Buckden Pike & Upper Wharfedale

• The best views of Upper Wharfedale
• Visit the Polish War Memorial
• Buck Inn is one of the best pubs in the Dales

I enjoy the 2 great hulks of Great Whernside and Buckden Pike more than their more popular neighbours to the west. Yes they can be wet and there is an endless debate on the best route up both of them but there are never many folks on them and they both start and finish in lovely villages (maybe the 2 are connected). I think it is best to split the hills and attack each separately; Buckden Pike from Buckden therefore offers a lovely, not too strenuous circuit, thereby giving time for a pint in the fine Buck Inn. My route does include Buckden lead mine as it is worth a visit, but as the Polish War Memorial is another must see, does involve a fairly arduous and mainly trackless ascent of nearly 550 foot. Hey ho, isn’t the pain always worth the pleasure later on? The Polish War Memorial sits on the summit ridge, less than a mile from the rather uninspiring official top, and is a melancholy place in memory of a Polish aircraft which came down in a snowstorm in November 1942. There was one survivor; just picture his walk to survival on that bleak night, a foreign national setting out from his dead mates, completely unsure where to go. I believe that he still lives to this day.

Recommend: Take a torch to explore the lead mine. The unexplained body has now gone!

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© Crown copyright 2010 Ordnance Survey. Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland.

OS Map:	O/S 1.25,000. OL30 Yorkshire Dales Northern & Central Areas
Start Point:	942743. There is a car park at the north end of the village. The walk starts up a lane skirting to the north of the pub and is signposted towards the lead mines.
Terrain:	A great path to the mines, a trackless pull to the ridge is followed by a slightly strange descent where management of the bridleway is needed off the summit whereas 100 yards further on the path all but disappears!
Eating & Drinking:	Look no further than the Buck Inn. A great Dales pub.
Similar Walks Nearby:	Hidden valleys of Wharfedale Great Whernside from Kettlewell Limestone scenery from Conistone
Places to Stay: