Easilk three

Verified Slow Way

Verified by 100.00% of reviewers

I walked from Ilkley on a lovely sunny day with a slight breeze. It was a long steady climb up, often using rough steps. The white building at White Wells, part way up, is worth a visit, and there are some interesting connections with Charles Darwin. The views back over Ilkley were wonderful. There were some slight inaccuracies on the OS map, and consequently the Slow Way, but you just need walk the main path up. Once on the moors the route continued along the Dales High Way.
At 1.5 miles from Ilkley you have to leave the nice paved path next to a cairn, and very soon cross a tiny bridge made of two sleepers. I missed this turnoff initially, as it wasn’t at all obvious. The path here crossed peat (occasionally eroded), with heather, bilberries, and cotton grass, and could get quite boggy in places. It was often indistinct, but I found that heading for some whitish grey rocks called White Crags Moss kept me on the route.
At 1.8 miles from Ilkley I crossed another paved route. The path got a bit clearer after this. At 2.0 miles, at Ashlar Chair, the route merged with a line of yellow posts, and as I crossed from Ilkley Moor/Burley Moor to Bingley Moor, I could see the other side of the ridge. There were fabulous views even though it was a bit hazy. At 2.9 miles, I had to be careful to follow the path not the shaved track used by grouse shooters. In fact, there was a lot of evidence of grouse shooting for me to disapprove of – burnt heather, a line of grouse butts (shelters for the people who like to shoot birds easily), and well-made tracks for their vehicles.
The route down to East Marton was through some fields and series of stiles and gates. Again, the track on the ground didn’t exactly match the OS Map and Slow Ways route, but it was fairly close. At the bottom, it emerged onto the road through a very narrow gate next to someone’s locked driveway gate.
This was a lovely route on a summery day, but having gps really helped with what could have been a bit challenging to navigate in places. As a bonus, along the route I saw or heard cuckoo, curlew, grouse (with chick), pipit, lark and lapwing.

A great route over the moors. Navigation skills required to keep to the path. Only four starts because it includes stiles and steps.

I walked from Ilkley to East Morton. It's a lovely walk, taking you over Ilkley Moor and Bingley Moor. However, it's not a route for those with mobility issues due to the rocky terrain, a set of steps and, near East Morton, a number of stiles.
The first half of the route, is up. up, up, and includes a long set of stone steps that are very uneven and need clambering over at times. As you reach the top of the moor, you can take a path to the left to visit the Twelve Apostles (a stone circle) but the route heads to the right and then across the moor, following some posts in the ground. Now the route heads down, a fairly easy to follow path that is boggy in places. As you arrive at the road, you may decide to walk down the road to East Morton. It's clearly more direct, but the road is quite busy and I didn't see any verge that could be walked on.
The latter part of the route is farmland. It's really straightforward to follow, but there are a number of quite difficult stiles to negotiate.
You arrive at the main road in East Morton just by a pub, a small volunteer-run shop (open during the week, but only Saturday morning for the weekend) and a bus stop.

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