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This is my first report submitted to the Outside Scotland section, although not my first experience of walking outside Scotland, having done the Snowdon Horseshoe a few years ago. It was however my first taste of the Yorkshire Dales, and of walking in England full stop.
My wife and I had booked a last minute holiday cottage for a week in Burtersett, a tiny little hamlet a mile or so from the bustling little market town of Hawes at the western end of Wensleydale.
Sunday was our first full day and we decided to head up onto Wether Fell at the back of the cottage, and to the trig point at the high point on Drumaldrace. From there we could either head back down the minor road into Gayle or continue around the back of Dodd Fell and back home on a stretch of the Pennine Way.
We set off at noon, heading up through the sheep fields and over a succession of stiles and gates in the dry stane dykes, some of which do not allow for a great deal of prior pie consumption
. Just as well I'm a skinny little bugger!
- Burtersett and some of the local sheep
- Debbie and the view down along Wensleydale
The sheep grazing soon gives way to the hay meadows of the Burtersett High Pasture and beyond that, the old Roman road.
- Burtersett High Pasture
- 515 metre Yorburgh
- More inquisitive locals
- Onto the Roman road
We continue along the tightly walled Roman road for about 3km, pausing for a few breathers along the way, before taking to the slopes for the short climb up onto the summit of Drumaldrace.
- Debbie and Lucy lead the way
- Pausing for juice and biscuits
- Astride a gate
- Looking east with the corner of Semer Water just visible
- Drumaldrace up ahead
The summit is marked by a cairn but is otherwise fairly undramatic, lacking any great sense of perspective.
- Inauspicious summit area
Dodd Fell Hill is prominent away to the south west and we decide to continue on to pick up the Pennine Way near Cam Houses and loop around the back of this hill.
- Back on the Roman road with Dodd Fell Hill in the distance
Just before we emerge onto the minor Hawes-Buckden road, there are a few cars parked up and people out flying remotely controlled model planes over the moors, and I can sense that Lucy is weighing up her chances of plucking one of them out of the air. You'll never learn Lucy - if you can't even manage to take down a rabbit, how are you going to manage a plane, even a model one???!!!
- A short section on tarmac
We follow the tarmac for about a kilometre until it makes a sharp left turn, at which point we continue straight ahead onto a track signed for Cam Houses.
- Cam Houses junction, looking back to Drumaldrace
This turns out to be a pretty tedious 3-4km stretch on the Roman road until we meet the Pennine Way, where we turn right for the long walk back home.
- Onto the Pennine Way
- Looking down on Snaizeholme
Debbie decides at this point that she is going to stick to the track and not bother with checking out the summit of Dodd Fell Hill, so Lucy and I cut up the heathery slopes at an angle to the trig point while she carries on along the Pennine Way on her own.
It only takes 10 minutes at a semi-jog to reach the trig point, which is on another fairly flat, featureless plateau with not much depth to the view round about it. I take a few quick snap shots and cut back down towards where I think Debbie will be, judging it to perfection to intersect with the Pennine Way just as she is passing.
- Lucy approaching the trig point
- ....and at the trig
- Descending towards Ten End
From there, it is a long, gradual descent over bleak moor and then through sheep fields to emerge at the top of Gaudy House lane and then down into Gayle and along the back road past the campsite to Burtersett.
- Gayle and Hawes coming into view
- Gayle
- Gayle Beck and Mill
- Last leg to Burtersett through the fields
This was a nice little intro to walking in the Dales and a perfect little warm-up for the main event of the Three Peaks later in the week.
