The fictional vet, James Herriot, was based on the real life experiences of Alf Wight, so it’s very appropriate that the route he first described in his book “James Herriot’s Yorkshire” is named after his alter ego. We started at the war memorial in Aysgarth, walking out via Wensleydale and climbing back over the moors from Swaledale four days and 52 miles later. It's a long way, but what a trip!
Our first day was bathed in sunshine and a beautiful introduction to the flower-filled hay meadows that would be a feature of the whole trip. This was the gentlest of the four days, so a perfect warm-up, including the perfect cool-down at the Green Dragon Inn in Hardraw, before staggering the last few miles to Hawes. This day included a key landmark as we sat enjoying cake in Askrigg opposite the building that served as Skeldale House surgery in the original TV series.
With the description of day one, you might get the impression that this was a bit of a jolly – all very relaxed with plentiful refreshment stops. And it was. But then came day two.
One day two, after a brief pre-amble, we headed up hill to the highest point of the route, Great Shunner Fell. This felt like a long way and, despite being June, it was bitingly cold. Descending down into Thwaite we had a chance to warm up with a welcome cup of tea, which came with a delicious ginger biscuit (not that it stopped another round of cake orders). This fuelled the climb up out of Swaledale to Keld. Sadly the hotel in Keld was serving guests only, but we managed to get some refreshments from the campsite tea room whilst the drivers organised our return to Hawes YH.
Now halfway through the walk, we started day three with the sore knees and general weariness of 26 miles walked. Although not as hilly as day two, the route out of Keld took us up onto the moors once again, to the industrial landscape reclaimed by nature from the lead mines of the past. The speedier members of the party made it to the tea rooms in Reeth before they closed, the slower ones had the experience of the delightful ice-cream parlour which was staying open late for the Reeth festival. This delayed us sufficiently to neatly roll into the pub at Grinton for a drink before our luscious pub meal.
The last day and we left Grinton Lodge hostel over the moors to return to Swaledale, the war memorial back at Aysgarth and a beer in the George & Dragon. This day saw our only rain of the whole trip, and that was only a couple of hours of light drizzle. I don’t think I’ve ever had such good weather in the Dales.
Ali
Life is a Jubilee
Seventy years ago in 1952 the Queen came to the throne. This year the whole country has been celebrating, and CYHA was no exception. Ten of us spent the extra bank holiday walking 52 miles. Both Doug and Jonathan & Cynthia went into London to see the parades, and Marion was parading her new union jack brolly.
Jim witnessed the lighting of the Jubilee beacon in Billericay, and we could see fires on the hill tops above Wensleydale from the Hostel in Hawes. Some even saw the fly past as it came over Chelmsford.
Ali
What’s in a Name?
In our Dales adventure we passed the remains of Crackpot Hall. It’s just a few crumbling walls now, but what was it and why is it sat in a lonely cleft above Muker?
First there is the name: Crackpot – crazy or what? Well, a pot is another name for a hole or cave, and a crack is an old English word for a crow. For most of its time it was a farmhouse, but it spent a while as the manager’s office for the nearby Beldi Lead Mine. Ironically it was the mine that caused the subsidence that led to Crackpot Hall being abandoned in the 1950s.