Trailblazer Guide Books

Wonderful handbooks
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History

Managing to construct such a lovely and relatively level trail through some of England’s bumpiest landscapes takes a certain sort of genius, and the person in possession of that genius was Colin Speakman, who together with his friend Tom Wilcock and Colin’s wife Fleur developed the trail, beginning back in the late ’60s. The actual trail has been changed and improved several times down the years as access to new land and routes has become available; though these days the alterations are far less frequent, and far less dramatic too as the path become more established and recognised. And with the change to the national park boundaries in 2016 (see p50), who knows, it may change again so that people walking the Dales Way need never leave a national park throughout the walk’s entire length!

Though Tom is sadly no longer with us, Colin Speakman continues to play an active part in the life of the trail and is the chair of the Dales Way Association, whose website (web www.dales way.org) is the best place to get updates on the state of the trail and any temporary diversions that have been put in place.

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