Settle – Andrews Walks

Route: Settle to Stainforth and back

Area: Yorkshire Dales

Date of walk: 12th October 2013

Walkers: Andrew and James

Distance: 7.7 miles

Ascent: 1,000 feet

Plan A today was to climb Pen-y-Ghent from Horton in Ribbledale, but it was blowing a gale and the higher hills were covered in cloud, so we decided to put Plan B into action – a low level walk starting in the market town of Settle. It proved to be a great decision, though we didn’t appreciate why until later

We walked along the bank of the River Ribble and arrived at Stainforth Force. The waterfalls were beautiful, and we had our picnic there, but we hadn’t realised until speaking to a local that it’s a well known spot for watching salmon leaping in the breeding season. We stared at the falls with renewed interest and were thrilled to see several salmon leaping heroically up the falls. What a privilege it was to see such a spectacle and all the more so as we’d not been anticipating it. Even better, we managed to get photos, see below

With reluctance we left the falls and walked through Stainforth on the return leg back to Settle. On the way we visited Catrigg Force, a beautiful hidden waterfall. There followed a lovely mid level walk back to Settle along the Pennine Bridleway

It would have been a great walk at any time but the leaping salmon made it an unforgettable one

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)