Route: Dufton Ghyll and Flakebridge Wood
Area: Eden Valley
Date of walk: 25th May 2016
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 7.3 miles
Ascent: 800 feet
Weather: Cloudy but quite bright
We parked in the free car park in the unspoilt village of Dufton. The path out of the village into Dufton Ghyll Wood was easy to find, being adjacent to the car park. We walked down into the wood and followed the path through it, before emerging into open countryside with good views across to the North Pennines as we went along
After an enjoyable section through the fields we arrived at Flakebridge Wood. We were following a route in Vivienne Crow’s guide ‘Walking in Cumbria’s Eden Valley’ and were aware from the book that we could expect a good display of bluebells, though wondered if we were a little late in the season. We needn’t have worried – huge swathes of bluebells greeted us as we entered the woodland and the next mile was a short walk in heaven with the sight and smell of countless bluebells as we went along. It was one of the best displays we’ve ever seen
Eventually we left the woods behind us and followed the track known as Frith Lane towards Brampton. We deviated from the route described in the book at this point as we were running short of time and followed a lovely path along Wood Lane back into Dufton Ghyll Wood. Yet more bluebells accompanied us on this final section back into the village
It had been a fantastic walk – and we only saw 2 other people in 3 hours of walking. We look forward with great anticipation to our next visit to this beautiful area
For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box
Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)
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After leaving the car park in Dufton we enter Dufton Ghyll Wood
We cross the footbridge over the beck
We follow the path through the lovely glade
Dufton Ghyll
Climbing out of the valley
The old sandstone quarries, covered in a blanket of moss and ferns
We climb up out of Dufton Ghyll…
Heading towards Greenhow
We follow the track past an old barn…
Looking to our left towards the North Pennines
Bonnie is enjoying the walk - and so are we
Walking through the fields beyond Greenhow
We follow the path beside the dry stone wall, with Murton Pike in the background
Approaching Keisley Beck
We cross the beck via the footbridge ahead
We walk across the fields, with the woods on our right
Crossing the ladder stile into Flakebridge Wood
Bugle…
…and bluebells - lots of them. I don’t recall seeing so many in one location
After walking through the middle of the wood, we follow a path alongside it for a while
We leave Flakebridge Wood to walk along a grassy track known as Frith Lane…
Beyond Esplandhill we follow a track past Brampton Mill
Crossing Brampton Beck, with wild garlic growing on the banks
We follow another grassy track, known as Wood Lane, and this will lead us back to Dufton Ghyll
We re-enter Dufton Ghyll Wood
More bluebells
Back to Dufton, and the end of a superb walk
and back in the lakes, a red squirrel in the garden
