Walks in Preston-Under-Scar
From easy city strolls to challenging trails, discover the best of Preston-Under-Scar on foot.
Walk: Grinton
This quiet walk will take you to the fascinating Grinton Smelt Mill on Cogden Moor. Take a peek into the past while enjoying great views. The Route what3words for start point: ///trailers.truly.standards Start / Finish Point: Grinton moor smelt mill, Whipperdale Bank, Richmond DL11 6HS (just above YHA Grinton Lodge at Cogden Beck) Distance: 1 Miles GPX Route Map drawaroute-5Download Walk Description Grinton is one of the 87 lead smelt mill sites known in the Yorkshire Dales. It is of national importance and is a scheduled monument. This 750m route runs from the Grinton to Leyburn road to the remains of the smelt mill and back again. The track is a compact mix of aggregate and grass with a general width of 200cm. The track to the smelt mill has some gradients reaching 1:8. There is a small add on loop at the end of the route. This requires a shallow water crossing and a short, 60m, gradient of 1:6.
Walk: Wensleydale Challenge - Askrigg to Leyburn
Rise to the challenge: get dropped off at Askrigg and walk back to Leyburn. After a brief climb, the rest is fairly flat and Wensleydale at it's best. The Route what3words for start point: ///modes.officials.bangle Start Point: Askrigg Finish Point: Leyburn Distance: 13 Miles GPX Route Map wensleydalechallenge-askriggtoleyburn2Download Walk Description After an enjoyable bus journey "up dale" to Askrigg on the volunteer Little White Bus featured on Countryfile, the rest is up to you but rise to the challenge and you will follow the River Ure through Wensleydale into Leyburn Market Square with an enormous sense of achievement. It is a long but rewarding walk, however as an alternative, there is the option of jumping aboard the Wensleydale Railway in Redmire. This is just over halfway and can provide a ride back to Leyburn in comfort. The route climbs initially but gently through fields and woodland and then flattens out to contour along the hillside with spectacular views. Above Haw Bank on the right before crossing the wooden foot bridge, it is worth stepping carefully off the route to enjoy Disher Force which thunders down the steep sided gill. There is still evidence of the lead mining industry on the edge of Carperby Moor before seeing the imposing Bolton Castle ahead. The Castle has been owned by the same family since it was built in 1399 by Sir Richard Le Scrope, Lord Chancellor of England whilst Richard II was on the throne. In 1568, Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned there. The end for Bolton Castle came in the Civil War, when John Scrope, only a teenager at the time, held the castle for the royalist cause. Parliament besieged the castle for an entire year but in November 1645, Scrope was forced to surrender. Parliament intended to slight the castle to make it unusable in future, but the south-west tower and the west range survived almost completely intact and habitable. Below the castle walls is a medieval garden, a maze, a rose garden, herb garden, vineyard, birds of prey and a bowling green. The route takes you under Great Wegber and Wegber Scar above Carperby where James Herriot had his honeymoon. On the top of Wegber is a prominent building which is Greenhaw Hut, a bothy shelter. Following along the banks of the River Ure leads past the Ice Pond and through the Bolton Hall estate, over the attractive Lords Bridge before continuing the other side of the river into Wensley. It is easy to see how the area was affected by the floods in 2019. Wensley is a pretty village and of course, gives its name to the dale itself.