Take one stop on the train and return at your leisure. There are opportunities for lunch on the way as well as the chance to learn about the history of the dale.

Take the train from Settle (where there is plenty of nearby parking) and join the regular two hourly Settle to Carlisle service. On arrival at the attractive train station at Horton cross the lines and head down the road towards the centre of the village.

River Ribble at Little Stainforth

Directly ahead is the distinctive profile of Pen-y-Ghent, one of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks. However, that walk is for another day. Before reaching the river turn right through a narrow stile and start to walk alongside the River Ribble, heading initially back towards the station.

For the first two miles the footpath follows the Ribble Way close the river bank. The Ribble Way is not a popular long distance path and at one stage, after Cragg Hill Farm, the path is too faint to follow, At this stage cross the field to meet a lane back at the river bank, follow it under the train lines and join a minor road leading in to Helwith Bridge.

Dominating the views to your right is Dry Rigg quarry, the hard gritstone used for some of our country’s road building.

On meeting a busier road at the pub turn left and follow it for 600m where a much quieter road heads off to the left.

This moorland road climbs a little to provide wonderful views back towards Horton and Pen-y-Ghent. It winds its way over the moors for nearly a mile and a half and is the picture of a tranquil Dales scene.

The quarry at Little Stainforth. Images: Jonathan Smith

On arrival at the picturesque hamlet of Little Stainforth there is a very pleasant pub/café intriguingly known as the Knights Table. The name comes from the Stainforth estate where the manor house was owned by the Knights Templar in pre-Norman days.

Follow the narrow road past the holiday park to the river. Before arriving at the river turn right and arrive at the spectacular Stainforth Falls – well it was spectacular when I went after heavy rains!

From the falls pass through a gate on to an open field and past a notice board. At the end of the field join a footpath which winds its way initially above the river but eventually dropping down towards it.

A mile-and-a-half from the falls arrive at a weir on the river. The weir was built to provide power for the Langcliffe cotton mill on the far bank, one of a number of mills up the Ribble Valley. Turn right at the weir and follow a lane in to Stackhouse.

Just before meeting the road there is a weather stone on your right (consistently wet recently). Turn left on to the road. After 500m take the footpath on your left which returns alongside the river, past the school playing fields and joins Settle just before the road bridge leading to its centre.

He sketch map shows two extensions to this walk. The first is an initial climb of Pen-y-Ghent dropping down to Helwith Bridge whilst the second shows an extension from Helwith Bridge to Feizor.

Fact Box:

Horton to Settle map

Distance: Roughly eight miles.

Height to Climb: 150m (490 feet)

Start: SD 803726. At Horton head towards the centre of the village (there are toilets at the car park) but join the riverside path before crossing the river.

Difficulty: Medium. Straightforward walk on good paths, tracks and some minor road walking.

Refreshments: The Helwith Bridge Inn and Knights Table at Little Stainforth offer pleasant stops en route.

Be Prepared: The route description and sketch map only provide a guide to the walk. You must take out and be able to read a map (O/S Explorer OL2) and in cloudy/misty conditions a compass. You must also wear the correct clothing and footwear for the outdoors. Whilst every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers head out at their own risk.

Please observe the Countryside Code and park sensibly.

* Jonathan runs Where2walk, a walking company based in the Yorkshire Dales:

He has written four books on walking in the Dales; ‘The Yorkshire 3 Peaks’, ‘Walks without Stiles, ‘The Dales 30’ mountains a guide to ‘The Bracken Way. Please visit Where2walk where you can buy the books.

Next Events: September 26 Beginners/Refresher Navigation Course (Long Preston). October 10 Guided climb of Fountain/Darnbrook Fell, two of the Dales 30 mountains. Book via Where2walk.

You can buy Dales 30 Guide Book, T-shirts and caps from the new Dales 30 website. Start the challenge today.

Where2walk.co.uk features hundreds of walks with descriptions across Yorkshire and beyond, from easy strolls to harder climbs. Visit the website for details of all these walks.

Michelle Keegan was heard joking about what her latest crime drama, The Blame, wouldn’t have needed if it were filmed in Manchester.

From Sunday (September 20), the actress, who was born in Stockport and brought up in Irlam, Salford, will be seen leading The Blame, the latest drama on ITV.

The six-part series is based on the 2023 thriller of the same name by author Charlotte Langley and sees former Coronation Street star Michelle take on the role of DI Emma Crane, marking her return to ITV for the first time since 2017, while her co-star, The Sandman and The Dirt star Douglas Booth, portrays DI Tom Radley.

The Blame follows the detective duo, from Wakestead Police Station, during their investigation into the death of a teenage figure skater, and the series “dives into secrets, suspicion and systemic corruption – all under the surface of a seemingly quiet town”.

Speaking about why she took on the role, Michelle told the Manchester Evening News and other press at a screening: “Well, first of all, I read the script. I mean, like Nicola said, like, Megan’s [Gallagher] a fantastic writer and it just got me hooked to the end. I just wanted to carry on reading it. I was like, ‘This is a project I definitely want to be on board with!’”

She added: “Emma as a character, you know, she’s a very strong female in a male-dominated environment, and I feel like she holds her own. She’s one of those girls who will take no nonsense, and I just found that so exciting. We love to see it, and there’s not enough of it on screen. So, I was very excited for the opportunity.”

While Michelle has taken on many roles, such as army medic Georgie Lane in the BBC’s Our Girl and ex-army captain Maya Stern in Netflix’s adaptation of Harlen Coben’s Fool Me Once, The Blame marks her first time playing anyone in the police force, and there is an interesting connection.

“My dad was in the police force since he was 17,” she revealed. “He was an inspector, so I used to go to him and go, ‘Dad, what do you think about this? and when i was doing like the meeting scenes like, ‘How would you talk to people in the police force and how was your body language?’ and I used to go to him quite a lot actually for resources.”

But she also had the support of her co-star, Douglas. Michelle shared: “If I was struggling one day, which happened a few times, with my lines, because it’s very police terminology and you have to get it spot on every single time, he would always have my back, always.”

Comparing it to her character, she went on: “Even if I fluff a few lines, he would make me feel very, very calm about it, and I wouldn’t spiral. Emma would spiral. I never spiralled, and that was because of Doug. So yeah, he was very good like that.”

In the first episode, The Blame viewers will see the heavy presence of rain, something which Michelle revealed had to be added in and compared it to her home city. “That was a rain machine. You won’t believe it. I was in London, I was going to say in Manchester, we wouldn’t have needed a rain machine.

“It was an all day. We were wet through all day. And I’d get very, very cold. I had that many heat packs all over my body. But you just get used to it after a bit. We filmed it quite early on, I think… But it actually wasn’t as bad as it actually looked, I’ll be honest. Been through worse, I’d say.”

The Blame airs on ITV on Sunday, September 20, with episode two following on Monday, September 21. It will also be available as a box set from the morning of September 20.

After months of training, outfit deliberations and constant weather forecast checking, the day is here – Phoenix Energy Belfast City Half Marathon 2026.

More than 8,500 runners will take to the streets of Belfast this morning with spectators already beginning to set up their cheer stations along the 13.1-mile course.

The Phoenix Energy Belfast City Half Marathon gets underway at 9am, starting from Ormeau Embankment.

The derby carries particular significance because of Real’s recent difficulties at the Metropolitano, where they have won only two of their past 11 away matches, with the last in La Liga four years ago.

Atleti also won the corresponding derby last season 5-2 – a result that represented an early setback for Real’s previous project under Xabi Alonso.

This time, though, there is a different manager on the touchline.

Mourinho’s return this summer has brought a familiar emphasis on organisation and adaptability, but he insisted his tactical approach is dictated by the players available to him rather than a fixed philosophy.

“I’ve evolved alongside my players,” he said. “You have what you like and don’t like as a manager but then you have to work with the group of players you have.”

Simeone’s assessment of Real’s biggest weapon was clear.

“They’re better in transition than us,” said the Argentine, who has managed Atleti in over 800 games since taking charge in 2011.

He believes Real’s ability to turn winning the ball into instant attacking opportunities will be one of the key tactical elements in the game.

“When there’s a loss of possession, they look for [Kylian] Mbappe and Vinicius Jr, they play to that strength,” added Simeone.

“We have to read the game well and not allow any turnovers, so we don’t allow them to use those transitions.”

It is a warning that carries weight given the attacking options and speed available to Mourinho.

France striker Mbappe remains the focal point, while Vinicius Jr provides another route into space.

Real also have the quality to change the game from the bench, something the 21-year-old Espi has already demonstrated since his summer arrival from Levante.

1) Not only had Hugh Jackman not read the X-Men comics before Wolverine, he reportedly didn’t even know wolverines existed

2) Ella Bruccoleri thought Austen was “posh” before landing The Other Bennett Sister

3) Billy Burke had no idea about Twilight before he accepted the role of Charlie Swan

4) Viggo Mortensen only accepted the role of Aragorn because his son was a Lord of the Rings super-fan

5) If you think that’s bad, Elijah Wood only started the Lord of the Rings books this year

6) Ewan McGregor never read Jane Austen’s Emma before playing Frank Churchill

7) Maisie Williams wasn’t deemed old enough to read Game of Thrones when she joined the HBO show (which is fair enough, really)

8) Rebecca Ferguson didn’t finish Dune before playing Lady Jessica

From the Brontës’ Haworth to Jane Austen’s Bath, Wordsworth’s Lake District and Thomas Hardy’s Dorset, literary places continue to exert a powerful hold over readers.

Literary tourism appears to be enjoying renewed popularity, from visits inspired by classic novels to the TikTok trend of turning books into travel itineraries. But what exactly are literary tourists hoping to find when they get there? The answer is more complicated than it might seem.

Haworth, Bath and Dorset all exist, obviously. They can be found on a map and visited. But the Brontë moors, Austen’s Bath, Wordsworth’s Lakes and Hardy’s Wessex are also literary reimaginings of those places. They may never have existed in quite the form readers imagine.

Our fascination with literary places has a long history. Literary geography, which combines physical geography with literary studies, emerged in the late 19th century as the novel grew in popularity and, in many ways, grew alongside literary tourism.

In 1899, William Lyon Phelps created his Literary Map of England, marking locations associated with authors and literary works. A few years later, William Sharp’s Literary Geography (1904) mapped regions such as “Dickens land”, “the Brontë country” and the literary geography of the English lakes.

These early literary maps invited readers to see where fictional and geographical worlds appeared to overlap. More than a century later, readers are still seeking those points of intersection.

Thomas Hardy’s Wessex offers a notable example. Hardy borrowed and invented place names to create a fictional territory mapped onto the geography of southern England. Readers soon came to regard this invented landscape as real. Guides to its literary landmarks even appeared during his lifetime, prompting Hardy to worry that readers were taking his landscape too literally.

Wessex was, in Hardy’s words, a “partly real, partly dream” country: an amalgamation of imagined and real-world geography. That dream country continues to attract visitors. In 2025, a Guardian article described a walking pilgrimage through Hardy’s Dorset in search of the landscapes associated with his fiction.

The novelist V.S. Naipaul offers an insight into why literary places can become so powerful. Reflecting on reading Dickens as a child in Trinidad, Naipaul wrote of how Dickens created “a city of fantasy” that readers could reconstruct using what they already knew to imagine what they did not.

What’s remarkable about Naipaul’s observation is that it turns conventional assumptions about realism upside down. Dickens’s achievement was not simply that he described London accurately. His language was open enough to allow readers to create their own version of the city.

The London in a reader’s head could therefore become as vivid as the one on a map.

Real versus imagined

When visitors reach Haworth, Grasmere or Dorset, they are not encountering those places for the first time. They have already visited them in their imagination. Their version of the landscape has been assembled from books, films, photographs, places they have visited and other cultural references. When they arrive, they compare the physical location with that imagined one.

The feeling that emerges from this comparison might be described as “anemoia”, a term coined by writer John Koenig to describe “nostalgia for a time you’ve never known”. Naipaul’s account of reading Dickens suggests a spatial equivalent: a longing for a place never personally experienced.

Literary tourism is one expression of this process. Readers do not simply consume literary landscapes but participate in creating them in their imagination. This may be particularly true of 19th-century realism. Realist writers sought to represent the social and geographical world around them, but their novels still depended on selection, omission and invention.

Do museums blur fact and fiction?

Many of the most popular literary destinations are writers’ houses. They promise access to authors and to the origins of literary works: the room where a novel was written, the house where a writer lived or the landscape believed to have inspired it.

In this sense, literary pilgrimage attempts to anchor literature in geography. Yet these sites rarely draw a clear line between life and art. Instead, they often weave biography and fiction together. At Haworth, visitors move through domestic spaces associated with the Brontë family while simultaneously encountering the imaginative worlds of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights.

The Brontë Parsonage museum in Haworth derives much of its power from bringing biography, landscape, family tragedy and fiction together in one place. Jane Austen’s house at Chawton makes a similar move. Its director has described how visitors seek intimacy with Austen through the house and hope to enter the world of her novels.

Some literary sites go further by giving geographical form to places that never existed at all. Sherlock Holmes’s famous address, 221B Baker Street, appears not to have corresponded to a real house when Arthur Conan Doyle began writing the Holmes stories. Indeed, the address itself was impossible within the street numbering system of the time.

Today, however, visitors can tour the Sherlock Holmes Museum – located at a now very real 221B Baker Street – as though Holmes really lived there. An imaginary location has become a geographical destination.

From the earliest maps of Dickens land and Brontë country to today’s literary pilgrimages, the goal has remained remarkably consistent: to find the point at which real and fictional worlds collide. Literary geography suggests that this point may never quite be reachable. Perhaps that is precisely why readers keep looking for it.

An Oldham man has shared why he has been involved in helping Coronation Street with its latest hard-hitting health storyline in which Kit Green has been seen being given a breast cancer diagnosis.

As viewers of the ITV soap, which is filmed in Salford, know, the diagnosis comes on the back of the death of Kit’s great-aunt, Celeste. Before she died, she made Kit’s half-sister, Gemma Winter-Brown, aware that the family may carry the familial BRCA gene.

Carrying a familial BRCA (Breast Cancer) gene mutation means inheriting a harmful change in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes from a parent, which significantly raises your lifetime risk of developing certain cancers.

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But as their mum, Bernie Winter-Alahan, and Gemma face testing, unbeknownst to them, Kit has already been seeking medical help due to concerns about his own health and was recently diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, something almost 500 men in the UK face every year.

The Coronation Street production team are working closely with Macmillan Cancer Support and Breast Cancer Now to accurately portray Kit’s cancer while raising awareness of the very real risks of the illness amongst men.

Although male breast cancer is real, it is rare, and as it accounts for less than one per cent of all breast cancer cases, many men do not realise they can get it, which leads to embarrassment, delayed diagnoses, and higher mortality rates.

David is among those men who have received their own diagnosis. He was 62 when he was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in 2019.

He explains: “I went to the doctor at first about the fatty breast issue, medically known as gynecomastia, but was told, ‘It’ll never come to anything’. Then I had an inverted nipple, so I went back to the GP and got a referral for a biopsy and tests. I was diagnosed with an invasive ductal carcinoma grade 3.

“I had a mastectomy and then axillary clearance, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy. My first thought was how was I going to tell my wife and my sons.” David adds: “In 2022, I had a repair to my original mastectomy site, and a risk-reducing mastectomy to the other side as I tested positive for BRCA 2.”

According to Macmillan, the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes usually protect us from cancer. A variant in either of these genes reduces the level of protection. Over time, this may mean some types of cancer are more likely to develop. For men, and people assigned male at birth, who have a BRCA2 gene variant, they have a higher risk of developing prostate, breast and pancreatic cancer.

The cancer spread to David’s lungs in 2023, so it is now classed as stage 4 breast cancer. The cancer is treatable but incurable. “I’ve been told treatment is available until it either doesn’t work, or my body can’t take it or the side effects,” he says. “The purpose of these meds is to prolong life and sadly not cure. Cancer will eventually overcome the meds and build a resistance and sadly return. Until then, we fight on.”

Following his diagnosis, David has received support from Macmillan through welfare advice and grants, specialist nurses, the Support Line, community forum and the local Macmillan support service in Oldham.

“With Macmillan, it felt like someone was fighting my corner, particularly after I was made redundant and I felt like I was a man with breast cancer in a world where no one wants me,” David shares. “My specialist breast cancer nurse at The Christie gave me permission to be myself. I don’t have to hide anything or pretend nothing’s bothering me. You become yourself, and that’s all because she allows you to do that.”

Now, David is using his own experience to help others. “I’m a cancer champion for an organisation in Manchester which targets harder to reach groups that don’t attend screening programmes,” he explains. “There’s no screening programme for men. I say to the ladies, please go along, it might be uncomfortable, but it’s a few minutes, and then you could be told you have it, or thank God you haven’t. But by raising awareness to women, off the back of that, they can remind men to do the same thing and check [their] breast tissue.”

He adds: “People often don’t realise that the [Macmillan] helpline is there and the forums, because if you don’t have cancer, why would you look for these things? I used Macmillan forums a lot when I was first diagnosed and used to call the support line a lot to get support on side effects.

“They have always given me the right advice at the right time and been a lifeline. Macmillan is amazing at signposting, which shows they are supporting the person affected by cancer and have their best interests at heart.”

It has led David to work with the Corrie cast recently on Kit’s male breast cancer storyline. “I am involved in some exciting social media activity as part of the Macmillan partnership with Coronation Street,” he shares. “I am pleased that Coronation Street are running this storyline because it increases the awareness about breast cancer in men and highlights that men can and do get this cancer.

“I know myself, seven years on from my primary diagnosis, that there are still men who don’t realise that men can get breast cancer. Those people see the illness as a female condition and don’t equate that while men don’t have a lot of breast tissue, there’s enough to develop breast cancers and it can run in families. Men might be more likely to have more awareness if family members have had or died through having certain cancers.”

He adds: “Talking about these things saves lives and this story being on prime-time TV will absolutely help people. Even if it’s a female telling her spouse, brother, or father, ‘I told you men can get it!’”

Diversions will be put in place

A road will completely close for a month as part of the Black Cat roundabout roadworks. Roadworks are ongoing on the A428 Black Cat roundabout to transform it into a three-tier grade separated junction.

As a result, multiple road closures have been put in place while the work has been going on. The latest road closure will be on Barford Road in Little Barford between Friday, September 25 and Monday, October 19.

National Highways will be carrying out the works. In a letter to Abbotsley Parish Council, a National Highways spokesperson said: “Barford Road, Little Barford, will be closed from 9pm on Friday, September 25 until 6am on Monday, October 19 2026.

“This closure is needed so we can carry out drainage works and final tie-in works for the new alignment safely. The road will be closed 24 hours a day for the duration of these works. Access for residents within the closure area will be maintained. Please be advised, there will be no through route between St Neots and Tempsford via Barford Road, Little Barford Road during this period.”

During the works, National Highways will remove the existing road surface, install deep drainage, kerbs and the road base, build a new access to residential properties, and complete the final surfacing and white lining.

National Highways added: “We will make every effort to complete these works as quickly as possible, however, please note that all dates are subject to change due to weather conditions and operational requirements. We appreciate that this may cause some inconvenience and thank you in advance for your patience and understanding while we carry out these essential works.”

Diversion routes will be in place during the roadworks:

• From A1 northbound: Traffic will continue on the northbound and join the A428 eastbound at Wyboston. Traffic will continue eastbound along the A428;
• From A428 westbound: Traffic will continue heading west along the A428 before heading south on the A1. Traffic can then leave the A1 at Tempsford.

Haxby Town Council published a guide with a reminder to residents on its website on Monday, September 14 with a distinction given between anti-social behaviour and criminal offences.

A council spokesperson said it is working actively with North Yorkshire Police, ward councillors, the deputy mayor for policing, fire and crime for York and North Yorkshire, and the MP for York Outer Luke Charters to reduce incidences of crime and anti-social behaviour.

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Back in the Autumn last year Luke Charters was in Haxby filming a piece for Channel 4 about anti-social behaviour on the high street.

Mr Charters said at the time he’d been working hard to tackle the issue over the past year alongside Deputy Mayor Jo Coles and had been filming for a piece that aired on The Political Slot on Channel 4.

In May 2025, North Yorkshire Police identified Ethel Ward Playing Field in Haxby as one of the county’s anti-social behaviour hotspots but at the time said targeted enforcement had helped cut incidents significantly.

In a statement, a Haxby Town Council spokesperson said: “We receive police ASB reports every month and discuss these at every meeting.

“Recently, the local police and PCSO attended one of our meetings and it is clear that there has been a spike in ASB nationally – and Haxby is not immune to this.

“However, we were pleased to hear that North Yorkshire Police are expecting an increase in newly-trained and recruited police officers, which should improve police presence and availability.”

The council said its website advice is essentially provided as guidance for which incidents should be reported to 101, or in emergencies to make a 999 call.

The spokesperson added: “If incidents are not properly reported then we cannot expect a police response.

“We actively encourage our residents to continue to report ASB incidents as this enables more police presence in the area. 

“Posting on social media and comments on press articles will not be captured by the police so residents need to ensure they report through the official channels to ensure long term action is successful.

“Police advise us to use the 101 phone number, as call wait times are much improved.”

The council said it, alongside Wigginton Parish Council, funds youth services through the Haxby and Wigginton Youth and Community Association, which provides youth workers at Oaken Grove Community Centre.

This support aims to keep young people engaged and reduce incidents of ASB, the spokesperson said.

The council said it will continue working with police, bus services, and youth projects to address the problem.

Suggestions under consideration include improved street lighting, clearer sight lines, and the potential installation of CCTV cameras.

The council spokesperson added: “Separately, following ASB incidents earlier this year, we are also looking at ways to prevent vehicular access to the Ethel Ward Playing Field.

“We are optimistic that newly refurbished courts will mean more people using the playing field more often; and this we hope will discourage isolated incidents of bad behaviour.”