20th July 2008 -- Catrigg Force & Victoria Cave from Settle

Area:	Yotkshire Dales	Ascent:	1625 feet
Walk No:	188	Time:	4hours 20mins
Date:	20th July 2008	Parking:	Settle
Distance:	8.50 miles	Weather:	cloudy at first, then sunny spells , breezy

Route:

Settle - Stainforth - Catrigg Force - Upper Winskill - Victoria Cave - Settle

For those of you that are thinking of going onto the hills I would strongly recommend that you read the advice given by the Mountain Rescue organisation of England and Wales. To read this advice, which will open in a new page please click HERE. If you would like to make a donation to the Mountain Rescue organisation which is purely voluntary please click HERE. Please make the time to read the advice page.

A day in the Western Dales today visiting some favourite spots which we have not walked for a few years. The walk started in Settle, a delightful little place with plenty for the visitor to see. We followed the Ribble Way northwards as far as Stainforth from where we took the Pennine Bridleway upwards to visit Catrigg Force. After a "buttie stop" near Upper Winskill we made our way to the Victoria Cave before making our way back down into Settle.

Settle Parish Church near where we parked the car

The River Ribble from the B6480 roadbridge

We followed the Ribble Way northwards

The weir near Langcliffe

Stainforth Force

The pack horse bridge near Stainforth Force

Crossing the Settle to Carlisle railway near Stainforth

Entering Stainforth with a service in progress at the church

We walked through the village and took the rising walled lane of the Pennine Bridleway

A look back to Smearsett Scar (l) and Ingleborough (r)

At the top of the walled lane we took this small path down to visit Catrigg Force. The top of Pen y ghent is seen ahead and Fountains Fell to the right

Fountains Fell

Catrigg Force

After walking back up from Catrigg Force we made our way towards Upper Winskill

This was our "butty stop" on an outcrop of limestone which formed a perfect seat.

Others were partaking nearby

High Winskill

We were given plenty of choices to pick from.

Fortunately I still remembered where we were going.Langcliffe Scar lies ahead.

Making our way up the scar with Ingleborough behind us

Just as we were leaving the main track to visit Victoria Cave this shower passed close by. Fortunately we caught only a few drops from it.

Victoria Cave.

Victoria Cave was discovered by chance in 1837 and since then has been completely excavated. Within the cave’s thick clay deposits, scientists found an amazing record of climate change in the Dales over thousands of years.

Victorian excavators were particularly fascinated by ‘bone caves’ where there might be a possibility of finding evidence for the earliest humans along with long extinct animals. Victoria Cave certainly had plenty of animal bones. The earliest, at 130,000 years old, included those of hippos, narrow-nosed rhino, elephants and spotted hyenas. They date to an Upper Pleistocene interglacial when the climate was much warmer than today. It seems as if at that time, the hyenas were using the cave as a den and dragging scavenged bones back to it. No evidence was found for human activity during this period.

The glaciers then returned and from 120,000 to around 12,000 years ago the cave gradually filled with layer upon layer of clay deposited as the glaciers periodically melted.

After the last Ice Age the cave was used by hibernating brown bear. In amongst the animal bones of reindeer was an 11,000 year old antler harpoon point, the first evidence for people in the Yorkshire Dales.

For archaeologists, the Roman layers were even more interesting. Here a collection of unusual bronze and bone artefacts were found, including brooches and coins. The unusual nature of some of the finds has led archaeologists to believe that the cave was being used as more than just a storage place or shelter for craft workers. It may even have been some sort of shrine.