The Dales Way Association PO Box 334, Shipley, BD18 9DZ [email protected]

Dales Way Association Members Autumn Walk 2012 Dales Way Association ENewsletter No 44 Autumn 2013 The Dales Way Association PO Box 334, Shipley, BD18 9DZ [email protected] The Dales Way Association is a small charity with around 600 members. Since our changes last year almost all of you have continued with your membership and we are very grateful for your support. Using the internet to communicate rather than printing and posting out letters and newsletters means that almost all your subscriptions can be used to improve the route for walkers. Our first big project has been to update and replace the information boards. News stories are posted regularly on our website at www.dalesway.org.uk so please keep looking. There's also a members area on the website where you can read minutes of our committee meetings. You can access it by clicking on the tab "Members" at the top of the page. You will need the following username and password to access it. USERNAME: member PASSWORD: dwa1991 We love to hear from members so please send us your views. Once again thank you for your membership. Your support is very much appreciated. Out and about with your Footpaths Officer This year Alex McManus your Footpaths Officer has walked from Bolton Abbey to Bowness in various stages. This was made easier by using the excellent Dales Bus, www.dalesbus.org Not everyone is fortunate enough to live within driving distance of the Dales Way footpath, enabling them to walk various sections on day trips, but for visitors, it is possible to base yourself in Ilkley, or any of the villages along the route, and walk the Dales Way in sections up to Buckden. A 12 mile round trip will get you to Oughtershaw and back to Buckden. It is possible of course to do the rest of the Dales Way using public transport from Ribblehead, but it is not as simple or as cheap as this first 32 mile section. On his travels Alex has identified any problems along the path which were reported to the various authorities and damaged or missing way marks were replaced. The photo record was brought up to date. Electric fences, dogs and cattle were the common complaints reported by walkers, which were duly reported and dealt with. The first 5 gates at the beginning of the Dales Way leaving Ilkley after the Tennis Club, were photographed and reported. They all showed various states of stress, not a very good first impression for visitors, The new bridge at Thursgill was completed and opened coincidently on the day that Alex visited the farmer affected by its destruction, almost to the day, a year ago. So ends a year of inconvenience to walkers. The definitive path which cuts across the corner of his field has been signposted, although walkers continue to use the simple 100 yard road option up to the right, then along his farm access road. The official opening of Crosdale Beck Bridge took place on the 28th June 2013, making a significant and timely improvement to the footpath for when our normal wet weather returns.’ Photograph shows Paul Wilkinson, YDNPA Ranger, Chris Grogan and Alex Mc Manus ‘cutting the tape’ at Crosdale Beck Bridge. Cam High Road, Gayle Beck and the new wagon bridge. Metaphorically speaking this was a storm cloud suddenly appearing from a clear blue sky. At the beginning of June, work started on the foundations of the new bridge to be built over Gayle Beck, robust enough to carry 40 tonne wagons removing timber from Cam Woodlands over the next few years. The article relating to this event in the April mini newsletter stated that the new single- span road bridge would be beside the current footbridge. So no problem there then for our walkers. Or so we thought! On the 27th June 2013 however, we received an email from a walker who had slipped while trying to cross “the ford”. Getting wet, breaking his glasses and damaging his camera. The footbridge over Gayle Beck had been removed and he had slipped “following the recommended, permissive, route” across the beck. We were unaware that the footbridge had been removed and the footpath had been closed with the only way for a walker to continue their journey, via the beck. This is not the driest part of the Dales Way, so the question was what should Dales Way walkers do should the beck return to normal? The official detour, put in place was impractical as it meant continuing along the Pennine Way then back down to Horton. A phone call and several emails to Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (YDNPA) and 3 visits to the site by Alex finally produced an emergency plan. Should the weather change and the beck become dangerous to cross, the old footbridge, which was still on site, [but not in place] would be relocated further down stream to enable walkers to cross in safety. On Friday 28th July 2013 walkers were allowed to cross Gayle Beck on the newly constructed ‘wagon bridge’. The relevant section of Cam Highway has been re-engineered to take the wagons, and a further road constructed from Fell Gate down into the woodlands. A path has been cleared between the stumps on the original right of way through the corner of the woodlands. The Agents have also promised to put down hard core by early October 2013. The new wagon road on the Cam High Road. (More photos and video are on our website) Footpath by the A683 Discussions are in progress to see if improvements could be made to get walkers off the busy A683 road. This has been a long standing objective for the Association. Ilkley Tennis Club The latest plans from Bradford Council [Planning], re the proposed extension of Ilkley Tennis Club, show an improvement from the initial plans, with a separate path alongside the vehicle road with a designated crossing for walkers. The Dales Way Association put forward a proposal that the footpath be diverted behind the present building and follow the river bank, joining the original footpath at the Woodland Trust. We would have liked to have the full riverside path, but what we have been offered does deal with the main problems we identified, so we are not objecting, rather noting an opportunity missed which we may wish to return to in the future. Cumbria County Council.(CCC) We are now into the second year of the improvement plan for the Dales Way footpath within Cumbria. A meeting was held at the Bull in Sedbergh on 28th June 2013 with Chris Graham and Geoff Fewkes, CCC Rangers, Paul Wilkinson, YDNPA Ranger and DWA representatives Chris and Tony Grogan, and Alex McManus. The Survey report was discussed item by item with omissions and deficiencies rectified. The main complaint, held on record since 2005, has still to be resolved, that is the condition of the farm access road at Green Head Farm in wet weather. No practical solution has been found which meets landowner approval in order for this to be rectified, even though £3000 has been earmarked to solve the problem. The Sprint Bridge road alternative path which passes by Sprint Mill Cottage has been renovated with the owners’ permission. The broken stile and the gate have both been repaired. No sign has been erected at the Eastern end of the mill bridge, to indicate that an alternative path is available, as the owner has objected to this. The hand written notice, “Dales Way straight on” has been allowed to stay affixed to the telegraph pole. CCC states that the alternative needs to be promoted by other parties. This will appear on our web page. This alternative path allows walkers to avoid the dangerous stretch of road leading into Burneside. A proposed new standard way mark was produced i.e. with a circle in the middle to indicate a specific walk. The example below is for the Dales High Way. CCC plan to use a team of volunteers along their stretch of the footpath to remove the present Dales Way way marks and replace them with the new ones. Our concern is that there may be fewer way marks on the route following this initiative. YDNPA will continue to use our present Dales Way way mark. Financial Report September 2013 After our major reorganisation, most members are continuing to pay their annual subscriptions by standing order from their banks, but a few are now on 3 year memberships and the PayPal mechanism on the website is working well. Many members are supplementing their membership payments with very generous donations. DVD sales are continuing to add to our coffers and the DVDs are being regularly updated so that there is still an on-going market for these. All information formerly given in the Handbook is now available free of charge on our re- vamped website, so the ever increasing cost of postage is affecting us much less this year. Two particular large spend items need to be mentioned this year. Hebden Suspension Bridge south of Grassington is currently being re- surfaced with new planking this September, following a generous donation by Eileen King in memory of her late husband Roy, who enjoyed crossing the bridge. This work is being done by the National Park Authority and the bridge remains open for walkers in spite of this on-going work. 7 of the Information Boards at various locations along the route have been replaced over the summer months of 2013 by new Duralite boards showing up to date information.

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