Gargrave ~ Medium Walk

8


Distance Covered: 6 miles   Time to complete walk:  3 hours 

Suitable for dog walking: Yes - on a lead when in fields with livestock

Total Steps: approx. 16,000

Safety Tips:  Take care on the canal path. Wear boots and take a walking stick - the fields can get muddy after rain

A great walk starting from Gargrave which commences through farmland and then meanders on the Liverpool-Leeds canal path on the way back to Gargrave. An excellent walk to experience the canals and canal boats for the first time. Parking is near the village hall and is free.

 

The Gargrave Walk

 

Getting There


From Middlesbrough take the A19 to join the A1M to Ripon. Then follow the A61 out of Ripon. Then join the A65 which passes through the village of Gargrave. Parking is found on a right turn in the village near the village hall and is free.

 

Map of the Gargrave walk

 

The Walk

 

From the car park pass the Village Hall to your left.

 

 

Pass the village hall

 

 

Keep on the pavement ahead until you come to opposite the bridge. Cross the road carefully and cross the bridge.

 

 

 

Cross the road to the bridge

 

View from the bridge



 

Pass by the church and look for a right turn signed the Pennine Way which is a small car park.

 

 

Pass the church

 

Look for a signpost to your right to the Pennine Way

 

 

Go over some stile steps to your left and follow the sign to the mud track ahead.

 

 

Go over the stile steps

 

Follow the signpost to the track ahead

Follow the path which is partly paved ahead to a waymarked gate

 

 

Go through the gate

  

Cross the field to another gate and then cross the field to the left of the pylons.

 

Go through the gate and follow the field to the left of the pylons

You will soon come to another gate and a muddy track. Turn left and follow the track ahead over a railway bridge and onwards. 

 

Go through the gate and turn left onto the track

 

Bridge over the railway

 

Keep on the track ahead

When the path veers to the right look for a stile ahead and go over it onto a field. 

 

Cross over the stile onto the field



 

Follow the field in the direction of a signpost in the shape of a cross in the distance.

 

Walk towards the signpost ahead

 

Cross signpost

 

Study the cross and take the direction for the Pennine Way to your right to a waymarked gate.

 

Go through to the gate

Head down the grass to a stepping stile in the fence and then head for another one.

 

Go over the step stile

 

And over another one

  

Head towards a pair of gates and go through the small one on the right

 

Head towards the gates

 

 

Go through gate on the right

 

 

Head through the gate and keep to the trees on the right

 

 

Head through the gate

 

Keeping to the trees to the right cross over a farm track ahead

 

 

 

Continue on the field ahead

 

Cross over the farm track



 

Keeping to the edge of the field  with a stream to your right, you will eventually come to a bridge to take you over the stream on your right

 

Keep to the path on your right

 

Head over the stile

 

Look out for the bridge on your right

Cross over the bridge and head for a post which is yellow on the top.

 

Head for the pole ahead

 

Follow the path ahead

Head towards another yellow topped pole in the distance

 

Head towards another yellow topped pole

 

 

Head down towards the path and cross over the cattle grid on your right

 

 

 

Head over the cattle grid on your right

 

Follow the road to the left

 

Take the left fork in the road and follow it until you come to a bridge over the canal.

 

 

Follow the road ahead

 

Reach the bridge over the canal

 

Before you crossed the bridge look for a path down onto the canal path and double back and cross under the bridge.

 

 

River boats on the canal

 

 

 

Head under the bridge

 

The path meanders with the canal for some time

 

 

Follow the canal path

 

River boat on the canal

 

 

When the canal path ends briefly follow the road and rejoin it on the other side.

 

 

 

Briefly leave the canal path

 

Rejoin the canal path on the other side

 

Follow the canal path on the left

 

 

The canal path now passes through several locks until you come to a road on your left.

 

 

Pass through several locks

 

Barge on the canal

 

Follow the road to the left

 

Follow this road over a bridge and then under a railway bridge.

 

 

 

Cross over the bridge on your right

 

Go under the railway bridge

 

Follow the road back into Gargrave and turn left at the Masons Arms and back into the village and the carpark

 

 

 

Follow the road back to Gargrave

 

 

Turn left at the Masons Arms

 



Gargrave

 

Gargrave is a large village and civil parish in the Craven district located along the A65, 4 miles (6 km) north-west of Skipton in North Yorkshire, England. It is situated on the very edge of the Yorkshire Dales. The River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal pass through the village. It had a population of 1,764 in 2001 reducing slightly to 1,755 at the 2011 census.

 

At Kirk Sink in the second century the Romans built a villa in flat meadowland near the River Aire It was excavated in 1968–1974 by Brian Hartley. Its central room had a seven-metre square mosaic floor and a bath house was built alongside. The villa was surrounded by two ditches.

In the 1820s the main industry in Gargrave was cotton manufacturing and along the side of the canal were numerous warehouses. The population at this time was 972 and there were several public houses including the pubs named the Masons Arms and the Swan Inn.
Gargrave House was built in 1917 by the distinguished Scottish architect, James Dunn. It is a Grade II listed building.
The Old Swan is also Grade II listed and was named the Keighley and Craven CAMRA Pub of the Season for summer 1998.

 

 

Liverpool to Leeds Canal

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool.
Over a distance of 127 miles (204 km), it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line. It has several small branches, and in the early 21st century a new link was constructed into the Liverpool docks system.

In the mid-18th century the growing towns of Yorkshire, including Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford, were trading increasingly. While the Aire and Calde Navigation improved links to the east for Leeds, links to the west were limited. Bradford merchants wanted to increase the supply of limestone to make lime for mortar and agriculture using coal from Bradford's collieries and to transport textiles to the Port of Liverpool. Onthe west coast, traders in the busy port of Liverpool wanted a cheap supply of coal for their shipping and manufacturing businesses and to tap the output from the industrial regions of Lancashire. Inspired by the effectiveness of the wholly artificial navigation, the Bridgewater Canal opened in 1759–60. A canal across the Pennines linking Liverpool and Hull (by means of the Aire and Calder Navigation) would have obvious trade benefits.
A public meeting took place at the Sun Inn in Bradford on 2 July 1766 to promote the building of such a canal. John Longbotham was engaged to survey a route. Two groups were set up to promote the scheme, one in Liverpool and one in Bradford. The Liverpool committee was unhappy with the route originally proposed, following the Ribble valley through Preston, considering that it ran too far to the north, missing key towns and the Wigan coalfield. A counter-proposal was produced by John Eyes and Richard Melling, improved by P.P. Burdett which was rejected by the Bradford committee as too expensive, mainly because of the valley crossing at Burnley. James Brindley was called in to arbitrate, and ruled in favour of Longbotham's more northerly route, though with a branch towards Wigan, a decision which caused some of the Lancashire backers to withdraw their support, and which was subsequently amended over the course of development. In 1768 Brindley gave a detailed estimate of a distance just less than 109 miles (175 km) built at a cost of £259,777 (equivalent to about £32.67 million as of 2014
An Act was passed in May 1770 authorising construction, and Brindley was appointed chief engineer and John Longbotham clerk of works; following Brindley's death in 1772, Longbotham carried out both roles