A lovely circular six mile Probus walk today from Linton to Burnsall (and back again) in the upper Wharfe valley. An unpromising weather forecast and a drive through heavy mist at Greenhow didn’t put us off, and the group of seven headed off along the valley.

This is a familiar location to most of us, but Bill, our walk leader, rang the changes this time with an anti-clockwise version – plus a few modifications.

The hamlet/ village of Thorpe is always pleasing to visit – this time we were greeted/ delayed by a herd of sheep being moved along the road by the farmer. (should have been a picture of them here – sorry!)

Much of the walk was across grassy fields in rolling countryside- with lovely views across the valley and beyond. The drizzle petered out, and we started to tackle the variety of different stiles ahead of us, that allowed us to cross/climb the many very high stone walls separating the fields. 

Having been told that there were a number of these stiles on our walk, we started to realise that it was a large number! 

Coffee break on the bank of the river was followed by the sight of someone wild-swimming in the deep pool downstream of some interesting geology exposed by the river cutting into the limestone cliffs. Unbelievably, given our experience, the group relaxed in the certainty of a brief, flat walk back to Linton, but true to his reputation Bill directed us back up a steep hill, assuring us that this was a short cut!  It proved to be so, at the ‘cost’ of many more stiles – some with wobbly stones, others dizzyingly high, a few with precipitous drops after the steps ended! Consensus was that the number of stiles we had conquered was about 80 (but I’m not going back to check!)

A pleasant level walk then took us back to Linton, and a marvellous meal at The Fountaine Inn.

A superb way to spend a day!