Distance: 18 miles
Weather: overcast, short rain shower but brightening up later. Windy.
Birds: lapwings, golden plover, meadow pippits, skylarks, oystercatcher, mallards.
The day started quite grey and cold, but there were patches of blue sky and weak sunshine. We left Hawes by the road back up through the village passed the Wensleydale cheese factory (where we didn't call in for any cheesy souveniers) and up on to the hills to cross over the Cam High Road. Our path took us across the tops and around to overlook the next valley and Semer Water. This was a bit of a circuitous route, and we were glad that it wasn't wetter underfoot or it would have been quite annoying. We did see a lot of Shake Holes. Wensleydale could give Blackburn, Lancashire a run for its money in the hole department.
Eventually we met up with the Cam High Road again which took us down into Bainbridge. They didn't blow the Bainbridge horn, so we didn't need to worry about any wolves in the vicinity. It did rain a bit here, and so we stopped to put on our waterproofs for the first time during our trip. We took them off about ten minutes later. Bainbridge was like a ghost town (with signs proclaiming a teashop but no actual teashop to be found) probably because there was some wedding taking place.
Thankfully the tearoom in Askrigg was open and served the best tea and scones with jam and butter that we'd have had all week.
The route then took us along the banks of the River Ure to Aysgarth, which wasn't quite as pleasant as I'd anticipated. There were a lot of annoying flies. There was a 'challenging' field containing a herd of cows, calves and a massive big black bull standing in the way. The banks of the river had been all but washed away and left in a right mess by what must have been a vast amount of water coming downstream. Once away from the river we crossed some small fields with low dry stone walls, most of which had too small gaps with tiny little gates. And did I mention the flies? There were a lot of them. And dead rabbits.
We did make it to Aysgarth and the falls, and had a very nice lunch at the Mill Race Teashop, where they have a yummy selection of homebaked breads. We viewed the falls and then continued over through farmland - where they appear to be successfully farming bunnies, as well as Wensleydale and Swaledale sheep, and possibly Blue Faced Leicesters, to Castle Bolton. The castle stands on the hillside looking more like a painting in the distance and then looms dramatically above you when you've made it (slowly - it's been a tiring day) up the hill to the village. Here we stopped for a sit down and a snack on a bench under a lovely flowering cherry tree and watched the lost people trying to turn their massive motorhome around on the village green. A short walk (with more bunnies, pheasants, partridges and a donkey) brought us to Redmire.
We are staying at the Bolton Arms in Redmire and very, very nice it is too.
Weather: overcast, short rain shower but brightening up later. Windy.
Birds: lapwings, golden plover, meadow pippits, skylarks, oystercatcher, mallards.
The day started quite grey and cold, but there were patches of blue sky and weak sunshine. We left Hawes by the road back up through the village passed the Wensleydale cheese factory (where we didn't call in for any cheesy souveniers) and up on to the hills to cross over the Cam High Road. Our path took us across the tops and around to overlook the next valley and Semer Water. This was a bit of a circuitous route, and we were glad that it wasn't wetter underfoot or it would have been quite annoying. We did see a lot of Shake Holes. Wensleydale could give Blackburn, Lancashire a run for its money in the hole department.
Eventually we met up with the Cam High Road again which took us down into Bainbridge. They didn't blow the Bainbridge horn, so we didn't need to worry about any wolves in the vicinity. It did rain a bit here, and so we stopped to put on our waterproofs for the first time during our trip. We took them off about ten minutes later. Bainbridge was like a ghost town (with signs proclaiming a teashop but no actual teashop to be found) probably because there was some wedding taking place.
Thankfully the tearoom in Askrigg was open and served the best tea and scones with jam and butter that we'd have had all week.
The route then took us along the banks of the River Ure to Aysgarth, which wasn't quite as pleasant as I'd anticipated. There were a lot of annoying flies. There was a 'challenging' field containing a herd of cows, calves and a massive big black bull standing in the way. The banks of the river had been all but washed away and left in a right mess by what must have been a vast amount of water coming downstream. Once away from the river we crossed some small fields with low dry stone walls, most of which had too small gaps with tiny little gates. And did I mention the flies? There were a lot of them. And dead rabbits.
We did make it to Aysgarth and the falls, and had a very nice lunch at the Mill Race Teashop, where they have a yummy selection of homebaked breads. We viewed the falls and then continued over through farmland - where they appear to be successfully farming bunnies, as well as Wensleydale and Swaledale sheep, and possibly Blue Faced Leicesters, to Castle Bolton. The castle stands on the hillside looking more like a painting in the distance and then looms dramatically above you when you've made it (slowly - it's been a tiring day) up the hill to the village. Here we stopped for a sit down and a snack on a bench under a lovely flowering cherry tree and watched the lost people trying to turn their massive motorhome around on the village green. A short walk (with more bunnies, pheasants, partridges and a donkey) brought us to Redmire.
We are staying at the Bolton Arms in Redmire and very, very nice it is too.
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