Tunnels, crags and rock leaping! A weekend walk in Clapham

I knew as soon as we started our walk from Clapham that the kids were going to find it interesting. It started with us walking through two very dark tunnels, we couldn’t see much and I joked that I should get out my emergency head torch. After the tunnels, there was a steep slope up a path at the side of a forest plantation, we soon left the trees and then WOW! The view opened up to a dramatic limestone scar in the distance and even my sulky 9-year-old couldn’t fail to be impressed. I know I say it a lot but, the scenery was amazing.

Across the fields and then we were under one of the scars, the kids shouting and making echo sounds, their voices booming back at them. My mountain goat son jumping as usual all over the rocks, and scaring me silly. The terrain was rocky and the scar was impressive. As we made our way to the next finger-post I found a rock with a gnome sat on the top! Funny the things you see when you’re out walking. My hubby was thrilled to find us a grasshopper to watch. It was having great fun on the rocks jumping, just like my eldest.

Having negotiated another smaller scar, we sat against a dry stoned wall and had our picnic before making our way down a slope and onto a track. The weather had cheered up and no longer looked quite so threatening.

We followed the track and eventually made our way to first the tiny hamlet of Wharfe, and then the village of Austwick. The village pub called from just up the road but it wasn’t in the right direction for us! We were good and plodded along, now across vast fields which were soggy and had big cow pats and hoof marks. This eventually led us back to where we had started in the village of Clapham. We treated ourselves to a swift half and some crisps in the village, before making our way back to the car.

If you want to see the route we took you can check out our track on the Viewranger website. We walked approx. 11 km, not bad with the little legs with us.

Top tips!

Clapham village has a Yorkshire Dales National car park, it was a bank holiday weekend when we visited and was full when we arrived. We found the last space of street parking so I’d advise going early. There are toilets at this car park.

Clapham and the village of Austwick both have pubs if you need refreshments.

Watch your feet! This walk has rocky sections and uneven surfaces – little legs went flying a few times.

For more pictures and chat come see me on my Facebook page.

Have you got a walk idea for me? Let me know in the comments.

 

4 comments Add yours
  1. Wow 11 km sounds impressive to me with little ones in the party, thank goodness for natural beauty to keep them plodding on and enjoying the landscape. Echos along the tunnels and scar sounds like just the sort of games I used to do with my kids. You really can see for miles up there and if I hadn’t read it I’d never believe it was the bank holiday, it looks so quiet even if the car parks were busy. May be they all stopped in the village pubs?

    Thank you for sharing your beautiful walk on #CountryKids

    1. My kids are good little walkers and there was all sorts to keep them going. I think you’re right, everyone else was in the pub!!!

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