OWPG NEWS
FIFTY YEARS OF THE DALES
WAY CELEBRATED IN STYLE
O
ver 70 walkers joined local author and OWPG
member Colin Speakman at the weekend on
a six mile walk on the Dales Way, along the
banks of the River Wharfe, from the start of the Dales
Way in Ilkley to Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales
National Park.
The walk (picture above) was to celebrate the
original public walk organised over fifty years ago to
inaugurate the 81 mile long Dales Way, what is now
New Member
Ali Rowsell
Ali Rowsell is a full-time teacher who has
worked across the globe, in countries such
as Australia, South Korea and Switzerland.
Ali specialises in writing about the
outdoors - in particular mountain walking
- as well as being a freelance International
Mountain Leader. Ali’s first book
Switzerland’s Jura Crest Trail was published
by Cicerone in January 2019. She also writes
articles for Cicerone on summer and winter
mountain walking, around the world.
Based in Sussex, Ali can regularly be
found exploring every kilometre of the
South Downs, as well as Ashdown Forest.
Ali regularly works and plays in Snowdonia
and the Lake District, and has explored all
other National Parks the UK has to offer.
one of England’s most popular long distance walks,
connecting the towns and cities of West Yorkshire
with the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District.
Colin, now the Chairman of the Dales Way
Association, and a Vice President of both the West
Riding Ramblers and the Yorkshire Dales Society,
said it was ‘his privilege to have been able to lead the
original walk on 23 March 1969 and now the Golden
Jubilee Walk just over 50 years later’.
A special feature of Saturday’s celebrations was a
courtesy bus service using use two of the exact type
of local West Yorkshire Road Car buses that were used
carried walkers to and from the Yorkshire Dales in
1969.
Provided by the Keighley Bus Museum, in
conjunction with the Friends of DalesBus, these
superbly preserved vehicles took walkers of 2019 on
a time journey using the identical form of transport
used by walkers 50 years ago.
On their return to Ilkley, walkers joined Sir Rodney
Brooke, President of the Ilkley Manor House Trust
and Ilkley & Keighley MP John Grogan, as Mr Grogan
officially opened a special exhibition dedicated to the
story of the Dales Way which is at Ilkley’s historic
Manor House throughout August.
The Dales Way 50th exhibition is open at the Ilkley
Manor House (www.ilkleymanorhouse.org) - every
Saturday and Sunday 11am-4pm, until 1 September
- entrance free. Supported by the Yorkshire Dales
National Park Sustainable Development Fund, the
Dales Way Association has also published a special
illustrated souvenir booklet 50 years of the Dales Way
(www.dalesway.org). Priced at £4.99 it is available at
the Grove Bookshop in Ilkley or can be obtained post
free at www.skyware.co.uk.
Outdoor Events
Newquay Fish Festival
13-15 September
www.newquayfishfestival.co.uk
South West Outdoors Festival,
Cornwall
27-29 September
www.bit.ly/SWOFSept2019
Alwinton Show, Northumberland
12 October
www.alwintonshow.co.uk
Countryside Live, Yorkshire
19-20 October
www.countrysidelive.co.uk
Rural Entrepreneur Live, NEC
6-7 November
www.ruralentrepreneur.co.uk
autumn 2019 | Outdoor focus 3