Yorkshire Dales Festival 16 miles

I traveled 10 hours by bus during a rail strike, all to run 16 gorgeous miles in the Yorkshire Dales.

A trail race, but a finish in a parking lot.

Why Yorkshire Dales Festival

Earlier this year, I read a travel article that mentioned the town of Settle in north-west England. It looked nice and I saw with a railcard, I get could advanced tickets for £20 return. (How that fact would later come to mock me!)

At the time, I checked if there were any races there, and the only ones I found were on dates I wasn't free. Flash forward a few months and I get an email about the Yorkshire Dales Festivals, a series of runs and walks starting and ending in Settle.

The 16 mile route slotted in well with the marathon training schedule I'm doing this summer. 

The journey

When I booked this race in April, I wasn't anticipating there being a national rail strike on the day I was meant to get down. I seriously considered not going, but in the end, I thought this race was too pretty to pass up. 

I opted for a 5 bus journey over 10 hours to get to Settle.

Bus 1: into Edinburgh

My morning started at 7:30am with a ride into central Edinburgh to get to the bus station. It was a very rainy morning.

It was also the first Saturday during a 2-week bin strike that had started in Edinburgh. This was made apparent when getting into town and seeing the streets lined with trash. Friday night must have been rough.

The white stuff along the street is trash.

Bus 2: Edinburgh to Glasgow

In my 11 years here, I think this might have been my first time to Glasgow by bus. I thought the Citylink service was actually quite nice.

Again, very rainy.

Rainy Glasgow.

Bus 3: Glasgow to Lancaster

This was the longest bus, just over 3 hours. Most of it rainy, but did get some nice views along the way.

I made the mistake of paying extra to reserve a seat that had a table. It ended up being not much of a table and I was across from a young boy who had not yet learned the important life lesson of respecting people's personal space.

Rain turned to cloudy skies.

Bus 4: into Lancaster central

Bus 3 dropped me off at the Lancaster University campus. I considered walking the hour uptown to the bus station, but it would have been a tight time squeeze, hence bus 4.

Once in town, I decided to do some walking around.

Always drawn to water, I first walked to the River Lune. It was looking a little dried up.

Dried up River Lune.

I bought a snickers brownie from an outdoor market because I needed those extra carbs ahead of the race.

Mandatory pre-race snaking.

I walked by Lancaster Castle and saw the Cathedral in the distance.

Lancaster Castle.

Lancaster Cathedral in the distance.

Bus 5 part 1: Lancaster to Kirkby Lonsdale

The last part of my journey was the most nerve-wracking because it was the part of the trip that wasn't pre-booked (well bus 1 obviously wasn't either).

It was local buses using a local company, one that didn't even list the bus fares on their website.

Sure enough, the timetable held true and there was a bus waiting at Lancaster Bus Station to get to Kirkby Lonsdale, about 17 miles from Settle.

This was when the scenery started getting super pretty.

The River Lune continues.

It was also when, 8 hours into my trip, I realized I had put on my t-shirt inside out. This is how you know I left my house too early.

When I realized my t-shirt was inside out.

Bus 5 part 2: Kirkby Lonsdale to Settle

I had anticipated there would be a 6th bus on this trip because that's the impression Google Maps gave me. I would get off at Kirkby Lonsdale and then board a different service to Settle.

When I boarded bus 5, I told the driver I was going to Settle via Kirkby Lonsdale and whether I could get a ticket that included both. He said yes and I paid £6.50 for my ticket. 

Then when reaching Kirkby Lonsdale, I pressed the stop button and confirmed with the driver that it was the stop on the opposite side of the street I would need next. He said yes.

I went to the stop and the first thing I noticed was the bus time chart said the bus would come at 5:02pm, not 4:45pm like Google said. So now I didn't know which schedule was right, but just crossed my fingers everything would work out.

At 4:48, the bus came, but I noticed right away it was the same driver. So turns out there wasn't a bus 6. Bus 5 just changed its service number when it got to Kirkby Lonsdale.

Needless to say, I was pretty embarrassed walking back onto the bus I had just got off. But at least the end was in sight.

Getting closer to Settle.

Finally, just after 5:30pm, I arrived in Settle and declared myself champion of public bus transport.

Carbo loading

Normally, I check out the town I'm running in when I arrive, but I got in so late, I figured it was best to eat first.

I was in self-catered accommodation, so I stayed in and made a way-too-large portion of pesto pasta with feta and veggie sausages. But I ate it all because, you know, best not to run 16 hilly miles on an empty stomach.

Pre-race pasta.

This was also my post-run meal, so I'll spare you another picture later in the post.

Into the Dales

While it was still light out, I went to check out the part of the Dales near where I was staying.

I passed a direction sign for the race and was pleased to see it was on a stretch that would see me running downhill. 

Getting a glimpse of the end of the route.

The Dales were full, and I mean FULL, of sheep. So much bahhhhhing. So much sheep poop. They also did not care if I was walking near them. They happily stayed put as I passed.

Sheep in the Dales.

I got some lovely views of Settle the higher I climbed.

Settle from the Dales.

I felt like a kid in a playground. I kept running every so often so I could see the next bit of pretty scenery sooner. 

Mandatory jump shot.

I kept going as far as I felt it would take to get the money shot - the view I determined pretty enough to capture the reason I came down here. Here it is.

Money shot.

Flowerpot sculptures

Before heading in for the night, I wanted to find the race registration area so I knew where I was going the next day.

Along the way, I kept seeing these flowerpot sculptures that seemed to be everywhere in Settle. They were all pretty impressive. 

Turns out they were part of Settle's Flowerpot Festival which was taking place July and August.

The race

Yet another bus ride

Race day ended up being another early start. I left my accommodation just after 7am to get to the race registration area. There, I picked up my number and hopped on a bus to take runners to the start line.

The journey up was a glimpse into the stunning scenery I'd be seeing during the race.

The Dales from the bus window on the ride to the start.

The start at Ribblehead Viaduct

The start line was at Ribblehead Viaduct, which was one of my reasons for wanting to do this race. I heard about the viaduct in 2018 and considered going on a day trip there when staying in Yorkshire. 

I didn't in the end, but it all worked out because I got to experience it in such an iconic way as the start line for this race.

I mean, c'mon. Look at that!!

Ribblehead Viaduct.

Starting the race in front of one of the arches.

Only downside was it was windy waiting for the start, but thankfully the sun was out to keep me warm and lit up the incredible landscapes.

Before the start, I began chatting with a fellow runner, and we ended up running the first 6 miles together talking all things running. After 6 miles, I could not keep up with her incredible pace!

That's the nice thing about smaller trail runs. No one seemed that concerned about timing. It was a very social run.

Waiting for the start oh so seriously.

Jaw-dropping views

Probably the best way to describe this race is to talk through all the different themes of it. The first was trying to stop and photograph every amazing view, of which there were many.

This was what I came for, and it did not disappoint. Green fields and hills, stone walls, sunshine. Yeah. That's the rural stuff I'm after.

Sheep and cows

I knew from my jaunt the night before this run would be sheep-filled. It was, but I was surprised I didn't have any close encounters with them like the night before.

Sheep in the distance.

The cows on the other hand...they were a bit too close. 

Cows in your face.

Also, as to be expected, lots of animal poop dodging on the run. (Not photographed, you're welcome.)

Constant climbing and gate passing

Trail running can feel like an obstacle course at times, and this race definitely did with constant gates to open or walls to climb over. Or narrow bridges across streams to run over.

I didn't count, but it must have been 2 to 3 gates or walls I had to get through per mile. 

One of the many wall climbs of this race.

Thistles, narrow paths, and varied terrain

The race had varied terrain. It started on a trail, went immediately to road, then up into paths in the Dales.

For the first 4 miles of so, things felt quite easy, even the inclines. Things started getting more difficult when paths started narrowing in.

This first happened in a part of the Dales lined with thistles. Thistles aren't exactly smooth. They have sharp prickles. So trudging through a narrow path lined with them was a bit nerve-wracking.

Crossing the thistle paths.

I then got to experience this with other plants as the route moved to lower ground and we had to run along narrow paths alongside the River Ribble. 

Getting onto the riverside paths.

I think I managed to get away without any stings or poisonous plants touching me.

But these narrow paths ended up being the first places along the route where I had to walk. They were ripe for causing injury.

Pretty bridge crossing.

That said, the varied terrain in general could have done that. I found it difficult to transition back and forth between different types of trail and road.

Going from trail to paved road felt especially painful and tiresome.

Killer inclines in the second half

While my only time spent walking in the first half was on narrow paths, I finally was defeated by hills I had to walk from just before mile 10.

While hills are normally my specialty, my body could not runs these inclines this far in to a tough, multi-terrain race. 

I happily took the opportunity to walk up all the remaining hills of the race.

Not running up that hill.

Well, I didn't run up with one exception - when I noticed the photographer snapping pics. Had to make myself look good, of course.

Running for the picture.

Am I going the right way?

The final theme of this race was constantly questioning if I was going the right way, right until the last mile.

The organizers had uploaded the route to Google and OS Maps, but every time I tried to load them during the race when I wasn't sure where I was going, it didn't work. Probably due to weak signal.

I tried to keep running fast enough to keep sight of someone in front of me and follow them.

The route did have these small yellow flags telling you where to go, but at some points, I couldn't tell what direction it was telling me to go in.

The yellow flags pointing out where to go.

I'd sometimes wait for a runner behind me to catch up and wait to see where they were going.

I thought once I got into Settle I'd know where I was going, but a half mile from the end, there was no arrow telling me where to go. I stopped one more time try to upload the route map, but to no avail. 

I don't know if I went the right way in the end, but I ended up finishing at 16.02 miles (in 3:35:43), so at least I got the right mileage in.

Not too far from the finish.

Race weekend reflections

All in all, I'm really pleased with how I did during the 16 miles. Considering how much walking I did on the route, I'm impressed with the pace I had while running, especially on trails.

It's also been a while since I've had a running trip to somewhere I haven't been before, so it felt great being adventurous Lauren again, not knowing where I was going half the time, both during the race and the journey over.

Adventurous Lauren running her best life.

I still can't get over the fact I put Edinburgh to Settle into Google Maps, followed the instructions for how to get here by bus, and it all worked out. 

A 10-hour bus journey definitely wasn't ideal, but it was worth it in the end. 

A train journey back from Settle, thankfully.

Next race

Yorkshire Marathon

Another Yorkshire race, but this time for my 2nd marathon.