Saturday Walk – easier walk 6.5 miles from Dacre Banks

The walk will start from the car park in Dacre Banks opposite the Royal Oak pub on Oak Lane (behind the Dacre and Hartwith Village Hall) at 9:30am. See attached map. This is a free car park, but it’s not very large so we should aim to take as few cars as possible. There is a free public toilet close to the start of this walk but we can’t always rely on it being open. I’ll try to find the local parish council minutes as they sometimes talk about any issues with that loo.

The walk goes along a nice wide path along the bottom of the Nidd Valley all the way to Glasshouses. We then come back much closer to the river, on narrower paths, on the return leg for a while before leaving the Nidd and gently climbing towards Smelthouses. There is a short steep section on the road before we pass through a farm and some barn conversions and then through fields and some woods. We descend into Summerbridge, where we will stop for refreshments at the Firs Tea Room. It’s then a relatively short walk downhill back into Dacre Banks and the car park.

Please wear appropriate clothing and footwear, which take account of the weather forecast, and bring a drink. I do my best to assess the weather and the likely walking conditions but would ask everyone to decide whether a particular walk is right for them on that day. Please note that everyone taking part in the walk does so at their own risk.