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124 Chapter 8: The Greta Headwaters Gragareth ▲ Great Coum ▲ Green Hill ▲ S Thornton Force * • Yordas Cave * Kingsdale Beck walk 17 Ingleton Chapel Beck * White Scar Cave Whernside ▲ B6255 Force Gill Beck Winterscales • Chapelle-Dale Little Dale Beck ▲ Simon Fell ▲ Ingleborough Batty Moss Viaduct * River Greta ▲ Park Fell walk 16 Scale: 1 cm to 1 km 0 5 kilometres S ▲ Blea Moor This is Chapter 8 of The Land of the Lune (2nd edition), http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html, Copyright © 2010 John Self
The River Greta (Chapel Beck) ... The River Greta is formed at Ingleton by the confluence of the River Doe and River Twiss. Unfortunately, there is confusion as to which is which. The Ordnance Survey and the Ingleton Waterfalls Walk leaflet have the Doe to the east but Wainwright’s Walks in Limestone Country and Ingleton’s own leaflet have the Doe to the west. Upstream, the two rivers are called Chapel Beck (in Chapel-le-Dale) and Kingsdale Beck (in Kingsdale) and it seems simplest to retain those names down to the Ingleton junction, rather than choose between the river names. As Chapel Beck is the larger of the two at the junction I will consider that to provide the source of the Greta, with Kingsdale Beck being a tributary. This is supported by Thos Johnson’s 1872 book A Pictorial Handbook to the Valley of the Lune and Gossiping Guide to Morecambe and District (yes, really), which considers Chapel-le-Dale to lie in Gretadale. Moreover, he has a River Doe in Kingsdale, so if I were forced off the fence, I’d say the Ordnance Survey has it wrong. The source of Chapel Beck is at the head of Little Dale between Whernside and Blea Moor. Here, Little Dale Beck is joined by Force Gill, which has two fairsized waterfalls and crosses the Settle-Carlisle railway line over an aqueduct. Force Gill arises in Greensett, a boggy plateau on the eastern slopes of Whernside. Our obsession with getting to the tops of mountains – perhaps understandable with Whernside, as it is the highest peak of the Dales – tends to lead us to hurry past more interesting areas. Although the slopes of Whernside are now all CRoW land, 99% of walkers dutifully follow the signposted route, part of the Three Peaks walk, via Grain Head, ignoring Force Gill and Greensett. Actually, my preferred route up Whernside is from Kingsdale Head – all grass and no people (so forget I mentioned it). But the CRoW policy does raise a question: is it environmentally better that we all tread the standard path, thereby giving up that path to erosion and decay? Or should we spread ourselves thinly across CRoW land? There seems little point in creating access land if we are not expected to access it but, on the other hand, even the occasional walker may be too much for some of the flora and fauna. The first time we walked the Three Peaks route we came across a curlew’s nest right by the path. There’s no chance of that today. The curlew is the bird most The River Greta (Chapel Beck) ... 125 The Three Peaks are Whernside, Ingleborough and Peny-Ghent. The first two, at 736m and 724m, are the two highest peaks in the Yorkshire Dales and are wholly within Loyne. Pen-y-Ghent (694m) is the 7 th highest Dales peak and is in Ribblesdale. The Three Peaks walk of about 38km, with nearly 1600m of ascent, is a challenging all-day expedition. The Three Peaks fell race is even more challenging but should not take all day (only serious runners are allowed: no pantomime horses). The record is 2hr 46min for the present course and 2hr 29min for a previous course, with the ladies’ record standing at 3hr 13min. In 2008 the 54th Three Peaks race was run as the 5th World Long Distance Mountain Running Challenge. The start used to be at Chapel-le-Dale but is now at Horton-in-Ribblesdale, which has taken upon itself the role of Three Peaks centre. Of course, walkers may start at any point on the circuit. However, it is hardly a fell walk or race nowadays. Much of the route has been so badly eroded that the natural fell has been replaced. It is a shame that so many people (an estimated 250,000 a year) continue to follow such a worn path. Jack Sharp’s New Walks in the Yorkshire Dales provides a score of alternative long-distance walks. I would also suggest a Loyne Three Peaks – replace Pen-y-Ghent with Great Coum. The latter is only 7m lower and this route avoids the long trek over bog and on road from Pen-y-Ghent to Whernside and the eyesore of the Horton quarries (and it’s 10km shorter). redolent of the northern moors, with its distinctive call as it glides earthwards. Some describe it as plaintive or melancholy but it sounds bubblingly joyful to me. Never mind the swallow and cuckoo, it is the call of the curlew that is for me the most evocative of the new year (as early as January in 2006) as the curlew returns up the Lune valley to its nesting haunts. Below the red-tinged sandstone slopes of Whernside, grey slate tumbles towards the peat of Greensett Moss. Here is Greensett Tarn, the sheltered home of blackheaded gulls, and below the tarn is a line of shakeholes and caves, including Greensett Cave. Their existence at 560m, when the main potholes and caves of the valley are at about 300m, shows that there is a layer of limestone here, as well as in the valley. Little Dale Beck absorbs Hare Gill and Foul Gutter from Blea Moor before crossing under the railway line, 1km north of the Ribblehead Viaduct, to become Two pages before: Ingleborough from Souther Scales. This is Chapter 8 of The Land of the Lune (2nd edition), http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html, Copyright © 2010 John Self
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The Land of the Lune John Self
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The Land of the Lune A guide to the
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The Land of the Lune - and its trib
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Contents Introduction 9 1. Northern
Page 9 and 10:
The Land of the Lune - and its trib
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Acknowledgements Writing a general
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Chapter 9: Gretadale and a little m
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CHAPTER 1: Northern Howgills and Or
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The River Lune ... A great oak may
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Looking down Bowderdale Bowderdale
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The Lune from Bowderdale Beck ... T
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A walker near the head of Langdale
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Rais Beck gathers pace as it passes
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ancient earthworks on the Orton Fel
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The Lune from Chapel Beck ... Immed
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CHAPTER 2: Shap Fells and Birkbeck
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Birk Beck Birk Beck arises in Wasda
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Bretherdale Beck Bretherdale Beck r
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The Lune from Birk Beck ... At thei
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The Lune below Jeffrey’s Mount Wa
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Borrow Beck 41 This is Chapter 2 of
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44 Chapter 2: Shap Fells and Birkbe
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46 Chapter 3: Western Howgills and
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The Lune from Carlingill Beck ... A
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The presence of dippers along any b
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Walk 6: Lowgill and Brown Moor Holy
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Page 62 and 63:
62 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale The
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64 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale Sea
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66 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale Sal
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68 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale the
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Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75: 74 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale Clo
Page 76 and 77: 76 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale The
Page 78 and 79: 78 Chapter 4: Upper Rawtheydale Bau
Page 80 and 81: 80 Chapter 5: Lower Rawtheydale and
Page 94 and 95: 94 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell Hall B
Page 96 and 97: 96 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell Killin
Page 98 and 99: 98 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell Stockd
Page 100 and 101: 100 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell The L
Page 102 and 103: 102 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell Barbo
Page 104 and 105: 104 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell Crag
Page 106 and 107: 106 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell a doc
Page 108 and 109: 108 Chapter 7: Middle Lunesdale and
Page 126 and 127: 126 Chapter 8: The Greta Headwaters
Page 135: The roof was so high, and the botto
Page 140 and 141: 140 Chapter 9: Gretadale and a litt
Page 154 and 155: 154 Chapter 10: The Wenning Headwat
Page 156 and 157: 156 Chapter 10: The Wenning Headwat
Page 159 and 160: Opposite: Ingleborough from Moughto
Page 161 and 162: active area long ago - long before
Page 163 and 164: Fen Beck Fen Beck arises on the eas
Page 165 and 166: often evidence, in the form of old
Page 167 and 168: silence is complete, apart from bir
Page 169 and 170: CHAPTER 11: Wenningdale, Hindburnda
Page 171 and 172: The Wenning from Keasden Beck ... T
Page 173 and 174: is split into four smaller cast-iro
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The River Hindburn By the time it r
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in spring is not, however, in silen
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Furnessford Bridge, although the 18
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182 Chapter 11: Wenningdale, Hindbu
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184 Chapter 11: Wenningdale, Hindbu
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CHAPTER 12: The Lune Floodplain and
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The Lune from the Wenning ... The a
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ather than shale, has been reached
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there are remains of about thirty c
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The Lune from Bull Beck ... The ste
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Foxdale Beck passes Littledale Hall
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four Roman miles from Lancaster, wh
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CHAPTER 13: The Lune to Lancaster
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The Lune from Artle Beck ... After
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entirely natural. Within Loyne the
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Halton washed away. This was swept
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Turner sketched it on his 1797 tour
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castle and priory now framed by the
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with the Dissolution of the Monaste
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St George’s Quay from the Millenn
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CHAPTER 14: The Salt Marshes
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The Lune from Lancaster ... Beyond
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Burrow Beck We followed the Roman r
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The River Conder The River Conder a
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from Clougha Pike. The valley seems
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nearby Church of St Thomas and St E
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The Lune from the Conder ... East o
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CHAPTER 15: Into Morecambe Bay
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The Lune from the Conder (continued
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then walk south along the coast. Th
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largest remaining uncultivated peat
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The remains of Cockersand Abbey Wal
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that there was a large local commun
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Reflections from the Point of Lune
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Bibliography and References Bibliog
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Contact Details for Further Informa
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Contact Details for Further Informa
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Austwick Game Cock Inn “ 51226 ht
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Tourist/Visitor Information Centres
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Bridge End (Caton) 198 Bridge End (
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Foul Gutter 125 Foundry Beck 207 Fo
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Leck Beck 105, 114-121, 117, 119, 1
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Ripley Orphanage 213 Rise Hill 75-7
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Walk 23: Ward’s Stone 225 Walk 24
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