Walks In Upper Wensleydale Using The Little White Bus Service
One of the northern dales this offers a mixture of gentle rural scenery at the lower end leading to upland fells. The area contains the picturesque comunities of Leyburn, Bainbridge, Askrigg and Hawes. There are many walking possibilities and good public transport access and the following walks mostly make use of Settle Carlisle rail connection and the Little White Bus service which runs serves Garsdale Station Hawes, Gayle, Hardraw and the surrounding villages [on demand]. I've already looked at the Garsdale Head area in some detail on the Moorcock Inn page and so the intention here is to look lower down the dale. To contents
From the west the Little White Bus connects with the Settle-Carlisle Railway line at Garsdale. In addition there are various buses emanating from Northallerton and the Wensleydale Railway is trying to re-establish a link into the valley.
See also walks to and from the Moorcock Inn located at Gardsale Head and Coverdale, an off-shoot of Wensleydale
Information: Equipment: All walks have significant exposure even in Summer. Full equipment including boots, waterproofs, map and compass would be advisable
Maps Ordnance Survey OL30 Yorkshire Dales Northern & Central and OL19 Howgill Fells amd Upper Eden Valley
Travel Information: www.northernrail.org- Leeds-Settle-Carlisle timetable - National Rail enquiries tel 08457 484950
Train services (Mon -Sat) - Normal morning departure is the Leeds 0849 Shipley 0902 arriving at Garsdale at 1020. The usual return train from Garsdale toward Leeds is 1729 [Sat]
Also, it is useful to realise that there may be cheaper variations of fares by purchasing a combination of tickets for any journey. For instance, by booking a return ticket to Keighley (within the Metro area) taking advantage of Metro off peak fares on weekends and then Keighley to Garsdale this can result in a saving. These can be checked out beforehand using the internet on sites such as http://www.nationalrail.co.uk.
Other travel information- A useful link for travel services in the Dales- www.traveldales.org.uk or www.dalesbus.org-This includes all bus and train services
The Little White Bus provides a daily service [including Sundays] between Garsdale Station and Hawes via Hardraw and will go on to any of the nearby villages by request. The Little White Bus is a 16 seater minibus and can be hailed from anywhere on route but it might be advisable to phone. The bus connects with the southbound and northbound trains key bus departure times from Garsdale Sta being 1040 dep [Sat] and 1655 or 1845 dep Hawes on the return [Sat]. The service is operated by Upper Wensleydale Community Partnership tel 01969 667400 or contact the driver mobile on 0752 895 7451 - see the link from www.dalesbus.org
Wensleydale Railway - details of the service operated by the Wensleydale Railway currently from Leeming Bar to Redmire -17 miles. The service can be used for walks in the Castle Bolton and Aysgarth areas. There is a bus service No 73 connecting Northallerton to Leeming Bar. The Wensleydale Vintage Bus runs between Garsdale station and Redmire several times a week for most of the year (details on the Wensleydale Railway website).
Castle Bolton - a short 20 minute walk across the fields from Redmire, the present terminus of the Wensleydale Railway
This page was last updated on 13-May-2012
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©John Carey 2010