The Times - UK (2022-01-01)

the times Saturday January 1 2022

4Weekend

7

Upper Wharfedale, North Yorkshire

How hard is it? 7 miles; moderate; riverside path and fell tracks

Right here on path east for 1 mile to Scar

House (921789); on east for 1½ miles to

cross B6160 at White Lion, Cray

(942792). Path ahead; in 200m, right

(944790) and follow “A Pennine

Journey” trail south via Buckden Rake

and Rakes Wood back to Buckden.

Getting there Bus 72B (Skipton).

Road: Buckden is on the B6160

Wharfedale road between Grassington

and Hubberholme.

Lunch Buck Inn, Buckden (01756 761933;

thebuckinn.com); George Inn,

Hubberholme (01756 760223;

thegeorge-inn.co.uk); White Lion,

Cray (01756 760262;

bestpubinthedales.co.uk).

Information yorkshiredales.org.uk

Wharfedale is Yorkshire’s classic

limestone dale, a snaking cleft with

shelving sides and rough moorland

tops. From the village of Buckden you

walk up the Wharfe to Hubberholme

with its friendly George Inn, humpy

bridge and little church. Then it’s on up

Langstrothdale to the Norse farmstead

of Yockenthwaite, and a return along a

daleside track with memorable views.

Map OS Explorer OL30

Start Car park, Buckden Wood Lane,

Buckden, North Yorkshire BD23 5JA

(OS ref SD 943773).

Walk From Buckden Bridge (940773)

follow Dales Way upriver for 3 miles via

George Inn and church at Hubberholme

(926782) to Yockenthwaite (905790).

6

Woon Gumpus Common, Cornwall

How hard is it? 4 miles; rough heathland and grazing underfoot

500 metres

WOON

GUMPUS

COMMON

Carnyorth

Common

The North Inn

Pendeen

Botallack

Common

start

Inscribed

stone

Chûn Quoit

Chûn Castle

settlement

Stone circle

Carn Kenidjack

P

CORNWALL

St Austell

Falmouth

Penzance

CLIFFE

Cliffe

Fort

Cliffe Pools

Nature Reserve

Pinnacle

Trail

sign

Pier

Jetties

P start

KENT

River

Thames

Turn right

across sea

wall

Fork right at

metal gates

English

Coast Path

500 metres

Cliffe

Creek

Dartford

Maidstone

5

Cliffe Pools RSPB Reserve and

Cliffe Fort, Kent

How hard is it? 5½ miles; easy; level tracks and paths

An atmospheric walk on the shore of
the Kentish Thames Estuary, starting
along a causeway between old gravel
pit pools where wading birds overwinter
in huge numbers — great flocks of
dunlin and lapwing, and big rafts of
coot, with marsh harriers and barn owls
hunting the grassy marshes. Out by the
Thames stands the derelict 19th-century
Cliffe Fort, magnificently moody in
wintry light.
Map OS Explorer 163
Start Cliffe Pools car park, Cliffe, near
Rochester ME3 7SX (OS ref TQ723760).
Getting there Bus 133 (Chatham,
Rochester) to Cliffe. Road: M25, Jct 2;
A2, A228 (“Grain”); B2000 to Cliffe.
RSPB reserve signposted from Cliffe
(brown sign).

Walk Pass noticeboard; left along lane.

In 500m, just past “Pinnacle Trail” sign

on right, track bends left (725764). Fork

immediately left on track. In ¾ mile, at

“English Coast Path”/ECP sign, left

(715769); in 100m, right across sea wall

(“Saxon Shore Way”, yellow arrow). On

between two blocks, then path through

scrub, then on beside Cliffe Creek. In

½ mile, pass jetty to view south side of

Cliffe Fort (706766). Return to recross

sea wall (715768); left along ECP. In

nearly 1 mile, at metal gate with kissing

gate (710775), fork right on track across

marshes for 2½ miles back to car park.

Lunch Six Bells, Church Street, Cliffe

ME3 7QD (01634 221459;

sixbellscliffe.co.uk).

Information rspb.org.uk/cliffepools

A lapwing

St Michael and All Angels

Church, Hubberholme

Map OS Explorer 102

Start Car park on B3318 Penzance/

Pendeen road, TR19 7TH approx

(OS ref SW 393334).

Getting there ¾ mile south

of Pendeen (B3306,

St Ives-St Just).

Walk East across Woon

Gumpus Common to Chûn

Quoit (402339) and Chûn Castle

(405339); west to Carn

Kenidjack (388329), south to Carn

Vres “Dancing Stones” stone circle

(386324); back by Carnyorth

Common and Boslow Stone (391330).

Lunch The North Inn, Pendeen (01736

788417; thenorthinnpendeen.co.uk).

Information St Ives TIC (01736 796297)

This is the Cornwall that so few visitors
see — the rolling moors inland from the
touristy coast where the landscape is
compellingly bleak and windswept.
Stride out across the intriguingly named
Woon Gumpus Common and its
companion heathlands of Botallack and
Carnyorth commons, and you will find
ancient monuments scattered along
the way: the “stone mushroom” of
4,400-year-old Chûn Quoit burial
chamber, Chûn Castle hillfort from the
Iron Age, the “Dancing Stones” circle
on Truthwall Common under the granite
tor of Carn Kenidjack, and the
mysteriously inscribed Boslow Stone,
perhaps the gravestone of a very early
Christian priest.

Chûn Quoit

burial chamber