A week or so on from when we finished the Dales Way, from Ilkley in the Yorkshire Dales to Bowness on Windermere, here are some reflections.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable walk, with some variety of terrain and some good views, albeit not spectacular ones. Quite a lot is along rivers – here is a view of the Wharfe at the start.

It could be a good walk for fairly experienced walkers who want to do a place-to-place walk for the first time.  But this walk is not to be underestimated.  Depending on how many days you do it in – and there are choices here – you can have some long days, and there is definitely some climbing to be done.  It’s just over 80 miles, so across 6 days, which we did, it averages between 13 and 14 miles.  We met others who were doing it over 8 days, and fitter and faster walkers than us doing it over 4.

The signposting is patchy.  In places it’s good, in other places there are signs for public footpath but not Dales Way, and in places not even that.  So you need a guidebook and map.  The Ordnance Survey app was useful on occasions for us.  

The hotels were fine and in some cases better than that.

This year at any rate, with more people holidaying at home, the hotels and pubs were very busy.  So it’s wise to book your dinner at least a day in advance.

There was certainly a sense of achievement in finishing the walk – it’s only a mile or so from the end that you get your first glimpse of Lake Windermere. There are options for extending it: there are now established link walks to Ilkley from Bradford, Leeds, or Harrogate, and clearly possibilities for doing more in the Lake District.