Do you love Littondale as much as we do? Look for the best pub sign in the Dales, a disappearing river and a horror show... Maybe.
T’Pub – what better pub sign can there be in Yorkshire than this one found in Littondale just before you get to the Queens Arms - Litton?
If ever a dale needed to be appreciated by taking the ‘slow travel’ approach it’s Littondale, if nothing else because the smaller of the two access roads leading off from the main Wharfedale route up to Kettlewell is one of those narrow wrigglers hemmed in by dry stone walls with few passing places.
The sauntering option (cycling recommended) is so worth it, as you can really take in how the Dale opens out and becomes wilder as you venture the eight or so miles further up, gently climbing until you reach Halton Gill and then Foxup.
As soon as you branch off onto the road towards Litton and have cycled over the sharpest of the short climbs you’ll encounter on the route, it’s almost as if the Dale is then giving you permission to don the rose-tinted spectacles and forget about everyday life. In late spring the roadside verges are lined with cow parsley and wild garlic, while the limestone sides of the valley are awash with bluebells.
Either side there’s the classic Dales landscape of barns and dry stone walls carving up meadows that are about to burst into colour with wildflowers, while skylarks, curlews and lapwings are belting out their calls and songs.
And of course there’s that innocent brown sign, T’Pub, hanging on a wooden gate just outside Litton which is enticement enough to stop and break up the journey at the Queen’s Arms.
From there the road meanders onwards and upwards, with the u-shaped glacial valley opening out and the River Skirfare suddenly disappearing underground leaving a dry rocky bed weaving its way along the floor.
A few miles further along and there’s the hamlet of Halton Gill, which featured in the 2012 horror film ‘The Woman in Black’ starring Daniel Radcliffe. Here it’s worth perching your bikes against the red telephone box while you look back at the historic landscape you’ve just travelled through.
Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of numerous Bronze and Iron Age settlements throughout Littondale. Then during the medieval period, the Dale was virtually completely owned by monastic houses attached to Fountains Abbey and used for sheep farming.
Back on the bike and re-trace your route before then following the road into Arncliffe, one of those villages with a green down the middle and the Falcon Inn in a prime position that make it difficult to leave.
There is parking in the field (£3 a day at the time of writing) at the beginning of the road into Littondale. Alternatively for those looking for a longer cycling route, park in Grassington and go along the back road to Conistone or even Kettlewell before doubling back on the main road towards Kilnsey.
Words & photo Amanda Brown
