Horton in Ribblesdale to Settle - Walk along the River Ribble

No problems parking at Settle Railway Station - £2 for all day.

Walking over the slightly rusty footbridge, it looked like many walkers had the same plan as us, although when getting off at Horton-in-Ribblesdale, they would probably been heading for the 3 Yorkshire Peaks I guess.

But what a station! - this was amazing. There's something really special about railway stations that have been kept or restored to what they would have looked like many decades ago. I wish there were more of them.

As I spent 10 minutes trying to buy two tickets on my phone, I managed to have a wander and take a few more snaps - this was a magical start to the day for me.

After a very short train journey (less than the time it took me to buy the tickets that no-one looked at), We arrived at Horton-in-Ribblesdale station. Time for me to turn my GPS on.

A stroll down the lane from the station towards the river took us to the start of our countryside walk.

Now we had left our homes this morning in lovely sunshine and blue skies, where has it all gone?

It was drizzly here, wet enough to need waterproofs for a while. Not the damp start that we wanted or expected.

But the Ribble was already proving a winner. The first section of the walk was very pretty alongside this meandering river.

Not time to cross yet - it's straight on at the bridge.

It is uncommon for me to be captured in the midst of action, but on this occasion, the moment was preserved as I pretended to climb a moss covered stile.

We met a couple from Lincoln who knew this area very well, they had been visiting many times - it was nice to chat with them and swap walking stories until we reached Helwith Bridge for our first beer stop.

Helwith Bridge - What a great place to sit outside and enjoy the river views over a pint. Unfortunately, the drizzle continued and it wouldn't have been pleasant today. Having said that, a lovely pint by a real fire lifted our spirits as the barmaid told us all about the Helwith/3 Peaks cycle race which stated and finished from this very pub a few weeks ago.

Thank goodness it wasn't today.

Leaving the pub after an enjoyable stop I had a choice to make. Either turn right and follow the lower level route to Stainforth via minor roads, or turn left and head uphill to pick up the Ribble Way.

I chose left - with hindsight, I should have gone the easier way.

Nothing too strenuous, bit of an uphill yomp for 20 minutes, but the weather was pretty wet and gloomy and this was by far the poorest part of the day.

The views that I had hoped for were non-existent as we plodded on, this was not good for Paul, who always makes his feelings known.

Why didn't I just stick to the low level route.

Now if there was a bull in this field, it will probably have gone by now.

The grassy descent as we head towards Stainforth.

St Peter's Church, Stainforth.

Lets take the signposted route to Stainforth Foss

The bridge over the River Ribble as we head towards Little Stainforth and our second pub stop.

The Knights Table at Little Stainforth.

Another lovely pint of beer with a bowl of hot soup, sandwich & chips. A really good stop. We've probably spent more time chatting in the pubs as we have walking today!

I have been impressed by the beer quality round here so far.

As we left the pub, the weather picked up considerably - We had views!

How ironic!

'Unsuitable for caravans' road sign next to the entrance of a caravan site.

The drizzly rain had ceased as we headed down to the waterfalls at Stainforth to hopefully see some salmon leap.

I wasn't fast enough to catch them on a photo - but we saw a few of these magnificent fish jumping upwards only to fail and get washed back down again. Probably due to all the recent rainwater heading in the opposite direction.

The sight of salmon leaping in the river was captivating—I could have easily spent hours watching them. However, the journey continued, as the weir located a mile or so further south, which we were now heading towards, was reputed to be an even better spot for observing salmon.

Back onto the riverside walking - the now dry conditions greatly improved the walking enjoyment.

We spotted a long, faun coloured creature, squirrel like scrrying across from one side of the river to the other - our 'googling' investigations gave us the impression that it was a weasel - another action photo opportunity missed.

Approaching the turning for Stackhouse, where we briefly depart the riverside walk.

just before we head inland slightly, we spent 10 minutes at Langcliffe weir hoping to see more salmon leaping.

The was a specially made salmon run at the side (see on the right), but unfortunately no more sightings for us today.

After following a road for 1/4 mile we headed back down towards Settle via this path.

As we arrived at Settle, we followed this riverside path, past all the old mill buildings back to the station.

However, further along the route we should have crossed over the river by a footbridge and headed through the town, but we carried on and ended up doing a slightly longer road walk than we needed to.

Well, it wouldn't be one of my walks without me making a mistake would it!