Yorkshire Dales Walks
Addlebrough
Date: 8th December 2006
Distance: 7.3 miles
Ascent: 1078 feet
Time: 3 hours 45 minutes
With: Lisa
Start Grid Ref: SD958899
Walk Summary:
A nice walk from Worton up to the shapely hill of Addlebrough with some great views of Wensleydale.
Route Summary: Worton - Cubeck - Worton Pasture - Carpley Green Road - Addlebrough - Thornton Rust Moor - Thornton Rust - Thornton Scar - Worton
Pictures:
1. Looking across Wensleydale to Ivy Scar
2. Raydale and Semer Water
3. The distinctive shape of Addlebrough
4. Semer Water backed by Wether Fell
5. The local sheep
6. Standing above the limestone rim of Addlebrough
7. Looking along the south western flank of Addlebrough
8. The mysterious case of the missing trig point
9. Looking across Wensleydale to Lovely Seat and Abbotside Common
10. Looking east towards Pen Hill and Harland Hill
Walk Detail: This was my third visit to the Dales in the space of a week. I chose this walk because it would give me a chance to drive somewhere else other than along the A65 and it would also be a relatively easy one for Lisa. As it turned out the road from Masham onwards was a bit hairy in places due to the amount of flooding after all the heavy rain.
It was a beautiful day though and the sun was so bright that the initial walk up the road to Cubeck was quite blinding. Without gaining much height there were already good views across the valley to Ivy Scar and Ellerkin Scar. Upon reaching Worton Pasture the views improved even more to include Addlebrough itself, Lovely Seat, Wether Fell and Ten End and when we reached Carpley Green Road excellent views of Semerwater and Raydale were also enjoyed.
From the end of the Carpley Green Road we began along the bridleway until we reached the open fell when we then cut across to begin the last section of climbing. I was quite surprised at how impressive the limestone scar surrounding the rim of Addlebrough was.
On reaching the summit plateau we walked along the edge of the scar until we came to the wall separating us from the summit. Thankfully we managed to find a gap to climb through from where it was a very short walk up to the top. Gone are the summit cairn and trig point and without these usual summit accoutrements and because of the strengthening wind we took shelter behind the wall to the east.
Happily this led to a stile and the discovery of a permissive path to the bridleway on Thornton Rust Moor which meant we did not have to double back on ourselves. The bridleway itself was a fantastic grassy path (though a bit wet in places due to the rain). This led us unerringly to Thornton Rust itself which was a pleasant little village hidden away quite nicely.
The last section of the walk was through a number of the narrow gate styles that are such a feature of Wensleydale. In one of the last fields we were followed by a number of hungry sheep which was quite amusing.
It was nice to tick off another hill and Addlebrough is, despite its relative lack of height, one of the more distinctive hills in the Dales.
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