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I was sceptical when told our annual holiday with my wife's brother and his wife would be in Yorkshire, but I was promised walks and country pubs so went along with it.
Sure enough, Swaledale turned out to be a smashing part of the world, the walking consistently interesting (even if I didn't have the satisfaction of ticking off Scottish summits!) and the country pubs at the end of the day fantastic with excellent beer considerably cheaper than north of the border. And, thanks partly to leaving my hat at home in Orkney, I came away with a really nice tan.
Kisdon Hill (499m)
English Marilyn: 2/174
Distance: 9.6km
Ascent: 399mWe started out from Muker, heading straight up the Pennine Way at a nice, steady pace instead of my usual solo head, down and charge into it method.
On a beautiful day we made steady progress until the path levelled out after a couple of kilometres. At that point, promising to meet Sally and Kathy at Kisdon Force, Martin and I cut off to join a parallel farm track that took us out onto the open plateau at the top of Kisdon.
From here it was a case of calculating the best route over to the summit, mostly through calf-high heather and across/through a couple of stone walls. Eventually we reached the 499m top and the strangely phallic cairn. The views were excellent, the sunshine warm and we added a little Scottishness with a dram.
The downward route was a bit rough. My training on the Donalds told me 'if in doubt, follow a fence' so I cut across to a stone wall that seemed to head roughly downhill in the direction of Kisdon Force. It did, but we had to negotiate a wire-topped stone wall before we could join an atv track that took us back to the Pennine Way.
Lunch by the falls and much foot dangling in streams followed before we took the path on the other side of the River Swale, rising slightly before dropping down and along to the Farmer's Arms at Muker.
- Swaledale
- Starting out along the Pennine Way
- More Swaledale
- Really pleasant walking along the Pennine Way
- Kisdon cairn. Over-compensating?
- Looking over towards Rogan's Seat
- Looking back at the top of Kisdon Hill
- Looking down to Keld
- Cool water on a warm day
- A tumbledown "cow house"
- They love a waterfall in Yorkshire
- Old ruins - some connection to lead mining?
- Crackpot IPA. Recommended.
Great Shunner Fell (716m)
Hewitt: 6/316
English Marilyn: 3/174
Distance:14km
Ascent: 460.5mA couple of days later Sally and Kathy decided capitalism couldn't do without them any more so went shopping in Richmond, leaving myself and Martin in Thwaite to set off the just over eight miles along the Pennine Way, over Great Shunner Fell and down to Hardraw where we were to be picked up at the Green Dragon.
There's not a great deal to say other than it was a good walk, first up a farm track, then out onto a path which is paved for much of the way, although some parts were pretty boggy and some large puddles remained after heavy overnight rain.
Progress up the path was nice and steady to the large cairn a short way shy of the summit itself. We then moved on to the cross-shaped shelter at the top where a couple of groups stopped for tea breaks too.
It was faily windy at the summit so a quick drink and a hurried sandwich later we were on the way, stopping on the way to try to pick out unfamiliar hills and match them to the Harveys map.
Again, some of the paving stones were actually underwater, but the lower part of the hill was a grassy delight, a gentle descent leading to the village of Hardraw.
- On the way
- Farm track at the start
- GSF ahead
- Older paved path
- Soggy bit
- A couple of fences and an ATV track and we could be in the Donalds
- "Standard" on the way up the Fell
- On the way to the top
- Summit shelter
- Looking noirth from the top
- Not so carefully laid path
- Tarn/lochan/small lake/paddling pool
- Nice easy walk down to Hardraw
- Looking east to Lovely Seat
- I want to say Great Noutberry Fell, but. . .
- Journey's End
Drumaldrace (614m)
Hewitt: 7/316
Distance: 6.2km
Ascent: 77.1m (!)Some hills are easier than others and then again there are some that require very little effort indeed. Doing Drumaldrace the way we did is the walking equivalent of a tap-in from two yards when the goalie has already fallen over.
Later in the Dales week the weather had gone a bit damp and gloomy so we abandoned a plan to walk over to Rogan's Seat from Gunnerside (I was keen, but. . . ) and headed over to Hawes where Martin and I were dropped off at the high point above the town and set off along the Roman Road.
I'd have been happy to ramble along the road for a few miles it was such pleasant, high level walking, but we were both keen to add a nice, easy summit so we eventually found our way onto a path which took us to the top of the hill where the views weren't bad considering the less-than ideal weather.
Once we'd got to the top where two picknickers were huddled behind the trig trying to avoid the wind, we returned to the Roman Road and after about half a mile cut off north to start the descent - a fairly routine affair through fields and the tiny, narrow gateways (not easy for a large lad like myself.
The descent is fairly rapid and we were soon in Gayle, making oiur way past the waterfall and along the Pennine Way into Hawes.
- Roman Road
- Up to the top
- Trig and chilly picknicker
- Off the Roman Road and heading down
- Looking back at the north face of Drumaldrace
- Gayle - really nice
