Drive & Stroll, with Ron Freethy

THE walk through Skipton Castle Woods is signed close to the castle and the parish church, both of which have strong links with Lady Anne Clifford. This formidable lady stood very tall and strong at 4ft 10ins as she defied Stuart kings and Oliver Cromwell who all tried, without success, to determine how she ran her estates and castles.

Running alongside the castle walls is the Spring Canal, which links to the Leeds to Liverpool Canal which runs through Skipton before heading off to Barnoldswick. The reason for constructing the Spring Canal was to transport limestone from the quarries close to the castle.

The canal and the woodlands have produced a rich nature reserve right in the heart of Skipton and here I watched nuthatch and treecreepers, plus a roosting tawny owl in the trees. On the canal there were tufted duck, moorhen and grey wagtails.

The castle and the parish church both have Norman and medieval origins and are worth a full day between them, but on this occasion I walked to Embsay and then travelled by steam train to the beautifully restored station at Bolton Abbey.

When is an abbey not an abbey? The answer is when it was governed by a prior and not an abbey. The prior and his brethren were not just monks in isolation, but were also priests who could welcome the local people into their church and conduct readings, christenings, burials and holy communion.

When Henry VIII dissolved the abbeys in the late 1530s many priory churches, including Bolton Priory, survived because they were part church and part monastery. Henry demolished the monastery but returned the church.

In 1155 a group of black robed Augustinians were finding it difficult to make a living from their timber-built base at nearby Embsay. They were then given much richer lands down by the River Wharfe by Lady Alice Romille of Skipton Castle and there they built one of the architectural jewels of medieval England.

I walked from the abbey down towards the river valley, which was illuminated by surprisingly warm shafts of autumn sunlight. I soon reached the set of solid stepping stones of very ancient origin but rather than risk this slippery route I crossed the solid wooden footbridge and looked back to the soaring ruins of the monastery.

Between the bridge and the ruins I squelched my way through damp ground which is all that now remains of what were once the monastic fish ponds.

From the bridge to Bolton Woods is one of the most beautiful walks to be had anywhere in Britain. Thankfully close to the woods is the Cavendish Pavilion, which is a splendid cafe and shop.

The walk through the woods leads to the famous but at times dangerous Strid, which is a narrow area of steep rocks through which the fast moving water of the Wharfe is literally squeezed.

I could have spent much longer here, but I had a train timetable to keep. In the end I was quite glad to buy a coffee and a butty and to have a rest on the train. This Bolton Abbey walk is quite a long one and to do it justice you should allow four hours.

As with the Spring Canal walk in Skipton, you could devote one day to each stroll instead of trying to do both in the one day. This applies to all walks from steam railways. All we are doing is using our railways as did our hard working, hard playing, Victorian ancestors.

SKIPTON can be reached from East Lancashire via the A59 road but there are quick, easy and inexpensive routes by road and rail. There is parking at Embsay, Bolton Abbey and Skipton. Reached from East Lancashire in less than an hour by car.