Feizor circular from Austwick

This is a delightful circular walk starting from Austwick, which passes around Oxenber and Wharfe woods and offers excellent views of the typical dales landscape.

As soon as height is gained there are wonderful panoramic views of initially Ingleborough and its surrounds and then further on around to Pen-y-ghent and Fountains Fell. If your timing is right, there is a tea room in Feizor to have a short break from the walk!

Much of the walk is along tracks so suitable for wetter days. The walk starts from the Game Cock pub in Austwick – a traditional Dales pub with a cosy bar and beer garden offering traditional food with a French twist – a great way to end your walk!

The walk heads out of Austwick initially along the road, but as the village ends, it turns up a track to head towards Oxenber Woods. Over to the left are views towards Moughton Scar. The track and then Wood Lane are followed to reach the edge of Oxenber Woods, which are circled on the walk. There is an information board about the woods, which can be explored further if you have the time.

Oxenber and Wharfe woods are historic wood pastures grazed by cattle and sheep at certain times of the year to maintain the rich diversity of plants adapted to the limestone soils. The woodland is mainly ash, hazel and hawthorn with dog’s mercury and wood sorrel on the woodland floor. Nestled within the woodlands are several areas of limestone pavement with twisted shrubs and deep crevices or grikes, home to specially adapted plants such as lesser meadow-rue, green spleenwort, mountain melick and hart’s tongue fern. The area forms part of the Oxenber & Wharfe woods site of special scientific interest (SSSI).

The walk keeps on along the path for about a mile, whilst to the left are views of Robin Proctor’s Scar, Ingleborough and around to Simon Fell. As a ford is reached, the path starts to climb alongside Wharfe wood to reach a track, which is then followed down into Feizor. With the height gained, the track affords views of Pen-y-ghent and Fountains Fell. The track down into Feizor passes through some very typical dales landscape with limestone very visible.

Elaine’s tea room in Feizor is an ideal way to have a break from the walk, and the a picturesque hamlet is noted for its beautiful limestone scenery! From Feizor the walk follows two tracks – Hale Lane and Wood Lane back to Austwick, although if you prefer walking on grass, there is a public footpath from Feizor to Austwick that heads back through the fields mostly parallel with the track route as described in the step by step guide.

On reaching Austwick pass by (or visit) the Traddock – another welcoming establishment, where food and drink can be had post walk. The Traddock is a relaxing and homely Georgian country house hotel, where you can enjoy lunch, afternoon tea or an evening meal. Just past the Traddock the old medieval market cross is reached on a small grassy area only a few yards away from the Game Cock pub. It is thought that the step plinth and socket may date from the 15th century, whilst the shaft with the ball finial dates from around 1830.

STEP BY STEP

Start: The walk starts from the front of the Game Cock pub in Austwick. Roadside parking is available nearby. Standing facing the pub, turn right and head where you can along the pavement past the school and ahead can be seen Moughton Scar in the distance. When the houses end on the right, over to the right you can see Oxenber Woods, which is circled by this walk. Continue for a couple of hundred metres until you reach a barn on the right hand side of the road.

1: At the barn, turn right following the Pennine bridleway sign for Feizor (1 ¾ miles). Head down the walled track, which offers views to the left of Moughton Scar and Fountains Fell in the far distance, and on over Flascoe Bridge – a stone slab footbridge. Keep on the walled path as it gently rises towards Oxenber Woods, now directly ahead, until a junction of paths is reached.

2: At the junction of paths keep straight on heading slightly uphill along the narrow walled path. Shortly afterwards the path bends around to the left. Keep on this path for another couple of hundred metres until another track junction is reached by a large tree and telegraph pole. Turn right here up the short track.

3: A few yards further on pass through a wooden gate. Then pass between two gateposts in the next wall before starting to ‘zig-zag’ up the hill. After a few turns left and right, the path pulls in alongside the wall on the left, as it takes the left hand route around the wood. Head along the side of the wall and after about fifty metres pass through a wooden gate. Head straight on alongside the wall. There is a sign just past the gate informing you about Oxenber and Wharfe woods – read but do not take the path heading up hill alongside it. Instead continue along in the same direction a few metres above a wall. After a few hundred metres, pass a barn and head over the wooden wall stile just the far side of it. Keep by the side of the wall through the next field and pass through the metal gate. Keep walking alongside the wall, past the farm on the left, to join the metalled track. Pass through the gate and keep on the track, Ingleborough is now clearly visible over to the left. Keep on the track as it passes through a gatepost on the left and the wall on the right. A little further on as the track bends around to the left, the stile to be taken can be seen in the wall ahead. Follow the track round for a few more yards towards the Ford where the track becomes walled again.

4: Just before reaching the Ford, turn right along the public footpath, initially alongside the wire fencing, which heads the fifty or so metres across the grass to the wooden stile in the wall. Once over that stile head away from the wall to the next stile about forty metres on. Pass over that stile and head away from the wall as the path starts to climb a little more steeply. Head towards and over the next stile. The path heads again directly away from the wall, bisecting the wood’s boundary wall to the right and another wall on the left. Head through the hole in the wall (currently no gate) and then diagonally left for a further forty metres to pass through the next hole in the wall (again no gate). To the right here is Wharfe wood. Just through that opening, follow the wooden signpost up the hill (basically carrying on in the same direction that you have been walking) for a couple of hundred metres towards the wooden stile in the wall ahead. Over to the left now is Penyghent and to the right of it Fountains Fell.

5: Head over this stile and turn right along the track on the far side of the wall. Follow the track along the left hand side of the wall and then through a wooden gate. Once through the gate, ignore the track immediately left and continue straight on along the track, which now gently rises. Over the top of the rise, the track initially passes through exposed limestone and starts its descent towards Feizor. Keep on the track down in to Feizor. Pass Elaine’s tea room and on over a few cobbles by an information sign about Feizor. Keeping to the road continue on a few more yards to the large tree just before the barn on the right.

6: Just before the barn, turn right along the initially metalled track following the Pennine bridleway sign ‘Austwick 1 ¾ miles’. Follow the walled track down the side of the barn and continue along it. After about 500 metres pass by Cat Hole Barn and keep on along the walled track on the far side of to reach Meldings Barn.

7: Pass down the right hand side of the barn, ignoring the path off to the left to keep on Hale Lane following the Pennine bridleway sign towards Austwick. Shortly afterwards pass over a stone footbridge on the left of the path and then keep on along the walled track. Keep straight on past a short track that goes off to a few houses on the right to where the lane bends around to the left, which is the junction visited near the start of the walk.

8 (point 2 on map): At this junction, follow the main track around to the left (Wood Lane). Walk along this wide level track and after a few minutes more walking the main road back in to Austwick is reached. Turn right, pass immediately over Austwick bridge and then continue on along the pavement passing by the Traddock Hotel. At a road junction by the cross on the grass, turn right to pass by the post office and then turn right ahead to head the final few yards back to the Game Cock pub.

FACT FILE

Start: Roadside parking in Austwick. Walk starts from Game Cock Pub (grid reference SD 767 685. Nearest sat nav LA2 8BB)

Walk distance/time: 4.7 miles (Approx 1 hour 50 minutes)

Height climbed: 170 metres

Going: Tracks and good paths all along route.

Map: Ordnance Survey – Explorer EX041 (Forest of Bowland and Ribblesdale) and EX002 (Yorkshire Dales - South and West areas)

Facilities / Refreshments: Pub at start (Game Cock), Traddock Hotel (Austwick) and tearoom in Feizor

* Please respect the countryside and private land. Anyone embarking on these walks does so at their own risk and the Craven Herald and Videowalks can take no responsibility for the complete accuracy of the route. Restrictions on space mean that this article provides a general summary of the route – it is advised that anyone planning to follow the walk should take a copy of the relevant Ordnance Survey map.