16/04/16 - Day 6 Yorkshire Dales Inn Way - Kettlewell to Grassington

Previous days on the Inn Way - Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4, Day 5
Distance - 13 Miles
Geocaches - 3
Pubs - 5

"Always remember that I have taken more out of alcohol than alcohol has taken out of me - Winston Churchill"

 Getting Going

The Yee Har has a strict time for breakfast.  8am.  No options, no excuses.

This is because they are catering at an industrial scale.  2 Ramblers and 40 Lycra clad Tri-athletes.  I'm going to say little about about the attire apart from Tri-athletes come in all shapes and sizes.  It's easy to determine the round-heads from the cavaliers.

The drying room has completed a wonderful job on our wet clothes from yesterday.  But will we need waterproofs for today?

What do you wear in the Snow?

The Walk


So, this is it.  The final day.

Every step today will be savoured for tomorrow, we return to normality.  Liquid lunches and daily pies will be a thing of memories.  To avoid the on-set of melancholy, our walk today - down through the Grassington Lead Mines - is the finest of the week.

And we start off in snow!

A Dusting, I grant you

We quickly gain height ascending Langcliffe and the Trig point at Capplestone Gate means we climb no more.  It genuinely is all down hill from here.

Camera on Capplestone Gate Trig Point

We follow Conistone Turf Road (does what it says on the tin, a grass covered lane) and hit the first evidence of the mining industry.  Neil demands we invesigate the portal entrance and a limestone pavement of weird trees.

Tunnel Entrance?

Freaky Forest 

At Scot Lane Gate, we pick up the Dales Way for a short time.  It's a Saturday and the sun is out, so for the first time this week we meet plenty of other ramblers.  I check them carefully for the #Walk1000Miles of WFP badges but find no evidence.

Scot Lane Gate

Around the deserted farm house - aptly named Bare House - and we pick up the Grassington Mines at Yarnbury.  In a week of exceptional walking, this really is the highlight.  Fascinating remnants of mining industry, complete with notice boards, provide an insight into times gone by.

And its all down hill alongside Hebden Beck.  To the pub.

Hebden Beck - all Downhill to the pub

The walk is going too fast.  Soon we will be back in the land of punitive Tax Codes and which bin is it to put out this week.  We do what any sane person would do to maximise our pleasure.

We stop for lunch and learn the contents of a Yorkshire Platter.  Think ploughmans with Wensleydale Cheese and piccalilli.

Pub 1 of the Day

Fed and watered, we head out for another stunning section - crossing the River Wharfe.  The Stepping Stones would have surely been used if it wasn't for a tricky middle section.  The suspension bridge comes to our aid.

Maybe for the Summer

We went suspension

The route stretches the day out by taking us around Grassington, through the pretty villages of Thorpe and Linton - where Pub 2 of the day is found.

And what a pleasant little setting Linton is.  A fine way for the final pub of the walking route to be celebrated.  Neil gets the celebratory beers in (our first sub £3 pint of the week), whilst I hunt for the final cache of the week near the little bridge.

Coming out of Thorpe and looking at Grassington

The Fountaine at Linton 

We've done it - Pub Number 26

Almost, but not quite.  Blogfans will remember that we saved the 3 Grassington pubs for our final night.  We just have to get there.  And the walk across Linton Falls is suitably impressive to round off our journey.

Crossing Linton Falls

To arrive back at the beginning

So, what can we expect from a Saturday night in Grassington?

We're staying at our poshest place of the week - The Devonshire Arms.  A Timothy Taylor Hotel, with automatic lights in the bathroom.  Funny the things you remember.  We are checked in but told there is no room to eat tonight - so we save an investigation of the ales until last thing.

No Room at the Inn (to Eat)

We move onto the Black Horse Hotel.  Again, mental busy - but they can fit us in later.  We book a table for 8:30pm and spend the 90 minutes in-between investigating the Forrester's Arms.

What is going on in Grassington?  Another packed pub.  We sit on a table next to three elderly farmers that must be out on their annual jolly boys outing.  They are as drunk as lords and telling stories of siring that are not about their livestock.  We feel part amused, part dirty.  But we have to come back after our meal - as they have entertainment on - a talented singer who can do anything you ask - as long as its played in the same key.

"Name that Tune" was never so difficult.

Our Restaurant

Home of Singers and Drunken Farmers

So, a nightcap back at the Devonshire and a reminder about the best thing about the Inn Way to the Yorkshire Dales.

The glorious views.

Yorkshire Views