Brigantes Walking & Cycling Holidays

02/04/2025

A tribal queen, a messy divorce & divided loyalties... The Richmondshire village of Melsonby has been in the spotlight recently for the remarkable hoard of Iron Age artefacts that showed how Northern territories, in particular Yorkshire, were anything but lowly backwaters.

Just when the Romans invaded our shores, Yorkshire was ruled by the Iron Age Brigantes, a Celtic tribe with Cartimandua at the helm, the first documented Queen to rule part of the British Isles, who was married to Venutius until their acrimonious divorce. After this, the cracks in the Brigantes stronghold started to appear with Cartimandua favouring an allegiance with the Romans while Venutius whipped up anti-Roman sentiment among other tribes.

At Forcett in Richmondshire, close to Melsonby, you can see the ruins of the Stanwick fortification, which many believe was the capital city for the Brigantes tribe, but there are Iron Age clues throughout the Yorkshire Dales.

On the top of Ingleborough, at over 2,300 feet above sea level, the Brigantes built one of the highest hill forts and settlements in the region, to defend themselves against the Romans. With views out across the surrounding dales and Ribblehead, it would have been a key strategic location and archaeological finds suggest it was also an important hub for trade, farming and social events.

At Tor D**e close to Cam Head above Kettlewell, there’s an ancient ditch earthwork which is believed to have been created in the Bronze Age but extended in the Iron Age by Venutius to defend the land from Roman invaders. You can follow a path right the way along the 2km d**e as it crosses the valley head between Wharfedale and Coverdale.

Alternatively head to Malham where there’s evidence of Iron Age burial sites near the Tarn, and settlements just outside the village on the hillside near Gordale. The arrangement of fields around the cove suggests the earliest date back to the Iron Age when land was divided into narrow strips although they were then subsequently overlain with the terracing and creation of lynchet steps in Medieval times.

Words by Amanda Brown, Photo by Paul Harris

14/01/2025

For anyone wondering where Brigantes got our name!

Approximate distribution of Celtic tribes in Britain and Ireland, circa 50 BC. Maps usually cause a bun fight, so keep your eye out for flying buns.....

https://ruralhistoria.com/2023/07/04/iron-age-tracks/

27/08/2024

A reminder of how beautiful the North of England is from Annette’s trip up to Bellingham! ❤️

09/07/2024

I would like to introduce you to the new owners of Brigantes, Harry & Anne Marshall. They are taking over the business to allow me to spend some time with my family and my beautiful new granddaughter. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the wonderful office staff who have worked with me over the years – all of whom are very good friends and I look forward to having more time to spend with them outside work. I would also like to thank the drivers past and present who have been so reliable and supportive, the accommodation providers and the clients who have supported me for the last 10 years, and my parents and I for the 20 years before that. I consider many of you to be friends even though I have never met a lot of you!

Most importantly I need to thank my family for their unstinting support and putting up with my exhaustion and lack of attention at times! Brigantes will continue as is, just with different captains on the ship, and I will be here for a few more weeks to ensure there is a smooth transition. This has been a huge decision to make but I feel that now is the right time for me to spend some time arranging my own holidays! Please keep supporting Brigantes, Harry & Anne are lovely people, with so much more energy than I have these days!

A message from Harry & Anne:

We are Harry & Anne, the proud new owners of Brigantes!

First and foremost, we want to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Annette, for her incredible support and for building such a fantastic business. Thank you, Annette, for everything you have done to make Brigantes what it is today.

To our past and present walkers, we cannot thank you enough for your continued trust and support. We are committed to providing the same top-notch service you have come to expect. We will continue to build on the strong foundation Annette and her team have created and strive to make Brigantes even better! We look forward to many more wonderful walks and adventures together!

Happy walking!

09/07/2024

"We completed The Dales Way last week and just wanted to thank you so much for transferring our baggage, absolutely superb service (some of our accommodation wasn't at all obvious!), but on every occasion we arrived to find the bags were already there, we literally couldn't have done it without you.
Best advice to those thinking of doing the walk would be, carry some ration packs/pot noodles as backup as we found there were a couple of nights where sourcing food was tricky. This did not always reflect on the quality of accommodation merely the location which could be quite isolated. We found the mileage was further than we had researched or read about and signage was sporadic so a written guide was VERY helpful!!"

The Dales Way follows attractive paths through the Dales and Lakes for 78 miles, from Ilkley to Bowness on Windermere

08/07/2024

"A great walk, especially this time of year when the wild flowers are great. The scenery is stunning and even a fair bit of wet weather didn’t spoil it. There are lots of lovely Yorkshire B & Bs and pubs to stay in or enjoy a meal along the way. The service from Brigantes was excellent as always."

The Dales Way follows attractive paths through the Dales and Lakes for 78 miles, from Ilkley to Bowness on Windermere

03/07/2024

"Brigantes organized a wonderful solo walking trip me which I enjoyed in May. I wanted to walk most of the High Dales Way but end up in Ambleside to meet a friend. Annette customized a walking holiday for me with 5 days walking on the High Dales Way and then 2 subsequent days on the Dales Way. In addition, I wanted to avoid taxi transfers and Annette was able to accommodate this request. She responded to emails promptly and provided excellent information for planning purposes. The GPX tracks were indispensable during the walk and I did not expect that would be included. There was an interesting mix of accommodation with very hospitable hosts and the luggage transfers were reliable. I was able to ascend Ingelborough, Whernside and walk the ridges of the Howgills as part of the walk. I appreciate that Annette was attentive to the details and organized the walk according to my requests."

The Dales High Way is an exhilarating 90 mile walk, from Saltaire across the glorious high country of the Yorkshire Dales

02/07/2024

"Baggage transfer and accommodation and food were excellent. The limestone section and the excellent ridge walk along the Howgills were the highlights, as well as the inn at Chapel le Dale after a wet climb up Ingleborough."

The Dales High Way is an exhilarating 90 mile walk, from Saltaire across the glorious high country of the Yorkshire Dales

01/07/2024

Out today! The 12th edition of Colin Speakman's Dales Way guide. Colin created the route with the late Tom Wilcock over 50 years ago and has been writing about it, talking about it and walking along it ever since. Colin’s deep affection for the Dales Way and his lifetime love of the Yorkshire Dales shines through this book. That’s what makes this guide so unique – no one else could have written it.
https://daleswaynews.wordpress.com/

01/07/2024

"Yorkshire Wolds Way is a beautiful walk. Thoroughly enjoyed it. It is well sign-posted but the digital OS map is always useful. I don't recommend the low tide route for final stretch of the Humber foreshore unless the mud is really dry. Baggage transfer was efficient and the accommodation excellent."

The Yorkshire Wold Way is a gentle 78 mile walk through the chalk hills, from the Humber estuary to the dramatic Cleveland coast

24/06/2024

The 63 miles Northumberland Coast Path follows this beautiful, rugged coastline through an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

24/06/2024

"The Northumberland Coast walk took us through beautiful countryside and nature reserves, along miles of quiet beaches passing stunning castles and historic coastal towns What more could we ask for!
Brigantes arranged for us to stay in delightful villages along the way where we were given a warm welcome on our arrival by our hosts. Our luggage was transferred each day to our following destination without any delays along the way.
We have booked through Brigantes previously and will certainly use their services again. They were quick to organise our route, accommodation and luggage transfer. Everything in the itinerary was planned thoroughly and all contact details were set out clearly.
We would like to thank all the staff at Brigantes for all their help planning our holiday and making it a walk to remember."

The 63 miles Northumberland Coast Path follows this beautiful, rugged coastline through an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty

21/06/2024

This afternoons addition to the Brigantes team ❤️

21/06/2024

"We have been on a number of long distance walks and are finding the best companies to arrange each walk are local ones. having done the Dales Way I am glad we chose Brigantes. They were recommended to us when we were doing the Cleveland Way. The admin was excellent, the accommodation very good and where we could also get evening meals. Breakfasts were excellent and just what we needed prior to each days walk. We only needed to meet one taxi as the majority of the accommodation was very close to the route. Will certainly use them again."

The Dales Way follows attractive paths through the Dales and Lakes for 78 miles, from Ilkley to Bowness on Windermere

19/06/2024

"We did this walk over 7 days from 9 to 15 June 2024. Experienced walkers, but never use a company for accommodation and baggage transfers in the past. Can’t praise Brigantes highly enough. From our initial enquiry they have been fantastic. We had 8 nights accommodation and the standard throughout was superb and all were happy to welcome sometimes bedraggled walkers. Baggage transfers 100% efficient, on the one occasion we arrived at our hotel before our bags the courier had rang ahead to give a time of arrival and was spot on. I’ve walked in the Lake District for over 50 yrs but this route took me to parts I’d never before visited. I would say day two from Nether Wasdale to Buttermere is a good bit longer than the 12.9 miles suggested on our itinerary, it wouldn’t be a problem for experienced fell walkers. On most days our OS route recorder, recorded slightly higher than the given itinerary. The only bits of the walk we didn’t like were firstly on day 6 the last 3.5 miles into Cliburn are along a fairly busy and fast road, not always with verges to walk on. Day 7 the last mile into Appleby the clearly marked bridle way was completely overgrown, we had to pick our way through waist high undergrowth and ankle deep mud and at one point a gate with a public right of way sign on it had been fastened closed. Very small irritations and the sort of thing experienced walkers will be all too familiar with. Overall an amazing walk and all praise to Brigantes"

The Cumberland Way runs for 73 miles, through the beautiful valleys and over the high passes of this old Lakeland county