Simon's Seat and Trollers Gill
DATE 18.04.2015 | DISTANCE 20.7KM | HIGHEST POINT 485M
Posted by Matt | Filed under OTHER LOCATIONS
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Finding somewhere to walk where i haven't been is starting to get difficult unless i go further a field. recently friend's of mine told me about simon's seat in the yorkshire dales and how great it's views are. I LOOKED AROUND ONLINE AND CAME ACROSS A ROUTE ON WWW.WALKINGENGLISHMAN.COM.
ME AND ALAN ARE DOING SOME SERIOUS WALKING IN ICELAND LATER THIS YEAR SO I WANTED A FULL DAY'S WALK AND FORTUNATELY THERE IS PLENTY OF NATURAL FEATURES TO EXPLORE IN THIS AREA. IT'S ALSO A VERY VARIED WALK WHICH IS ALWAYS GOOD!
WE PARKED UP IN THE BOLTON ABBEY GROUNDS NEXT TO THE CAVENDISH PAVILLION AND IMMEDIATELY CROSSED THE RIVER WHARFE FOLLWING THE SIGNS POINTING TO SIMON'S SEAT. IT'S ABOUT 5KM TO SIMON'S SEAT AND TO GET THERE YOU GO THROUGH THE VERY SCENIC VALLEY OF DESOLATION. NOW THAT'S NOT THE PRETTIEST OF NAMES BUT THE VALLEY ITSELF IS ACTUALLY VERY PICTURESQUE WITH AN IMPRESSIVE WATERFALL.
BEYOND WOODLAND THE MOOORLAND ASCENT TO SIMON'S SEAT IS A VERY GRADUAL INCLINE AND IT'S WORTH LOOKING BACK EVERY NOW AND THEN TO TAKE IN THE INCREASING VIEW. clambering up to the summit trig on simon's seat that view becomes a 360 degree epic scene!! my friend's were right! this view is incredible and we were lucky to have great weather to maximize the range. we could see for miles in every direction... the perfect spot for lunch
heading north we descended to dale head farm and then followed skyreholme beck to trollers gill. i told alan to bring his headtorch as i knew of a tunnel we could explore. doing a bit of google researching beforehand showed photos of trollers gill with the beck running through it. today it was dry and apparently it is most of the year. we didn't see any trolls but we did come across a large group of climbers clinging to the sides of the gorge.
we really did pick a great day for walking. as we crossed farmland towards appletreewick the sun was blazing and i was starting to feel my first does of sunburn in 2015. fingers crossed for plenty more days like this, this year.
THE LAST STRETCH OF OUR WALK WAS TO FOLLOW THE RIVER WHARFE BACK TOWARDS THE BOLTON ABBEY ESTATE AND THROUGH THE STRID. IT'S ABOUT 8KM'S AND VERY PLEASANT. AT THE STRID THE PATH SPLITS TO EITHER RIVERSIDE OR HIGH LEVEL. WE TOOK THE HIGHER LEVEL ROUTE RIGHT BACK TO THE PAVILLION.