Dales Way 2018 Prologue

Tuesday 31^st July 2018 Burnsall

I arrived in the U.K. by flying over Portland and Chesil beach, which seemed like a welcome back considering I was there toward the end of my 2015 holiday.  Using trains and a bus I made it from Gatwick to Thresfield (I had stayed at a B&B here in 2015) and was picked up by Richard, the Burnsall B&B owner, where I was staying the next few nights.

I had researched a meal I had wanted to try from a pub in Grassington some time back, and it was only about 5km to walk to there from Burnsall, so I did the riverside walk (which I would be doing again in a couple of days as part of the Dales Way) to Grassington.  Unfortunately, the pub I had researched was not serving meals as their chef was sick, so I had to get takeaway fish ‘n’ chips from elsewhere but sat at the pub to eat it and order a Strawberry and Rhubarb cider.

I walked the 5km back down the river.  I was wearing a pair of converses (the vanilla low-top ones that have an extremely flat sole) which, in hindsight, probably weren’t the best shoes to walk long distance with a back injury.  Still, I survived.

Wednesday 1^st August 2018 Burnsall

The church nearby had bells that rang on the hour every hour (it seemed) throughout the night.  By 9 I was at the Red Lion for a day course on map reading and compass use with Mark Reid.  We sat in the pub for a couple of hours doing introductions and some theory then hit the village green for an activity.  After that we walked the riverside taking our time with various team members taking the reins on navigating.  Up into the hills above Appletreewick for a while before returning to the Red Lion late in the day.  We didn’t do much in the way of distance, but there was a lot of learning, although I think I was a bit too advanced for the course.  I considered doing another course and perhaps a guided walk next year with Mark if I can.  I had a pint of berry & cherry cider and a fish pie while chatting with a couple of the guys on the course.  Despite a little tenderness of the back, it was pretty good today.

Day 1