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	Sharp Haw - Rough Haw - A walk from Skipton - 18th May 2008

Todays very pleasant walk starts and finishes in the busy market town of Skipton. It is around 10 miles in length and takes us to the summits of Sharp Haw 357m then Rough Haw 339m on Flasby Fell.
	Skipton - main street

The church bells were ringing in a lovely warm sunny day as we set off and walked the 100yds or so down to the bridge which crosses the canal.
	Holy Trinity Church

We join the towpath and walk north the short distance as far as the castle where the canal abruptly ends. Originally used to carry limestone the canal travels south to join the Leeds & Liverpool about 0.5 km away. This shot was taken looking back towards the castle, the canal runs from here through a steep sided ravine on the left, the barges were loaded from steel chutes fixed to the ravine walls, some remains can still be seen today. On the right of the picture Eller Beck makes its way down to the right hand side of the towpath.
	Skipton Castle

The towpath finishes and we follow a path over the stream and along a road for a short distance until we reach this stile leading out onto Park Hill.
	Gerry at the stile leading to Park Hill

We climb the hill and pass through another stile at the top of the field. The path heads north through the fields, across the busy A65 and up to a stile leading onto Skipton Golf Course. We pause for a moment until a group of golfers wave us through. Keeping our heads down and listening for shouts of "FORE" we cross the stile and make our way over the golf course, we pass through another stile and into the relative safety of a farmers field!
	Looking back to Skipton from the top of Park Hill

Following the path through another couple of fields we then turn west onto Brackenley Lane and after about 0.5km we cross the B6265 Grassington Road and pick up another path leading through fields to join another road near Tarn House. We follow the road around a sharp bend to the right then a sharp bend to the left and arrive at a small parking area with a gate leading onto the open fell. Passing through the gate we follow a rough track and after about 0.5km we pass a path that strikes off to the right directly towards the summit of Sharp Haw, ignoring this we bear left for a further 0.5km until we reach a bend, where we pass through a gate and head west across open access land to reach a stile at the point where the walls meet. We climb through the stile and follow a path up a small ridge and onto its summit - 329m. Although unnamed, this interesting rocky ridge does have a large cairn marking its top. It also has some splendid views too, the picture opposite was taken from this point.
	The view to Sharp Haw

We descend north from the ridge on easy ground to pick up a wall which we follow to the top of Sharp Haw - as shown in this picture opposite taken looking back from Sharp Haw.
	Sharp Haw
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Leaving Sharp Haw we descend 50m northeast then climb again to the summit of Rough Haw 339m on Flasby Fell. The picture opposite shows the cairn at Rough Haw with Sharp Haw in the background.
	Rough Haw

Retracing out steps we descend from Rough Haw then head for the wall at the southerley end of High Wood where we pick up a path which leads us to a gate in the corner of the wall adjacent to Crag Wood. We pass through the gate and head northwest for a few yards the path then passes through an enchanting tunnel of Rhododendron bushes.
	The tunnel through the Rhododendrons

We emerge from the Rhododendrons then turn sharp left at this signpost to join a forestry track heading southeast through Crag Wood. After a couple of kilometers at a bend in the track we strike off across the fields along a path for about 1km eventually turning right onto to the Stirton Road at Tarn House Farm. We then pick up a path on the left which takes us across more fields and the busy A65 before returning to Skipton. This was a splendid walk! Distance 10 miles approx.
	Turn left here for Skipton
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