Muker Keld Tan Hill White Crag Gunnerside Gill Ivelet Muker 6th August 2004 Mines, Moorland and a Magic Dale |
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Who went: NGN, MP, DS, RAS, MDJ. DS left the route and dropped down to Gunnerside - stung by bee at Muker and damaged an ankle en route. What a medical miracle! Weather: Misty morning becoming cloudy with sunny intervals. In the afternoon and early evening it was hot. Got sunburnt legs! Parking: Park in the car park at Muker just before the bridge over the Swale on the Richmond side of the village. The cost is £2.50 for the day. There are toilets, a pub and cafe in the village The Walk Turn left out of the car park and cross over the Swale via the bridge. Follow the road until a road on right leads up the hill into the village. Follow the signs for the post office. The path to Keld - signposted - is on the lhs of the Post office and leads down a short lane. At the end of the lane go straight ahead through a wall on a marked path to a gate - says keep on the road. Turn left up hill and hit the road. Follow the road up the hill and keep to the path marked to Keld. The path to Keld is easy to follow and has magnificent views of Upper Swaledale. It is the best part of the walk. The path contours along the valley side past North Gang Scar. It becomes quite rocky in places and because it is limestone you're walking on it becomes slippery when wet. The path eventually reaches a junction just before Keld. Here leave the path to Keld and descend on path marked Pennine Way (FP). Drop down to the valley bottom and cross the Swale on a bridge. Stop and look at the river - magnificent views.
Cross river on the footbridge, bear right and climb. Shortly you hit another path; here turn left following the signs for Pennine Way to Stonesdale.
A good path climbs the western side of Black Moor heading just west of north and contours round towards Low Brown Hill. It's a little wet under foot as we are now on peat! Good News.
After 3km the path turns north east and climbs up onto Stonesdale Moor. From here Tan Hill Inn is in sight and in the distance you can make out the A66 plus Cross Fell and the Upper Teesdale Fells
The last 2km from Stonesdale Moor to the Inn crosses a section that was heavily mined. I always remember being up here in poor visibility in the early 70's when the path was not as well defined as now and thinking: 'What happened if I fell down one of these mines'. Still I'll never know.
We had a pint at Tan Hill and left after 30 mins rest much to the disgust of MDJ, who wanted more. The next section was my biggest mistake in navigation ever. The only thing I can say in mitigation was that we couldn't see or find the intended path and I soon realised that we were heading too far south. We walked up the road and round a bend we turned up a track. However, instead of going on the path past Kings Pit Colliery we went past a radio station and followed a path /track. There was a fence on the RHS which we considered to be the county boundary. At end of track was a mine where we had lunch.
We then headed south east for a well defined Crag - Water Crag and passed William Gill Colliery on its lhs. The going was very hard as we were walking across open moorland which had no tracks; the peat moorland was naturally boggy and covered in heather. At the top of the rise we could see a pile of stones and the trig point of White Crag. We reached here having covered 2.5 miles in 2 hrs plus lunch! A heck of a trek and one to be avoided.
The view from the top was excellent. To the south we could see Gunnerside Gill, Friarfield Moor and Surrender Ground. From the trig point head east of south on a bearing to Blakethwaite some 1.5km away. As you drop down to Blakethwaite head for the right hand cutting in the side of Gunnerside Gill. Although it was downhill it was still hard work across peat moors and heather; but I loved it.
The map says there's a path down Gunnerside Gill but we couldn't see one so we kept to the top of the gill and headed on the top path - to Gorton Hush. The route home is now wholly on tracks and paths. 1.75km down the track turn right off the track and cut down to the gill by old lead mine buildings. It was very hot once we left the moors where there was a cool breeze.
Cross the river and on the western bank pick up a well defined road/path heading south towards Silver Hill. In 0.75km you cross Botcher Gill. Shortly after this there is a path off to the right that climbs up Silver Hill; we couldn't find it so continued down the road heading for Gunnerside. After 1.5km just after a track joins from the left turn off right on a track heading due south for Knock Top; Dog continued down to Gunnerside where KS eventually picked him up. The path is not always easy to follow. Eventually you reach the end of the climb and you begin to descend heading south west aiming for Shoregill Head – there is no well defined path. Eventually you drop down onto the road from Gunnerside to Ivelet. Turn right and walk along the road which eventually turns sharp right and drops down to Ivelet. Opposite buildings turn right (FP Muker) on a path.
The only way across the Swale is over Ramps Holme Bridge to the north of Muker. It's a lovely walk along the Swaledale with its walls, stiles and barns surrounded by moors. Undoubtedly this is the second best part of the walk. Some might disagree because of the effort needed to climb the stiles. But Swaledale is beautiful especially in the evening with the sun going down. From Ivelet, the path crosses fields to just below Calvert House. From here it drops down to the river. Ahead you can see Muker on the far bank but here is no way to cross the river. So continue along a good track which follows the rive round to Ramps Holme farm and on to Ramps Holme Bridge. Cross the river and on the western bank turn right and follow the river north for 50m before climbing away from the river (FP). Turn south (left) heading across the fields on a good path, which is partly paved until you reach the buildings of Muker by the post office. Continue ahead and drop down to the main valley road. Here turn left, cross the Swale and the car park is on the right
We met KS in Muker and explained where DS was; off she went to pick him up while we went for a pint. MDJ's reputation for ale started here. By the time the first round was poured he wanted a second and after downing 4 pints, while the rest of us had 3 drinks, he slept all the way back to Sheffield. Summary It was a hard day. Progress was good until we hit Tan Hill. But after that we had too many stops and completely lost the path from Tan Hill to the top of Punchard Gill. Subsequently I've walked the route the opposite way round and can see why we missed the path. There are good views from the tops and Swaledale is always the most magnificent of the Dales. It was a lovely sunny day but DS got stung in the car park and damaged his ankle on the way to White Crag and was slow. I was slow from Keld to Tan Hill. After that it was a slog. Home Start Point Dales Books Related Sites TextOnly Map&Summary |
Home Start Point Dales Books Related Sites TextOnly Map&Summary No pictures of walk yet. It was walked before I bought a digital camera. It will be re walked in 2011.
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