Lady Anne's Way
Lady Anne's Way is a long distance walking route through two rugged counties and finishing in a third/ It stretches for 100 miles from Skipton in the West Riding of Yorkshire, through the Yorkshire Dales, to Westmorland and up the Eden Valley to finish at Penrith in Cumberland.
The route was inspired by Lady Anne Clifford, an indomitable lady of the early Stuart Period who owned vast estates in Westmorland during the seventeenth century. Lady Anne rejoiced in a range of titles by inheritance and marriage, being Countess Dowager of Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery, and 14th Baroness de Clifford.
Lady Anne travelled repeatedly between her castles and the walking route takes in these once magnificent buildings, many now sadly in ruins.
The route
The route begins at Skipton Castle in the West Riding of Yorkshire, and passes through the delights of the Yorkshire Dales before crossing the Pennine watershed to Mallerstang Common in Westmorland and the Upper Eden Valley, and down the valley until it reaches the Cumberland border at Penrith.
Lady Anne's Way was originally devised and written up as a six day walk. However the is now a more leisurely nine-day alternative, which also allows for diversions on the way to see the sights and curiosities beside the way.
In nine sections, the route runs, from north to south:
| Yorkshire: | |||
| 1 | Skipton to Hebden | 12½ miles | Over from Airedale to Wharfedale and the lead mining village of Hebden. |
| 2 | Hebden to Buckden | 14½ miles | Up Wharfedale. |
| 3 | Buckden to Askrigg | 11½ miles | Following the route of A Pennine Journey over to Wensleydale. |
| 4 | Askrigg to Hawes | 7 miles | Up Wensleydale to Hawes, where Wensleydale cheese is made, and home to the Dales Countryside Museum. |
| Yorkshire to Westmorland: | |||
| 5 | Hawes to Outhgill / Nateby | 12 miles to Outhgill' 15 miles to Nateby |
Following A Pennine Journey, to the top of Wensleydale and over the watershed a mile from the source of the Ure into Westmorland, on Mallerstang Common. The route descends to the Eden and follows it to Outhgill, whose parish church was restored by Lady Anne. On to Nateby (just south of Kirkby Stephen, the route passes Pendragon Castle, a place of legends favoured by Lady Anne and restored by her. |
| Westmorland: | |||
| 6 | Outhgill / Nateby to Church Brough | 12 miles (from Outhgill) 9 miles (from Nateby) |
Down the Eden then diverting eastwards to Church Brough, a mediæval village nestled between its church and Brough Castle, built within the earthworks of a Roman fort. |
| 7 | Church Brough to Appleby | 10½ miles | Following down the River Eden to Westmorland's pretty county town, Appleby, in a loop in the river guarded by a castle. The castle once held the 'Great Picture' of the Clifford family (now in Abbott Hall in Kendal). Lady Anne lied buried in the Church of St Lawrence in Appleby. |
| 8 | Appleby to Kirkby Thore, Temple Sowerby or Moreland | 9 miles | Following the Eden Valley down through several pretty villages, including Kirkby Thore, with a mediæval hall and a Roman fort site. A diversion can be made to Temple Sowerby at the end of Westmorland. |
| 9 | Kirkby Thore to Penrith | 11 miles | The standard route crosses the Eden and follows the river north to Eamont Bridge to Brougham and to Brougham Castle, where it crosses the River Eamont into Cumberland and on to Penrtih. |