Apart from a brief pause at the Dandry Mire Viaduct at Garsdale …
… our first stop was Hardraw Falls, famed for being the highest single drop waterfall in England at 100ft. As we saw from the poster in the tea room, it’s been an attraction since Victorian times, but today was somewhat quieter with a choice of path either to the base or the top of the falls. We chose the easy path with the best view of the falls …
… then walked back for coffee and a scone with cream and jam to keep us going.
Buttertubs Pass is a 6 mile stretch of road between Simonstone in Wensleydale and Thwaite in Swaledale and has been described as a spectacular road. We enjoyed it … both ways as it happens … one way more slowly with a couple of stops and then back, faster in search of a late lunch!
There are lots of these small banty barns or cow houses which protest the animals in winter. They are stabled below and the hay is stored above, cut from the surrounding fields. In the spring they are let out to graze and the muck used to fertilise the fields.
In between, we went walking in Keld, in search of waterfalls, but while ten fine days has made our trip north a real pleasure, it hasn’t boded well for the flow of water in the falls. We walked along the River Swale …
.. but the walk instructions were a bit vague, so we only found East Gill force …
… and Wain Wath Falls where people were actually swimming … albeit in wet suits … while Kidson Falls eluded us.
Some of the countryside was lovely and here’s one of those banty barns up close.
Having worked up an appetite, we just made the Wensleydale Creamery in time to experience their Yorkshire Wensleydale & Yorkshire Red Cheese on Toast served with Tomato & Chilli Chutney and Dressed Leaves and a cup of Yorkshire tea … as Wallace would say … cracking!
A couple more pics along the way – Whernside, the highest of Yorkshire’s Three Peaks at 736m, rises behind the Ribble Viaduct, the longest of 22 viaducts along the 73 mile Settle to Carlisle railway …
… and Ingleborough the second highest peak and the most recognised, looking like a chunk’s been chipped off!
We found our rental, a cute stone cottage in Long Preston …
… and had a quiet evening, not even needing dinner after such a late lunch, just a snack.
Off Travelling Together 