Latest news, updates and comment on the festival.
Or follow us on FACEBOOK here
The Yorkshire Dales National Park has been increased in size by about a quarter - adding 188 square miles to it's area.
Ride2stride 2017 will help celebrate the extensions by offering walks to explore some of the new areas included in the Park, which now extends north almost as far as Appleby!
The dates for the Ride2Stride 2018 have now been fixed, so add them to your diary.
The 2018 Settle-Carlisle Walking Festival will kick off on Tuesday May 1st next year - a nice Mayday start. There follows a week packed with walks, talks and music, finishing on Bank Holiday Monday, May 7th.
Now the planning starts...
Ride2Stride came to an end on a bright sunny Mayday Monday, with walkers enjoying one of the final 4 walks on offer.
Woodland featured in two of the walks; one to Oxenber Woods (see photo) and one to Cleatop Park. The intriguing Norber Erratics featured in another, with the final strenuous walk taking in Pen-y-ghent and Catrigg Force.
Unanimous opinion is that its been one of the best festivals yet, with plenty of variety and interest, reasonably decent weather and a great turnout, with folks coming to stay from all corners of the country and beyond.
Enjoy a brief video of the festival. A full report will appear here in the near future. Thanks to everyone for a great festival!
The RMT rail union has confirmed that the next one-day strike will take place on Friday, April 28th. This will affect the 4 Ride2stride walks planned for that day.
The planned talk at the Friends Meeting House in Settle is unaffected and will go ahead as planned. Likewise the music sessions at Garsdale.
The 2 circular walks from Garsdale will go ahead as advertised. Walkers will have to make their own way to and from Garsdale.
The linear walks from Horton-in-Ribblesdale and Kirkby Stephen have been CANCELLED.
Instead, two additional circular walks have been arranged: one from Settle (meet at Settle station at 10 am); and one from Garsdale (meet at Garsdale station at 10.20 am.).
For further details see the New Friday Apr 28 Programme here.
See the RMT strike announcement here.
The popular Day Ranger rail ticket is great value for Ride2stride walkers this year.
At just £15, with reductions for railcard holders to as little as £10, until May 20th you can travel anywhere between Leeds/Bradford and Carlisle and back in a single day.
That's on-and-off the Settle-Carlisle for R2S as many times a day as you need for one price. This year only - take advantage!
For details see http://www.settle-carlisle.co.uk/new-day-ranger-ticket/
The draft R2S programme is now up, with no fewer than 6 walks taking in aspects of the fabulous Pen-y-ghent in this year's walking festival.
3 climb to the summit - including one at a leisurely pace, whilst 3 others pass the lower slopes of this iconic mountain.
As a taster, you can follow Julia Bradbury as she tackles the mountain, taking the most popular route backwards as she climbs up via Hull Pot.
Watch her on the second episode of her current series on ITV catch-up at:
http://www.itv.com/hub/britains-best-walks-with-julia-bradbury/2a3365#episode-list-s2
We are delighted to announce that Ride2stride 2017 will run from Tuesday April 25th to Bank Holiday Monday May 1st.
No dogs other than registered assistance dogs, will be accepted on Ride2stride walks in future.
We know how much people enjoy walking with their dogs but spring is a crucial time of year for wildlife and livestock in the Yorkshire Dales. Fields are full of young lambs and newly turned out cattle and the fells are home to ground nesting birds.
The festival attracts large numbers of walkers and this decision has been taken in the interest of safety and enjoyment for everyone. It does not affect the walks led by the participating organisations for the rest of the year.
We hope you will understand and respect this decision and we look forward to welcoming walkers to Ride2stride 2017.
See previous festival NEWS 2016 here.