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Backpacking in Yorkshire

 10^th-11^th May 2003

Bird watching at Bempton and Flamborough Head

21 June 2003

Kettlewell nestles against the River Wharfe not too far north of Grassington; three pubs and a car park, a small church, a couple of café’s and a garage cum petrol station that is straight out of the sixties; not that that is a bad thing! Behind the garage is the pay and display car park, modern and somewhat out of place, also very expensive, but across the road from the garage you can park cheaply on garage land, even the garage owner lets slip that he very rarely goes into the car park, he doesn’t care what type of car you have parked there; if you are honest enough you’ll pay him and that’s as much as he cares!

Seven of us set off on a twelve and a half mile first day through an area of really strange names, over Moor End Fell to the ridge, conveniently called Old Cote Moor Top and then onto our first trig point at 607 metres, whether or not the top is called Firth Fell or Haw Fell, I think, depends upon which side you climbed, for us it might be better to call it Firth Fell; it’s all very confusing, Fell this, Fell that!

We continue along the crest of the hill, suffering more fell names than we can handle, but passing eventually over the top that is Sugar Loaf at 610 metres and the next trig point, Horse Head at 605 metres. Dinner has been taken on board, we’ve chatted all the way and now it’s time to descend via Hagg into Langstrothdale, to cross the river at Yockenthwaite.

We’ve no time to idle here in this picture postcard hamlet, it’s straight up the hill again, Langstrothdale Chase, over Chapel Moor onto Yockenthwaite Moor and onto the trig point at 643 metres where something weird is going on. The Fellsman Hike and Run is taking place this weekend and there is a checkpoint at the trig point. This race is a biggy, over 11,000 feet of ascent and a distance of 61 miles to be covered by the participants; we’re quite glad that we aren’t on it but we make the noises that it sounds a doddle.

About half a mile away, over Chapel Moor and through a minefield of peat bogs reminiscent of Kinder, is our campsite. The main requisites of which are… running water and a flattish area, enough for five tents.

Water is filtered and boiled to remove bacteria; coffee is sweetened with dashes of whisky; meals are re-hydrated and heated and the tents are erected noses into the wind. A sheep’s skull becomes an unusual camp mascot and the catalyst that sparks a number of weird stories, usually involving people dressed in goatskin leggings and playing a hillbilly banjo. As darkness gathers we slowly move off into our tents to lie in warming sleeping bags, tell more stories, exaggerate and drink some more of that Scottish nectar. It’s a cold night, no cloud with a half moon that makes it feel that much harsher this high up on the fell; before morning our sleep will be interrupted by snoring individuals (you know who you are!) and a very noisy curlew that some of us imagined to be over three feet high!

At six-thirty we surface to find it raining. The plan is to eat and drink then drop the tent and get going as quickly as possible. We aren’t going to continue up onto the fells today, our supposed next target is shrouded in mist and looks truly horrendous. Instead we are going to head into the valley and follow the River Wharfe from Buckden, back to Kettlewell. All being well we should be supping a pint in Kettlewell by dinnertime! We continue the walk, we chat, swapping partners at every gate or stile and we appreciate the diversions of spotting oystercatchers and dippers, hunting food in the river.

SW

The Nuneaton Mountaineering Club bird watching trip to Bempton Cliffs and Flamborough Head was a very pleasant and satisfactory ‘first’ for the club.

As regular hill walkers, watching the natural world flit by becomes very frustrating, not being able to name anything.  So with this in mind it was decided to plan a walk with bird watching in mind.  However, on the hills and moors there may just not be enough to see, nature can be very fickle.  So the sea cliffs of Yorkshire’s east coast were chosen where there is plenty to see – particularly at nesting time when up to 200,000 birds cram on to the Bempton cliffs.

At Bempton the cliffs are up to 130 metres or 400 ft high.  The RSPB provides viewing platforms so the birds can be seen safely, and it is truly a spectacular sight.

Kittiwakes and Guillemots were present in their tens of thousands.  Razorbills and Gannets were easy to find, as were Fulmars.  Puffins were more elusive but we managed to find a few at first and eventually several dozen.  The other specialities of the area to be seen were Rock Dove and Corn Bunting.

But there was also some walking.  With a vehicle at each end of the route – one at Bempton and the other at South Landing a linear walk was possible and we enjoyed a grand cliff top walk in pleasant sunshine.

Near Danes Dyke we had a pleasant break before moving on to North Landing.  From here it was only a short way to Flamborough Head and Lighthouse where the temptation of an ice cream proved to be too much to resist.  Eventually we had to move on making the final cliff top walk to South Landing just before the car park ticket expired.

The day may not have been mountaineering, but the opportunity of meeting up with old friends who came from Doncaster to join us just about made it perfect.  And there was a pub meal on the way back too.

CG