Sunday 1 August sees five guided walks led by the Rail Ramblers volunteers. Graded from Strenuous to Easy there is a walk for everyone. 

1. Strenuous – graded B, 15 miles including Moughton Summit, Smearset Scar, Feizor, Austwick, Nappa Scar & Horton.  
2. Moderately Strenuous - graded C, 11 miles including Kirkoswald, Park End, Long Meg, Little Salkeld and Lacy Caves.
3. Moderate - graded D, 9 miles including Dent town, Flinter Gill, Green Lane, Combes House, Burton Hill and Sedbergh.
4. Easy - graded E, 7 miles including Dent town, Barth Bridge, Ellers, Abbotsholme, Birks Bridge, Dales Way and Sedbergh.
5. Easy – graded F, 6 miles including Sedbergh, Howgill Lane, Heights of Winder, High Branthwaite, Dales Way and Lock Bank.

If you wish to join any of these walks then you must travel by the first DalesRail service, departing Blackpool North at 08.36 and return on the DalesRail service that departs Carlise at 17.41. You should make your intentions known to one of the volunteer stewards on the train who will advise you of the walk leader and any arrangements that may be necessary.

For the walks that start at Dent thereis a bus link to Dent Town and Sedbergh at an additional cost of £6

As for all walks in the countryside you should wear suitable, strong footwear, warm outdoor clothing and rainwear. Stops for lunch and tea are normal but you should carry your own drinks and snacks.

Dent 

Dent is a small village and civil parish in Cumbria, England, nestling in a narrow valley on the western slopes of the Pennines within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is about four miles (6 km) south-east of Sedbergh and about eight miles (13 km) north-east of Kirkby Lonsdale. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Dent lies in a valley called Dentdale but the river is the River Dee, a tributary of the River Lune.

Both place-name and dialect evidence indicate that this area was settled by Irish-Norse invaders in the tenth century (Hedevind 1967). Geoffrey Hodgson (2008) argues that this invasion accounts for the high frequency of the Hodgson surname in the area.

Dentdale was one of the last Yorkshire Dales to be enclosed, Dent’s Enclosure Award being made in 1859.

Dent boasts its own brewery – The Dent Brewery. This  is an independent microbrewery in Cowgill, just above Dent and brews a number of ‘real’ ales. Initially brewed to be sold only in the Sun Inn, the beers proved very popular and other pubs asked to sell it and now the brewery weorks at capacity and regularly wins awards.

Dent was the original site of the Dent Folk Festival and is now the site of the Dent Music and Beer Festival at the end of June (see website: dentmusicandbeer.com  ) The first event was held in 2009 and was hailed as a great success.

Dent railway station, on the Settle Carlisle Railway, is about four miles (6 km) above the village at Denthead. Nearby, the railway goes over a splendid viaduct.

Sedbergh

Sedbergh (pronounced Sedber or even, by the locals, Sebber) is a small town in Cumbria, England. It lies about 7 miles (11 km) east of Kendal and about 10 miles (16 km) north of Kirkby Lonsdale. The town lies just within the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It lies at the foot of the Howgill Fells on the north bank of the River Rawthey which joins the River Lune about 2 miles (2 km) below Sedbergh.

Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Sedbergh has a narrow main street lined with shops. From all angles, the hills rising behind the houses can be seen. Until the coming of the railway in 1861, these were remote places were reachable only by slogging over some fairly steep hills. The railway to Sedbergh was closed in 1965.

George Fox, a founder of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), spoke in St. Andrew’s Church (which he called a “steeple house”) and on nearby Firbank Fell during his travels in the North of England in 1652. Nearby Briggflatts Meeting House was built in 1675. It is the namesake of Basil Bunting’s lauded long poem, Briggflatts (1966). Sedbergh School is a co-educational boarding school in the town.

Sedbergh’s parish church, St Andrew’s, dates from the 12th century, though restored periodically since then. There is at least one house dating from the 14th century, and there are the remains of a motte and bailey castle believed to date from Saxon times.

Sedbergh’s main industries for many years were Sedbergh School (founded 1525), farming, and the production of woollen garments. Wool sheared from the many sheep was taken to local mills where it was turned into yarn from which people in their homes, would knit clothing, including hats and socks. The garments were then sold by local merchants to, among other places, the coal miners of the North East of England. This trade has long since disappeared. It is remembered at Farfield Mill, just outside the town, where there is an exhibition of weaving equipment, and workshops for a number of artists and crafts workers.

Unfortunately due to engineering works between Hellifield and Carlisle on Sunday 17th October the DalesRail season has had to be cut short and the final Sunday will now be 10th October 2010. A revised brochure will be available shortly to download.

A succesful bid into the Designated Line Community Rail Development Fund means that 156464 the unit recently named ‘Lancashire DalesRail’ will now have a vinyl ‘wrap’ applied. The Clitheroe Line Community Rail Partnership working with Northern Rail and the Lancashire Rail Ramblers will work up an innovative design to promote DalesRail to those wanting to do short introductory walks rather than the perceived idea that dalesRail is only for the ‘serious’ walker. 

156464 'Lancashire DalesRail' stands at Blackburn (SC)

The Clitheroe Line and East Lancashire CRPs have already been working with local councils, the National Health Service and the Rail Ramblers to encourage those on ‘Stepping Out’ and ‘Walking for Health’ programmes to move up to slightly longer guided walks and it is hoped that with a ‘wrap’ themed around ’Stepping out with DalesRail’ and a series of shorter walks off the second DalesRail service will see new regulars using the service.

As well as the specially designed wrap the partnerships are also looking at other innovative ways to get the message across and this may involve using doctor’s surgeries and health centres to promote walking as part of a healthy life style.

The Designated Line Community Rail Development Fund is supported by the Department for Transport, Network Rail and the  Association of Community Rail Partnerships.