East Marton

This was a walk designed to avoid the quagmires which so many field paths had become last month as one wet week followed another.

It looked fine on the map: minor roads and lanes leading to a canal towpath, and a leisurely return along it following the Leeds-Liverpool as it snaked between the Airedale hills. That, at least, was the plan for an undemanding Sunday-morning stroll.

It rained hard as we drove up past Skipton then took the A59 towards Clitheroe. East Marton was our destination: a hamlet where the road crosses the canal via a fascinating double-arched bridge. When the "new" road was built at a higher level than the old one, the bridge to carry it was built on top of its predecessor.

Here, too, is an equestrian centre, a mooring place for dozens of canal boats, and the Cross Keys pub where, at the end of your walk, you can sample beers from Skipton's Copper Dragon Brewery, including the gloriously hoppy Golden Pippin which is supposed to be a summer beer but is one that I'm happy to drink at any time of the year.

It was in the car park of the Cross Keys that we ended up (knocking at the pub door and asking permission first) after finding that the laneside parking area down by the canal, just across the humped bridge, was a mess of mud and water draining down off the fields.

We strolled down the lane, past the tearooms and b&b and the equestrian centre, and crossed that bridge (Williamson Bridge). The paved lane followed the canal for a while, between hedges. With another bridge directly ahead, we took the right fork, easing away from the water.

Ahead of us were horse riders taking it easy beneath a sky which alternated between blue and alarmingly dark grey. The rain had stopped by now, but there was plenty around up there.

The road led up through a tunnel formed by the trees and eventually opened out as it descended and swung round to pass the rather splendid Newton Grange guest house and its nearby houses.

Soon the lane met the canal again and we passed through a gate on to the towpath. This was where the surprise came. It was a towpath, Jim, but not as we know it! Those of us who walk alongside the canals of West Yorkshire are spoiled. The towpaths here have largely been paved with hardcore. They provide firm walking conditions in all weathers.

Not this towpath near East Marton, though. It was grass. And mud. And in many places there was much more of the latter than the former.

Shame really, as it meant we had to concentrate on where we put our feet rather than enjoy the splendid scenery all around us. This is pretty countryside, surrounded by fields and beyond them fells. The canal on this stretch wasn't hacked through any obstacles that were in its way. Those who built it worked with the landscape, threading the waterway through it.

It twists and turns through a series of sharp bends, almost turning back on itself a couple of times. This we were able to notice despite focusing on picking our way through the worst of the mud and avoiding the attentions of a pair of territorial swans accompanied by a large cygnet, swimming along beside us in "attack" mode.

There were several nasty sections of towpath. But then we came to the really, really nasty bit. This was at the point where the canal met the excavation work for the gas pipeline that had caused us to abandon a walk from Bolton Abbey up Haw Pike the other week.

At this point the pipeline passed under the canal. But to enable it to do so, the towpath had been seriously disturbed. All the grass had gone. There was, instead, only ankle-deep mud for a stretch of maybe a dozen yards.

Maureen's first idea was to sit on the wall and shuffle along sideways past this obstruction. But as it was one of those wall-tops where upright stones alternate with flat ones, this proved a far-from-comfortable option.

So there was nothing for it but to climb over into the downward sloping field beyond and walk along carefully while hanging on to the wall until we were past the worst of the mud, then climb back on to the towpath. Terrific exercise, walking - sometimes in unexpected ways.

There were a few more unpleasant stretches to come before we passed under the first bridge and on to firmer ground for the brief section back to Williamson Bridge. But at least the rain held off until we were in the pub!

Verdict: this is a terrific, easy walk through some lovely countryside. But not after weeks of heavy rain.

Step by Step

1. From Cross Keys pub car park (or roadside parking adjacent to green) walk down narrow lane that curves right towards canal.
2. Cross bridge and go left with road.
3. With another bridge immediately ahead and house beyond, fork right with lane instead and continue with this to pass Newton Grange on right and go between houses beyond to arrive at gate going left on to towpath.
4. Go through gate and turn left.
5. Follow towpath back to second stone bridge over canal (Williamson Bridge). From here, continue ahead to have a look at doublearched bridge carrying road over canal. Return to Williamson Bridge and walk back up lane to start.

Fact File

• Start: Cross Keys pub at East Marton
• Time for 3-mile walk: an hour and a half
• Going: easy (except after heavy rain)
• Map: not really necessary
• Getting there: from far end of Skipton by-pass take A59 Clitheroe road to East Marton, turning right immediately after Cross Keys
• Parking: alongside green next to Cross Keys (avoiding "Residents Only" spaces), in pub car park if you ask politely and have a drink afterwards, or in a lay-by (sometimes very muddy) at far side of Williamson Bridge
• Refreshments: at the pub
• Toilets: none along route