Simon's Seat Circular, 08/06/2025
This was a walk with the Walking the World to Rights group.
From Skyremore to Simon's Seat, down through the Valley of Desolation at Bolton Abbey, and then follow the river back to Skyremore.
Unfortunately, the weather was not overly kind, with several showers during the walk and overcast most of the day.
The start of the walk was relatively flat with typical Dales views.
Followed by approximately 3km of climbing initially through woods and then onto open moorland. This gave views up towards Carncliff and down to Burnsall.
Simon's Seat is a dominant outcropping of Millstone Grit, that dominates the skyline of the Wharfe Valley near Burnsall. There are several other outcroppings
A lot of the paths on the top of the moor are Yorkshire stone paving.
There were good views from inside the rocks over the Wharfe valley
Then, taking the path down towards Bolton Abbey, we passed areas of burnt-out moorland.
A walk through the (far from) Valley of Desolation.
Then across parklands, until reaching the woods and following them up the Wharf. There were high-level views down to the Strid from the woods.
The walk then continued along the side of the river.
Where the weather cleared for a while.
And we got to see a nursery of multiple goose families drifting down the river.
Before going cross-country back to Skyrholme
Overall the walk was longer than expected, but certainly one I would do again.
