill museum made famous by Sir Titus Salt. More on Saltaire
• Bingley – The five rise locks
• Skipton – The Gateway to the Dales, Skipton is the base for many good walks. A thriving market town with inspiring countryside overlooking.
• Gargrave – One of best locations on edge of Yorkshire Dales. To the north of Gargrave are places such as Malham. A great walk at this point in the canal.
• Barnoldswick
• Nelson
• Burnley
• Gannow Tunnel
• Hapton

Shipley and Leeds on Leeds-Liverpool Canal

Leeds Liverpool Canal info at Pennines.org

Photo of Leeds Liverpool canal by Lynne Pettinger

Mr Price!

At the other extreme, we have Harvey Nichols and haute couture of the Victorian Arcade. I don’t think you would find many things in there for under a £1!

Nice Bike and Harvey Nichols.

The sun shines on the righteous and no more so than on the edge of Rombolds Ilkley Moor.
Walking across the moor from Ilkley you get great views of the Aire Valley as you crest the final ridge above Dick Hudsons. Over to the left is a view of Baildon with its own moorscape.  If you cross from Ilkley on the northern ridge heading west parallel to the Wharfe Valley you will then get a view of Riva reservoir and Baildon again.

The community in Baildon have a good tradition of walking and have published a series of leaflets using Baildonwiki:

• Railway Walk Heritage Trail – the arches at Woodbottom to the great Viaduct at Tong Park.
• The Turnpike Walk Heritage Trail – takes you between the old turnpike road milestones on Otley Road.
• Kirklands Walk Heritage Trail – St John’s Court to St James;s, Kirklands and Hoyle Court.
• Baildon Village Walk Heritage Trail – visits the old lanes, folds and corners around the centre of Baildon.
• Riverside Walk Heritage Trail – will take you from Roundwood Road to Charlestown centre along the River Aire.
• The Charlie Thompson Walk Heritage Trail – takes you round the places of interest around the St John’s Court area of Charlestown.

Baildon Moor has a high vantage point that makes it popular with model aircraft enthusiasts and kite fliers . Whilst the range of Public Houses makes it popular with drinkers and visitors. At Bank Holiday it is a popular spot for motor bike enthusiasts.

5000 years ago Baildon was equally popular with locals who carved Cup and Rings on the local grit stone. The Heygate stone can be seen in Brackenhall countryside museum and there is a full report on Stone Pages ‘The stones are all part of a nationally important cluster of carved rocks across the district taking in Rombalds Moor and its internationally known Panorama stones and Swastika rock at Ilkley’.

St James is a white painted tongue and goove timber church and a Grade II listed building. It was originally was moved to Baildon from Great Warley, Essex in 1905 by the retiring vicar. My daughter was christened in the church in Baildon and has since moved to Essex (she didn’t know when she was onto a good Yorkshire thing).

Shipley Glen Tramway is the oldest working cable tramway in Great Britain dating from 1895. The tram can take you a quarter-mile up the woodland ride to get from Baildon Green and Saltaire to the edge of Baildon Moor.

The friends of Baildon Moor have there own website as does the Village.

Yorkshire Gold is one of the many Yorkshire Forward quangos that will be concerned about their future with the demise of the RDA’s. (Regional development agency and putative regional assembly orchestrator under labour and John Prescott.)

The ‘business club’s’ aim is to help local companies win contracts including ‘Crossrail, the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and London Heathrow Terminal expansion’ but I am not impressed as most of the opportunities on the web site are past there sell by date (like Yorkshire Forward).

One interesting opportunity was to license Cycling and Wheeeled products for the Olympics but you had to know about Locog and what the acronym means. On your bike!
Oh that gives me a private enterprise idea read Cycling in the Hills of Yorkshire and Cycling Info.

Another quango organisation Competefor also offers tendering opportunities meant ‘To ensure the transparency and availability of London 2012 opportunities maximising the number and diversity of businesses contributing to the London 2012 programme, and create a legacy of increased capacity and expertise.’

All this was brought to you by Yorkshire Forward and ‘Solutions for Business funded by Government’ what a great strap line/name that is!

Chevin Forest Park is an area near Otley managed by Leeds Council. Chevin is linked to Welsh ‘Cefn’ or ridge.

White House Cafe

• In the middle of the main part of the Chevin there is a lunchtime cafe 10 am-2 pm but it is CLOSED AT WEEKENDS AND WHEN YOU WANT TO USE IT! SO ARE THE LOOS! I did say it was run by the council.
• There are birdbox cameras set up around the estate so cafe vistors can have their own Springwatch.
• You can walk to the cafe in 20 minutes or so from Surprise View, Johnny Lane or East Chevin car park.A bit longer uphill from Otley town

Surprise View

• From the top of the Chevin in the Royalty car park (the pub, not where the Queen parks) you can look down on Yeadon airport with planes landing and taking off not necessarily in that order.
• Park at the official car park opposite the pub and walk towards the ridge you will get a ‘Surprise View’ of the Wharfe Valley and the north.
• At Easter there is a large wooden cross errected on the summit after it is hauled up from Otley in the valley below.

Walking

• There are Chevin ranger guided walks between April and September and from June 26th 2010 for one week there is Otley Walking Festival
• The Chevin is used for Orienteering and Geocaching. Geocaching started in America and starts with an interesting item hidden in a box that other must find with or without GPS. (Sounds like a riot!).
• Chevin Forest Trail details
• If you are not quite up for walking there is a rural pursuit vehicle capable of carrying a wheelchair. There are also mobility scooters

Other Attractions

• A ‘Geology trail’ is due to be completed this summer.
• Sculpture in wood are scattered in the woods if you can see them for the Himalayan Balsam weeds.
• Danefield estate is attached and has Rock climbing, more walking and other pursuits
• The trees of Chevin forest are important for both resident and migratory birds, including the woodcock, goldcrest and redstart.

Bits according to Wikipedia
The famous painting ‘Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps’ by J. M. W. Turner which hangs in the Tate Gallery, is reputed to have been inspired by a view of the Chevin with a stormy background sky. Turner used to stay in Yorkshire with his friend Walter Fawkes at Farnley Hall on the opposite side of the valley to the Chevin.
Johnny lane runs from Station road Otley (don’t bother looking for the train it was Beechinged) up past the White House to above the treeline.

The railway is gone and you can only get to the Museum by bus as Hawes railway station was been converted into the Folk Museum. Well, since Dr Beeching zapped the Dales, you can take shank’s pony and walk or even take the car if you want to pay for parking.

The cultural museum was inspired by Marie Hartley and Joan Ingleby, the prodigious authors of Yorkshire sociology and history. The museum covers all you could want to see about life in the dales from the ice age forward and explains a lot about the Yorkshire psyche. There are lots of interactive activities to keep the young and old amused and kids get in for free!

The Wensleydale Vintage Bus service uses two buses from the 1940′s (named Dorothy and Edith) and Bessie from 1961 to run between Ripon and Hawes, Garsdale and Redmire. Bus passes accepted! In summer this links to the Wensleydale Railway.

Aims and Objectives of the Friends of the Dales Countryside Museum

* To promote the improvement of the museum
* To raise funds to help in maintaining and enlarging the collection. (Registered Charity No. 519 546)
* To arrange events for the interest and education of the Friends

Taciturn, dour, gruff even but Yorkshire folk have infinite pride in their county. For that reason you are welcome to visit or live in the area but do not expect full acceptance to take less than a generation or three.

North, East or West there is a Riding for you – obviously we don’t take as quickly to southerners, so we have no South Riding.

To show just how welcoming you may find Yorkshire there is a section on this website that visitors could find useful. It lists things to do and see in various towns, cities and villages.
The lists are often curtailed, limited or restricted (with Yorkshire modesty) to a top ten when there are lots more attractions to these Yorkshire Places.

Welcome to Otley LS21
Welcome to Hovingham YO62
Welcome to Harrogate HG1
Welcome to Saltaire BD18
Welcome to Thirsk YO7
Welcome to Keighley BD 21
Welcome to Wetherby LS29
Welcome to Settle BD24

As the flags on this photograph reveal we also welcome European and International visitors of all nationalities even from the rest of Great Britain.

This North Yorkshire settlement of Settle may have been populated by Angles in the 6th century but there are prehistoric remains amongst the limestone hills nearby.

Key Points of Interest

1. Known for its position on the Settle to Carlisle railway, where steam trains still run on occasion, beware the station is well south of the town centre. The railway was opened in 1875 but Settle was connected to the rail network 25 years before that via a road link to Giggleswick station.
2. Victoria Cave contained remains of mammoth, bear, reindeer and hippopotamus as well as stones, flint, bone and other implements and ornaments.
3. Set in the midst of great walking country, Settle is a bustling center for tourists and day trippers. For that reason there are numerous cafes, tea shops and pubs offering refreshment.



4. The river Ribble provided the power for Settle’s former cotton and paper mills and now is a base for many walks. Try the three peaks if you want a tester.
5. Overlooking the town is Castlebergh, an impressive 300 feet limestone crag which flies the flag even when England are not in the world cup.



6. Nearby locations include Giggleswick, just over the bridge, with it’s famous school and Feizor a hamlet up in the limestone hills with great valley views. See walking maps Settle to Feizor & Giggleswick
7. Scalebar Force is a waterfall in a deep wooded ravine just off the road which leads from Settle over the limestone moors to Kirby Malham and Airton
8. In keeping with a modern town new features are added. The Millennium garden is a small tranquil place spoilt only by the nearby eponymous supermarket run by the upmarket Booths chain. This hasn’t spoilt the local shops and my wife enjoys the local wool shop whilst I haunt the secondhand book shops.Victoria Hall is a lively theater and community focal point nearby. Queen Victoria gets a good press in Settle as iher reign was the great era for Settle’s tourist tourist trade.



9. Market day on a Tuesday in hectic. Buses and coach trips visit Settle on other days as well but if you want peace and quite get on your walking boots and head for the hills.
10. The church is set under the hillside not far from the Ribble. I was taken by the use of the church grounds to grow rhubarb and other edibles under the protection of the church walls, to say nothing of the surrounding hills.

‘Dying in the Wool’ is a mystery for fictional amateur sleuth Kate Shackleton set in a quiet Yorkshire village. Why not a lively, thriving, bustling even noisy Yorkshire village I do not know but that is artistic license for you! At least there is a working mill in this fictional village of Bridgestead, something you don’t see every day nowadays.

Plenty of West Riding social and local history has been used in researching this book and it flows along at a brisk pace.

The author Frances Brody is a pseudonym for Frances McNeil, scriptwriter, playwright, author of four novels and winner of the Elizabeth Elgin Award for best new saga of the millennium. If you have already read Dying in the Wool try another in the Kate Shackleton series.