9:42am Saturday 16th December 2006
By George Wilkinson
GRASSINGTON'S National Park Centre is a shopping opportunity - walking books, jam, and fleece.
Onward - the first bit of today's walk is either a preamble or a little circuit all of its own. It is an easy bit of the Dales Way, a microcosm of the area, taking in the banks of the River Wharfe, terraced pastures, ash trees, drystone walls and a field barn.
The fun came at Grassington's Linton Falls with a tumultuous crashing of the river over big boulders of limestone, lots of spray and roar; you can stand right above it on a bridge.
A dipper perched amidst the cauldron flexing its knees as the name implies, it couldn't get in to feed. The large waterside buildings are one-time mills. Upriver are two weirs, both diagonals across the flow, the nearest is quite meek, the furthest an impressive smooth whoosh of a water wall. A diving duck braved the Wharfe.
With footwear still clean, you can finish the day for tea and more or move on up the riverside. The river was high, and soon we could see Ghaistrill's Strid, a point where the flow is narrowed. Even from a distance it looked spectacular.
There were half a dozen people up there, and with binoculars we saw a paddle, so accelerated hoping for a show.
And what a display - the canoeists were soldiers from Harrogate. They placed a couple of back markers downstream of the strid, who paddled in an eddy, waiting there to rescue their colleagues should something go wrong. Then, with everyone primed, the first canoeist "shot" the strid. He was most impressive, all power and total control, and made the 100 yards of scary, whirlpool-bucking water look, as he said, "routine". Then two others shot down, one rather frantically.
With the excitement over, we wandered on. The river quietened, reclaimed by ducks. There's a bench for a sandwich stop, placed here in memory of a 28-year-old canoeist who drowned in the strid.
Tranquillity continued through Grass Wood, one of the best Yorkshire nature reserves, more of a springtime delight for the flowers, but lovely even in the season of sleep, with the sun slanting through the naked trees, streaking with a golden light the fallen leaves of beech, ash, oak and coppiced hazel.
There was sheer high rock, fresh green dog's mercury, sticks stacked for over-wintering creatures and piles of boulders licked by lichens and soft with mosses. The view to Grassington is good, and beyond are the heights of Barden Moor.
The last leg is over small pastures with old walls and fine field barns. A black hole of a cave is circular on a pale flank of scar, a stream will wash your boots, and then you're in the narrow streets at the top end of town, with more temptation for fleece jacket addicts.
Fact file
Distance: Four miles, or less with short cuts.
Time: Two hours.
General location: The Dales.
Start: Grassington.
Right of way: Public and permissive.
Map: Drawn from OS OL2 Yorkshire Dales southern and western areas.
Dogs: Legal.
Date walked: December 2006.
Road route: From York via Pateley Bridge.
Car parking: National Park Centre.
Lavatories: National Park Centre.
Refreshments: Grassington.
Tourist and public transport information: National Park Centre Grassington 01756 751690.
Terrain: Mostly riverside.
Points of interest: Linton Falls are the result of the geological North Craven Fault cutting the River Wharfe.
Difficulty: Very easy to easy.
Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.
Directions
When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.
1. From car park, right to road, pavement then verge. On corner, metalled drive on right (fingerpost Burnsall).
2. On bend, stile and down to riverside path (fingerpost), stile, squeezer, stile, 3. At bridge: option to shortcut back into Grassington via path on right. Otherwise cross path at bridge, gate, gate, squeezer.
4. At main road: option to shortcut back into Grassington. Otherwise cross road, track 25 yards, gates (fingerpost) and join riverside path. Pass strid on stiled path above scrub.
5. Stile into wood and immediately right, a few steps up bank, path and then up between two wire fences. Cross road. Stile into wood and keep on path nearest wall until path cuts a corner after scar and at a wall corner where you ignore a right downhill.
6. Stile in wall on right at Grass Wood info board, cross field, gateway (fingerpost), cross field, fieldgate to walled track (fingerpost), swings right. Becomes Tarmac road and keep straight on until road bends right downhill then take a left fork to Garrs End Lane, right to main street downhill into Grassington.
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