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We hadn’t intended going walking, but the prospect of a fine afternoon made us change our mind and we hurried across to Aysgarth National Park Centre to do a walk I had identified on the map.
Heading down to the Upper Falls a good path veers to the right of the falls picnic area and winds through hedges and woods before reaching the edge of a field.
After that the path wasn’t visible across the fields in a lot of places and we almost turned back along with another couple of walkers. Clearly, if a path isn’t part of a walk described in guide, then it’ll be ignored by most walkers.
If you trust the map and follow the signs for Askrigg, it’s a very pleasant walk across fields, along the river bank and along parts of the old railway track up Wensleydale.
Part of old Wensleydale railway track
The river Ure
Barn in Wensleydale
There had obviously been some very high floods, judging by the debris left by the river, high up the fields and riverbank, but after some recent dry weather, some of the small becks were waterless, with stepping stones left high and dry.
Dried up stream
Stepping Stones
River Ure
Old Railway Track
Nearer Askrigg, many of the fields were yellow with buttercups and we saw some of the best wildflower meadows I’ve seen for a long time.
Barn and Buttercups near Askrigg
Wild Flowers
We took the road North out of Askrigg and at the top of the steepest bank, cut across more buttercup yellow fields, passing through Newbiggin and slanting up through a small wood to join High Straights Lane.
Ancient Gate near Askrigg
Path across Field of buttercups near Newbiggin
Yellow Fields near Newbiggin
High Straights Lane
By then, it was after 4.00pm and was getting very hot and we had to zip the bottom parts of our trousers back on and cover our necks. The route follows the lane East along the hillside, with good views south across Wensleydale, then along Oxclose road, before cutting down to Carperby.
Scenery along High Straights Lane
Looking East along Wensleydale from near Woodhall
View West along Wensleydale from near Woodhall
Eller Beck
Waterfall on Eller Beck
Oxclose Road
Carperby from the track to Oxclose Road
From Carperby, we walked South across fields back to Aysgarth car park.
Hawthorn Blossom near Carperby
It’s an excellent walk, certainly so in dry weather, but there was enough evidence to suggest that the path up the valley to Askrigg could be wet in places after rain. We didn’t count the number of the extremely narrow “stiles” we had to pass through, some with gates on, but there was a lot and it wasn’t possible to manage without scraping our boots and legs at times. The Dales walks must be difficult for some that are less mobile than others, certainly you have to be quite agile and fairly slim to squeeze through some of these gaps. Some were narrower at the bottom than my own boots.
Amazingly, in the whole 7 hours we were out, we only saw 7 other walkers (other than in Askrigg). Maybe if this walk were to find its way into a guide book, it would be well used.
