Into The Dales
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As we drove into Wensleydale the countryside became gradually more beautiful and more spectacular. Green rolling hills became steep fells with rocky outcrops. The road hugged the course of the sparkling River Ure, flowing through the dale bottom, sometimes wide and majestic, sometimes wild and foaming over giant boulders. The villages we passed with their grey limestone houses seemed to fit their stoney names, Swithinthwaite, Aysgarth, Bainbridge, Askrigg, and signs to places high in the fells; Hardraw, Butterset, Gayle. The landscape was criss-crossed with dry stone walls, some of which snaked almost vertically in places high up the mountainside over rocky crag and grassy plateau alike. Here and there the sun caught the dancing waters of gills splashing down their narrow channels to become tumbling, babbling streams to swell the waters of the Ure. Sheep grazed in the fertile valley and high into the hills amongst the heather and bracken, white specks in the afternoon sun. |
The ribbon of highway led us down into the stone town of Hawes, with it's winding cobbled streets and steep narrow jittys. Nearly every other house proclaimed 'Bed and Breakfast', nearly every other shop was a fell-walkers paradise and all around, glimpsed through side streets or towering over the slate roofs were the high fells, imposing themselves on the town. Addleborough, Staggs Fell, Great Shunner Fell and many others, some with rocky summits others smooth and green and all dwarfing the tiny streets and houses in the dale below.
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We stopped at the old railway station. The tracks have long since been torn up except for a few hundred yards by the platform where a dead locomotive, forlorn and freshly painted, lay silent and still with it's two stately coaches, a museum piece for the curious, who now have to pay a fare to board a carriage that will take them nowhere! The museum shop, however, had plenty to interest the visitor. Packed with maps and guide books etc, all manner of things too numerous to mention. Suitably laden we returned to the car and Hannah, who was now getting exited at the prospect of journey's end. |
It was a short trip along the Appersett road to our cottage perched on a hillside, just outside the town, overlooking the dale, the River Ure and the lofty fells across the valley. It was tranquil and serene. Nature at her most beautiful. No sound except the occasional car and the ever present bleating of the sheep.
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That was our introduction to Wensleydale. I don't think any of us expected the startling beauty of the landscape, or it's mountainous nature. In the week that followed we were to discover many of the delights of the dales but we were also to discover that in a week we could only scratch the surface. |
On Wednesday we went on a long circular walk round Askrigg, along the river and then up on the fell to over look the town and the neighboring village of Bainbridge. The weather was wonderful and the views breathtaking. The walk took us beside two dramatic waterfalls, Whitfield Gill Force and Mill Gill Force and back along a farm track to Askrigg. The late afternoon was pleasant and we sat near the market cross just opposite a fine house, which was used in the television series, "All Creatures Great and Small" as Skeldale house and Askrigg itself was Darrowby for the series. We went up the street to The Kings Arms, (also featured) and had a gorgeous but expensive meal surrounded by photos of Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy who starred as the vets and Carol Drinkwater who played James Herriot's wife. I half expected someone to walk in and say; "Nah then Mister 'Erriott I got this ewe oop on't fell.........". Hannah was as good as gold and sat quietly while we ate. We met a nice couple from Scotland in there, they've been visiting for years, often coming down from Stirling for a weekend. They said for years they had wondered why all these people kept having their photos taken outside the big house in the market square, 'It's a nice enough house but not that special', they thought. It was only when the Kings Arms changed hands and they put all the photos up that they realised.
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Although all three of us are not at the peak of fitness we walked in the fells every day and climbed to some high places, which quite surprised us. There must be something in the air that brings new vitality. Hannah, of course, was the fittest of the three of us and was always ahead of us, bounding up the fells, splashing in the rocky becks. It was hilarious to see her scrambling over the ladder styles. She realised what styles were almost immediately and always tried to get over them in front of us. Some of the stone styles, however, were too narrow for her to get through and we think she bruised her shoulder forcing her way through one. She was hobbling quite badly when she got up Thursday morning and we thought we wouldn't be able to go walking with her any more, so we took it easy Thursday. We went to the Wensleydale creamery where the cheese is made AND BOUGHT SOME while Hannah sat in the car! We had a lovely evening meal in The Fountains Inn, in Hawes. Hannah sat quietly at my feet and sat up and begged whenever anyone came over to stroke her, to the sound of comments like; "Oh look isn't she sweet" and "Oh beautiful baby", and of course leftovers came her way too! |
Hannah was much better on Friday and we went to Malham Cove, vast limestone cliffs with a rushing beck issuing from the foot. Hannah was soon in the water and then bounding up the rocks, leading us on a climb of over a thousand feet, above the cove and up over the fell to Malham Tarn. Fantastic views of Ingleborough Mountain and Penyghent, fantastic rock formations, just fantastic!!