The Last Stop on the Line – Buckden revisited

The view of Wharfedale

 The Stats

Area: Upper Wharfedale

Distance: 7.5 miles

Time taken: 4 hours

The Review

“Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” I thought as the rain pelted down on the car windscreen. We were atop a moor (a.k.a in the middle of nowhere) and we were heading for another “magnificent” family walk. As Dad kept reminding us, the forecast had said the rain would only ease at 12 noon, but that did nothing to lift our spirits. We soon arrived in Buckden, in the Yorkshire Dales, and Dad did the usual thing by saying, “should we just go home now. We’ll grab a cappuccino and lets go home.” Of course, never in a million years would this happen, but at that moment I had secretly wished that we really could go home. It sounds lazy, but there’s always that sense at the start of every walk of “what’s the point?”.

Me and my friend Guy walking down towards Cray after ascending Buckden Pike two years ago

Nonetheless undeterred (two long words next to each other – fancy, huh?) we headed up the thankfully clearly waymarked path up the side of the valley. It had stopped raining and views across the valley of Wharfedale were superb. The walk followed the head of the valley, and passed three quaint and quiet little villages, all almost equal distance apart. The first of these villages was Cray. It was only 1 1/2 miles away from our starting point in Buckden, but we decided that have our lunch there. We had the choice between a late lunch or an early lunch, and the clear choice was the latter.

Walking down into Yockenthwaite

However, with the pub in sight, we had a river to cross. At first, the solution seemed simple: a small bridge with what seemed like a track leading up to it. But upon turning the corner our predicament doubled in complexity. The bridge was blocked off by some nasty-looking tangled barbed-wire fence. There was only one other way across – the dreaded, STEPPING STONES (duh, duh, duuuuh!) They were slippery ones too. The mere sight of them struck fear into mine and Dad’s hearts as we thought back to the last time we encountered such an obstacle (click here for that traumatic tale. I won’t leave any spoilers, but let’s just say our feet got wet.) I was the first to cross. Being light and nimble, I uncomfortably wriggled through a small hole in the fence. After that, I simply crossed the bridge and made it to the other side. Mum and Dad however, didn’t have this option. I watched them as they walked back where they came to see if there was any other way to cross. They found nothing, which well and truly left the stepping stones the only way to cross. But Dad being Dad, he had to go the hard route. Whilst he was left fumbling over a barbed-wire fence, Mum and an elderly walking couple hopped over the not-so-slippery stepping stones with ease. Dad made it across, eventually.

Lunch was at the White Lion Inn. I had a dish entitled “Chicken”, Mum had “Risotto” and Dad had “Game Pie”. The food was tasty and sufficiently filled us up for the next part of the walk.

The bridge at Yockenthwaite

We headed out of Cray and towards the fabulously-named Yockenthwaite. The route was above the trees and maintained great views down the valley. My chest and throat began to hurt more and more as, for most of that day, I was hiccupping. I’d forgotten how horrible it makes you feel… Anyway, we made good progress and, after Dad nearly sent us the wrong way at Scar House Farm, we arrived at Yockenthwaite.

A quick brownie stop and we were off again for our third and final village, Hubberholme. The route followed the river and made for a pleasant stroll to finish off the walk. Talking about pleasant things, Bradford playwright, JB Priestley once said that Hubberholme is the “smallest and pleasantest place in the world.” Yep, you heard it, “pleasantest” apparently is a word.

Perfectly balanced stones in Hubberholme

Here, Mum and I enjoyed the unlikely sunshine whilst Dad looked for Priestley’s unmarked grave in the churchyard. For the final part of the walk we walked along the road for a bit before returning to the river, and eventually returning to Buckden.

The weather had been on and off all day, at some points becoming squally (like on our descent into Yockenthwaite), sunny (like at Hubberholme) and just plain rainy (like coming off the road towards Buckden). However, despite the weather, we’d learnt the answer to the question of “what’s the point?”. The answer: because its fun.