The Humber Estuary ~ Medium Walk

Distance Covered: 5.5 miles Time to Complete Walk 3 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes

From beneath the magnificent Humber Bridge, this walk is a there and back walk on the tracks above the River Humber and beside the railway line. Passing the remains of a bronze age ferryboat, and then a lovely cafe at the halfway stage (featuring llamas!), this is a classic walk and a great way to spend a sunny afternoon.

General Safety Tips: 

Take care on the road at the start of the walk. Wear sturdy for the short rocky walk at the beginning of the walk.

                                                                The Humber Estuary Walk 

Getting There

Parking at the Humber Bridge Country Park is free of charge with plenty of parking spaces. Use the post code HU13 0HB on your Sat Nav.

                                                    Maps of The Humber Estuary walk

The Walk

From the car park head past the information board and cafe and follow the Humber Bridge Country Park sign. 

Cross a cycle path and turn left on the path ahead.

Follow the path into some trees and at a fork in the path take the right path.

Look for some steps down on your right and keep ahead after you descend the steps.

Go through some tunnels and then arrive at the black brick tower Black Mill.

A few steps ahead is the magnificent Humber Suspension Bridge - it really is a marvel of engineering!

Follow the road to your right taking care to look out for traffic and pass the Country Park sign.

Look for some steps down onto the rocks and pebbles and walk ahead passing the Country Park.

Leave the beach shortly after a Yorkshire Wold signpost. 

Follow the path beside the railway with great views of the Humber Bridge behind you.

When you come to a fork in the path keep left onto a grassier path.

Soon you arrive at the remains of a bronze age ferryboat which is another interesting feature on this walk. 

Head down the path after the ferry boat remains and turn right at the end of the path.

Pass some reeds and a marshland on your left, then in the village turn right again signposted to the Riverside Cafe.

Turn right again and pass a lovely little cafe with llamas! A great place for a pitstop.

From the cafe head back to the bronze age ferry boat and then left back on the route you walked on back to the beginning!

Humber Bridge

The Humber Bridge, near Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, is a 2.22 km (2,430 yd; 7,300 ft; 1.38 mi) single-span road suspension bridge, which opened to traffic on 24 June 1981. When it opened, the bridge was the longest of its type in the world; it was not surpassed until 1998, with the completion of the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge, and is now the twelfth-longest.

Ouse), between Barton-upon-Humber on the south bank and Hessle on the north bank, connecting the East Riding of Yorkshire with North Lincolnshire. Both sides of the bridge were in the non-metropolitan county of Humberside until its dissolution in 1996. The bridge can be seen for miles around, from as far as Patrington in the East Riding of Yorkshire, and from out to sea miles off the coast. It is a Grade I listed building.

By 2006, the bridge carried an average of 120,000 vehicles per week. The toll was £3.00 each way for cars (higher for commercial vehicles), which made it the most expensive toll crossing in the United Kingdom. In April 2012, the toll was halved to £1.50 each way after the UK government deferred £150 million from the bridge's outstanding debt.

Before the bridge, commuters crossed the Humber on the Humber Ferry from Corporation Pier at Hull and New Holland Pier at New Holland, Lincolnshire, or by road via the M62 (from 1976), M18 (from 1979) and M180 motorways, crossing, by way of the Ouse Bridge, the River Ouse near Goole (connected to the Humber). Until the mid-1970s the route south was via the single-carriageway A63 and the A614 (via grid-locked Thorne) where it met the busy A18 and crossed the Stainforth and Keadby Canal at Keadby Bridge, a swing bridge, which formed a bottleneck on the route, and on through Finningley and Bawtry, meeting the east–west A631.

The journey was along straight single-carriageway roads across foggy moors interrupted by bottlenecks for most of the journey to Blyth, Nottinghamshire, where it met the A1, and the accident rate was high. Debates in Parliament were held on the low standard of the route across the windswept plains around Goole. It was not unexpected that under these conditions, a Humber Bridge, with connecting dual-carriageway approach roads and grade-separated junctions, would seem worthwhile. By the time the bridge opened, much of this inferior route had been transformed by dualling of the A63 and its bypasses, extending the M62 and the connecting of the M18 from Thorne to Wadworth. The obvious need for a Humber Bridge had been reduced by the late 1970s with the improvements of the motorway infrastructure in the region. Although welcome, these improvements detracted from the need for vehicles to cross a bridge from Hessle to Barton. The Humber Bridge was a victim of the success of the M62 before it opened. A hovercraft service, Minerva and Mercury, linked Hull Pier and Grimsby Docks from February to October 1969 but suffered relatively frequent breakdowns.

Ilkley Moor ~ Medium Walk

Distance Covered: 4 miles Time to Complete Walk 2 hours

Suitable for dog walking: Yes 

This is a popular walk on Ilkley Moor, which heads towards the 12 Apostles stone circle from the Bronze Age and then returning back to the Cow and Calf Rocks a very impressive rock formation. Parking can be found at the Cow and Calf cafe, however this does get very busy at weekends. Theres plenty of other parking available though on the roadside after the Cow and Calf Hotel and pub.

General Safety Tips: The road below the moor can get busy. Take care when crossing the road. The moor can get muddy and boggy. Wear good walking boots. Dress for the weather on the moors.

                                                                    The Ilkley Moor walk

Getting There

From Middlesbrough, head down the A19 onto the M1 southbound. Take the turn off towards Leeds and Bradford airport which is the A59. When you arrive at Pool in Wharfedale turn right and head onto the A659 through Otley. Head out of Otley and turn right at the roundabout onto the A660 passing through Burley in Wharfedale into Ilkley. Take a left turn onto the B6382. You will be able to see the Cow and Calf rocks as you drive up the winding road to the top. 

                                                                Maps of the Ilkley Moor Walk

Park at the Cow and Cafe car park or on the roadside and head past the Cow and Calf pub.

Look for public path sign to your right and climb up to the moor above.

Double back to the right and head upwards towards the overhanging rock above.

At the top on the Moor turn right onto a path and continue on the park passing a bench. The paths can be confusing. As you are heading to the 12 Apostles this is done by heading to the Dales Path. Always use Google Maps on your phone if you are unsure.

Head along the path passing a boulder.

Head down the path towards a stream with concrete sides. You need to cross over the stream onto the path on the other side. Do this by crossing over at the bottom of the stream. Dont try and jump over to the other side.

Head to the left on the path on the other side. 

Head along the path passing a stone seating area - great for a pitstop!

Follow the path over the stream and emerge onto a flagged path.

Pass an information board and keep ahead on the path.

Arrive at the 12 disciples stone circle a great place to stop and have a breather.

Head back the way you came, over the stream, however keep left at a fork in the path this time.

Head past a waymarked post and a stone cairn.

When you arrive at the crossroads, turn right along the path.

Head over a stream with some large rocks.

On the path double back and head towards the Cow and Calf rocks which are very impressive.

Head left towards some trees on a grass track.

Keep on this track as it descends downwards.

Look for a path on your right which gives you a path that heads down to a concrete path below.

On the path below turn right and follow this path to a signpost.

Head down to the busy road below and over to the pavement on the other side.

Follow this path back to the Cow and Calf cafe or roadside parking.

Ilkley Moor

During the Carboniferous period (325 million years ago), Ilkley Moor was part of a sea-level swampy area fed by meandering river channels coming from the north. The layers in the eroded bank faces of stream gullies in the area represent sea levels with various tides depositing different sorts of sediment. Over a long period, the sediments were cemented and compacted into hard rock layers. Geological forces lifted and tilted the strata a little towards the south-east, producing many small fractures, or faults. Since the end of the Carboniferous period more than a thousand metres of coal-bearing rocks have been completely removed from the area by erosion. During the last million years, Ice Age glaciers modified the shape of the Wharfe valley, deepening it, smoothing it, and leaving behind glacial debris. The millstone grit not only gives character to the town of Ilkley but gives the area its acid soils, heather moors, soft water, and rocky scars.

To the north, where the moor drops steeply towards the village of Ben Rhydding, a satellite of the town of Ilkley, are two millstone grit rock climbing areas: Rocky Valley and Ilkley Quarry.

Ilkley Quarry is the site of the famous "Cow and Calf", a large rock formation consisting of an outcrop and boulder, also known as Hangingstone Rocks. The rocks are made of millstone grit, a variety of sandstone, and are so named because one is large, with the smaller one sitting close to it, like a cow and calf. Legend has it that there was once also a "bull", but that was quarried for stone during the spa town boom that Ilkley was part of in the 19th century. However, none of the local historians have provided any evidence of the Bull's existence.

According to legend, the Calf was split from the Cow when the giant Rombald was fleeing an enemy and stamped on the rock as he leapt across the valley. The enemy, it is said, was his angry wife. She dropped the stones held in her skirt to form the local rock formation The Skirtful of Stones.