GEORGE WILKINSON sets off on a walk in the western Dales where he finds a blissful sense of nothing much having changed.

THIS route in the western Dales seemed just the job for a long summer's day. So we made an early start, drove through Pateley Bridge and Grassington and forked off to Arncliffe, 'the chief of the four villages evenly spread in Littondale' as reported by Arthur Mee in 1941. And it can have changed little in the last 60 years, nothing noticeably new, quite per-fect.

Boots were laced on the village green, water bottles checked, The Falcon was eyed up but we missed opening hours, and a gaggle of schoolgirls from Cumbria set off on our route, with a teacher and a dog.

We followed them, followed the finger-post 'Malham Tarn 4 miles', admired yellow flag irises, and climbed to the high grasslands on the Monk's Road, with Cowside Beck glittering below in a fluted 'V' of a valley.

Elsewhere and everywhere, for the rest of the walk, were acres of short turf, the grass decorated with limestone rocks and scree and banded with scars, and coloured with the yellow of rock roses and mountain pansies and the pink of bird's-eye primroses. Mile after mile of loveli-ness, with no buildings.

A sign reads 'National Trust Malham Tarn Estate'. The Cumbrian dog har-assed the bold Yorkshire rabbits, the fells were alive to the sound of singing, the schoolgirls in full voice betwixt com-pass lessons, and we all climbed a little more to settle for lunch at 1,500 feet with a fine view south to Gordale Scar.

A Victorian looking farmstead was followed by a buttercup meadow, then a walker who said we had cheated for not going right down to Malham Tarn, and then more expansive pasture. The 50 per cent cloud cover made for fresh-feel miles, and the armchair-smooth rocks of limestone pavement did nicely for after-noon tea.

One last climb brought us big views of Great Whernside and then we could see steep down into Littondale, to a thank-fully small site of white caravans (the only eyesore) and the bleached white crescents of the banks of the River Skir-fare.

Soon we were strolling the riverside, saw a lapwing with a chick, big buzzards high in the sky and cooled our feet in the gin-clear ripples of "one of Yorkshire's most enchanting streams", to quote Arthur Mee again.

This valley is something, with a sombre curtain of serious rock face, oystercatch-ers, sand martins and where the water cuts deep, a 15ft vertical bank profile of round rocks like billiard balls. And to finish sweetly the path curves into Arncliffe between church and old rectory and past some renovated but padlocked stocks with room for two.

Fact File:

Distance: Ten miles.

Time: Five hours.

General location: The western Dales.

Start: Arncliffe.

Right of way: The complete route is along public rights of way.

Date walked: Friday June 13, 2003.

Road Route: Via Grassington, the B6160, left fork 1 mile after Kilnsey, then three miles.

Car Parking: Roadside in Arncliffe.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The notable Falcon Inn at Arncliffe, in the Miller family for four generations, beer from the jug.

Tourist & public transport information: Grassington TIC 01756 752774.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL2 Yorkshire Dales Southern and Western areas.

Terrain: High limestone pasture.

Points of interest: Arncliffe was Wordsworth's 'Amerdale', and 'Vendale' in The Water Babies.

Difficulty: Smooth walking on paths that are grass. Grass very like all the other grass. Path clear in good weather, but poor visibility would require OS Explorer map and compass.

Dogs: Suitable.

Weather Forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418

Directions:

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. From green, lane by The Falcon pub, soon turns to track (signed Malham Tarn 4).

2. Step-squeezer on right (signed), 11 o'clock to ladderstile, 200 yards, path forks right uphill, ladderstiles, path follows valley edge then curves away and uphill, gap in fallen wall (distinctive field corner on other side of valley is just about opposite).

3. Ladderstile (National Trust Malham Tarn Estate sign), fallen wall with ladderstile remains, ladderstile.

4. Track to right of farmstead (disused), 100 yards, keep on track by wall to left, ladderstile, downhill to stile, cross field in front of farm to track on right of wall, fieldgate, 11 o'clock.

5. Ladderstile and grassy track at 2 o'clock.

6. About 200 yards before ladderstile in wall straight ahead, turn left to track uphill, fieldgate, track at 11 o'clock, 200 yards, fieldgate, uphill.

7. Pass rocky outcrop on right near top of hill, 100 yards, right fork (signed Arncliffe Cote 2 ), 100 yards, gate. Pallet in gateway.

8. Sign at left-hand bend, 150 yards, right-hand bend (signed), 200 yards downhill, fieldgate, 25 yards, path swings right after stream (was dry), splits but meets after about 100 yards, gateway, stream, path splits then reunites.

9. Gated track on left, right to road, first road on left, walled path on left.

10. Left and stay by riverside on path except where it cuts straight across fields at meanders. Squeezers. Path into Arncliffe beside garden, left at road by stocks.

Updated: 16:50 Friday, June 20, 2003

Click here to view a map of the walk