Ski Club of Manchester, Late Summer Walk In The Yorkshire Dales - 13th September 2014

Reporter: Andrea Taylor

I have been on many walks but I can honestly say that this has to be the best so far for myself and at 11.5 miles the longest walk ever for me!

We met Dave and Vanessa who had organised the walk as planned in the main car park at Clapham along with 10 other ski club members and Dolly the pooch. If you look on the SCoM face book page you will see we took lots of photos, including the beautiful village of Austwick. We ventured onwards into the wilderness of the Yorkshire dales, clicking away. Included a 2 headed sheep - see photo! We stopped for lunch at what looked like an amphitheatre - it was idyllic. The weather was great and some fantastic cakes were shared around.

We set off again, over many styles fields and good paths in picturesque countryside with the likes of Pen-y-Ghent and Ingleborough on the horizon, and headed into the limestone hills and to the head of Crummack Dale. We eventually reached the highest point of the walk with an expansive limestone pavement stretching out below us, it looked like a moon scape that had fallen out of the sky. we were all truly in awe. A short time later we said hello to three other walkers sat having a picnic and started the decent back down towards our start point, reaching the village an hour or so later..

On the way back, one of our group realised they had left their walking pole behind but was unsure where, and it would be pointless to head back. Sadly, it was more of a sentimental value as it was over 25 yrs old!

When we reached the village, We stopped at a combined pub / cafe for refreshments and all sat outside recapping and thanking Dave and Vanessa for a fantastic walk while having a much deserved pint / cuppa, when the 3 people we saw earlier on the fells came walking towards us returning the missing walking pole which they had found, they had realised that it must have belonged to one of our group. - What a very happy ending to a wonderful day!