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Day 1 Aysgarth to
Hawes 13 miles – Valley Day
After much agonising and false
starts this year, we are doing the James Herriot Way which is a 52
mile circular walk starting and finishing at Aysgarth in
Wensleydale. If you've read the books it is based on James Herriots
honeymoon where he stayed in the pub in Carperby and spent a week in
the area TB testing cattle. He obviously knew how to treat a woman!
The plan was to basically
follow the 'official' route over 4 days but on Day 2 we will follow
the Pennine Way to Tan Hill instead of stopping at Keld and on day
3, we will plot a route from Tan Hill to Reeth via Langthwaite
rather than going back to Keld and then following a route we'd done
before on the coast to coast.
The plan was for Dale to
come and stop at our house last night and we'd get a good start this
morning, however Dale had to stay home and he came up this morning.
So we were a bit later off than planned but we were in Aysgarth
after 11.00am. We bade a fond farewell to my wife Janine who had
kindly given us a lift (she was looking forward to the cheese
factory in Hawes and the chocolate factory in Leyburn) and set off.
The first leg was a walk
following the river to Askrigg. The weather was cloudy but dry but
the sun we had at home when we set off had not come with us
unfortunately. It was a pleasant walk following the river if lacking
features. We came into Askrigg ready for our lunch and had to ignore
a lovely bakery (the sausage rolls and cakes looked very appetising)
and the Kings Arms and you'll be surprised to know we managed to
walk past and sat in the square with our pack up. Ho hum. For those
too young to remember the James Herriot TV programme, Askrigg was
used as Darrowby and a bar in the Kings Arms doubled as The Drovers
Arms and the building opposite the church was Skeldale House.
After photos and lunch we
set off again on the path to Mill Gill force. The last time I stayed
in Askrigg, was with Janine who was pregnant with Kieran, so over 13
years ago, and we had a couple of days away on our own which was
quite a luxury then. Rhiannon was being looked after by a
grandparent. We stayed in the Kings Arms, in a 4 poster and had
dinner at what is now the lovely bakery, which was a restaurant at
that time. Anyway, that was the last time I'd been to Mill Gill
Force and I'd forgotten how impressive it was. After photos, we
moved on and followed a line that ran along the side of the valley.
The RAF were very active with fighters, trainers and Hercules flying
very low but I couldn't get the camera out of the case in
time to
take any pics. In trying to get the camera out, I must have caught
the lens cap as it wasn’t where it should have been i.e. on the
lens, nor was it in my pocket or in the camera case. I had special
permission from Janine to borrow her beloved SLR for this trip,
under the proviso I look after it or else I would be talking in a
very squeaky voice for a long time. Much of the walk from then on
featured possible strategies to tell Janine about the lens cap
without having my manhood mangled. These strategies ranged from:
1. Denying all knowledge and
feigning surprise when the lens cap was found to be missing
(attractive option but a tad dishonest).
2. Bring back lots of
presents including chocolate and ‘fess up. (Attractive option if a
tad expensive)
3. Blame Dale (Attractive option but a tad
unreasonable)
4. Blame person or persons unknown (Attractive
option but not likely to be believed given my propensity to
lose/forget things)
5. Blame Matt or Bruce (same reasons as 3)
6. ‘fess up to something worse to make losing of lens cap less
important (just dangerous)
7. ‘fess up with truth (dangerous but
probably best)
This discussion went on for
some time and for the next 4 days the various options were debated
fully. In the meantime the walk continued high on the valley side
and afforded great views of Wensleydale and Penhill. Just before
Sedbusk, we missed a turnoff and carried on following a good track.
We hadn’t gone far before we realised our mistake so doubled back
and found where we went wrong. When we got to Sedbusk, the official
path carries along the valley side to Hardraw to see the waterfall,
(The highest single drop in England – above ground that is, as
Gaping Gill probably beats it) before turning back towards Hawes.
But as we had decided to follow the Pennine Way tomorrow, which will
take us past Hardraw, we decided to head towards Hawes from Sedbusk.
We came into Hawes past the old railway station and found our B
andB, Ebor House. We had lovely welcome from Janie and Stuart the
owners and we seemed to arrive at the same time as everyone else
which was funny. Janine had thankfully dropped our bags off and much
to Dale’s relief ear plugs.!!!!!
We've been recommended the
Crown to eat tonight, so the Crown it will be. I
may update when
I get back but might not depending on how tired or how many pints
and the size of pie I may have.
Photos
Dale and me ready for the off in Aysgarth
Entering Askrigg
High Street, Askrigg aka Darrowby in the TV series
“Skeldale House”
Askrigg Church
Askrigg High Street looking down towards Bainbridge
Mill Gill Force
Mushrooms growing in the wood near Mill Gill force
Hawes Station (closed down)
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