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We parked the car on a gravelled area opposite the Tan Hill Inn, North Yorkshire and set off South on the Pennine Way, towards the village of Keld.. At first the way is a stony track which rises gently over Stonesdale Moor for a few hundred yards where the track veers left and the Pennine Way, now a mainly grassy track continues Southwards. It was a warm hazy day, but there were some decent views across a small tarn towards the moors on the other side of the valley.
The track was great to walk on, short-cropped grass, with occasional softer areas that indicated this would be quite boggy during wet weather. There were the constant sounds of moorland birds, Grouse, Lapwing and Curlew, to keep us company and we met a few groups of walkers heading North on the Pennine Way. At one point, the track descends more steeply to Lad Gill, where there’s a small stone bridge with a solitary pedestrian gate that you can either go through or around.
We stopped here for a bite to eat and to take in the moorland views and sounds. Just upstream from the bridge, there’s a small stone building and some sheepfolds.
We set off again on a wide grassy track, which was rising gently for while before levelling off high above Stonesdale Beck. After about a mile, we passed through the first of many gates that we were to go through that day and entered a narrow, stony lane, bounded by high stone walls with occasional stone barns.
There were views down in to the valley, where sheep and lambs grazed and more small barns dotted the valley sides and floor.
After a short distance on a farm access road, the track again became grassy and started to descend gradually towards Keld, sometimes across open fields and sometimes between stone walls, in sunken lanes.
Rather than go through Keld and walk along the busy main road, we turned off up the North side of the valley on a stony bridleway, with good views down onto the river Swale, where there were a few campsites and people sitting by the river. The track was easy going, and there were lots of wild spring flowers - blackthorn, primroses and violets - on the grassy banks, with sheep and lambs dotted around the fields..
After about a mile, the bridleway ends at the main road and on the other side, a footpath continues along the top of a long line of cliffs which drop sheer into the valley floor. The cliff tops are heavily wooded and are fenced off, but at regular intervals there are chasms which come near to the path, giving brief views down to the Swale. There were some quite muddy bits at these gullies, even after a long dry spell. Eventually, the cliffs stop and the path joins a farm track which divides in two, the right hand branch being the way ahead. This track ends at an old building and our way continued as a grassy and sometimes boggy path, crossing the moor above the gorge of How Edge Scars on the East side of Whitsundale.
Eventually, our main reason for this walk came into view - Ravenseat Farm. We had seen two TV documentaries that mentioned the delicious teas and cream scones that could be bought here. First we passed a small waterfall, with a stone barn nearby and lambs and hens in the field - a very relaxing scene.
We paid our £3 each and were served by one of the farm children, with a home baked scone each, fresh cream, homemade raspberry jam and a mug of hot tea, all eaten at a picnic table on a green by the farmhouse, in the warm afternoon sunshine - life was never better.
The path from Ravenseat to Tan Hill is waymarked and after passing some farm buildings, it follows steeply up the side of Lock Gill, then the angle eases a bit, with the path heading for a TV aerial on the horizon. It’s a good, grassy track, which looks as though it will rarely be boggy . It’s wild, fairly featureless moorland up here and it would be unadvisable to try and cross it in snowy weather as there’s lots of peat hags not too far from the path.
After passing a small, roofless shelter, the path crosses the side of a hill before following a straight line along Thomas Gill Rigg (not by the beck as shown on OS Get a Map)
then turning right, down the side of a deep ravine to reach Stonesdale Beck.
Once over the bridge, turn left and follow the beck to a small waterfall by an old sheepfold,
then turn right and follow the left bank of Tan Gill, quite steeply for most of the way, up to the tarmac road, which leads to Tan Hill Inn..
