Captain's Log

Hayes And Rainridge

'What's our route today?' asked the Kapitan. 'We are doing a return trip along the Wensleydale valley between Hawes and Bainbridge' I replied. 'Ah, great! A walk between Hayes and Rainridge' exclaimed the Kapitan. The Kapitan is renowned for his cloth ears and the receiving station between them. We were staying in Hawes for this holiday and we'd stayed in Bainbridge for our last one and you would have thought he'd have put two and two together. I've found that it isn't worth arguing the case with the Kapitan though. 'Yes. A walk between Hayes and Rainridge' I confirmed.

We'd woken up to light rain and mist over the hills. I thought it best to stick to the low valley. A 10 mile round trip between Hayes and Rainridge...doh, Hawes and Bainbridge seemed to fit the requirements. It didn't look particularly exciting when I planned it on the OS map; it seemed to involve a lot of field hopping. At least the route would be below the misty tops and so we'd get a view.

Hawes

 Since we were starting our walk from our digs in Hawes, I’d told the Kapitan and the Cabin Boy there was no need for us to get off early. By early, I meant 07:00 and so I was a little disappointed when I was the only one ready to embark on our journey at 07:30. Another hour had elapsed before the Cabin Boy wandered downstairs rubbing sleep from her eyes and it was gone 09:00 before the Kapitan graced us with his presence. We didn’t actually start the walk until about 09:30. 

After about 20 yards of walking I noticed that I’d put my gaiters on the wrong legs and so I spent a frustrating five minutes sorting them out. I therefore felt like the lid on a boiling pan of water as I impatiently ushered the Kapitan and Cabin Boy through the centre of Hawes. It was a surprisingly busy for a Sunday morning given that all the shops were shut. It was Remembrance Sunday though and so maybe people were mulling around until a commemoration ceremony started. As we made our way across the fields to Sedbusk the church bells in Hawes started ringing continuously. It was only 10:11. It seemed a bit early for a Remembrance Service and far too keen to celebrate a  wedding. After about 5 minutes of ringing, they stopped. Maybe the bell ringers were just having a practice.

Skell Gill

Once we reached the small village of Sedbusk, we’d completed the first ascent of the day. The rest of the morning was a simple walk following the contour of the hillside eastwards. We crossed field after field with stiles and gates breaking the journey. Some of the tops of the hills were still misty and so most of our views were restricted to the bottom of the valley. Sections of the route were quite muddy, but there was nothing significant for the Kapitan to wallow in. A farmer followed us on his ATV and stopped to comment on the grim weather. We nodded in agreement. 

It looked like the Yurt encampment at Cherish Glamping had been shut down for the winter. Each one had a hot tub which would have been quite welcome on a day like this. The path undulated a little before delivering us to the small collection of houses at Skell Gill. A rather pretty hump back bridge spanned Skellgill Beck. We didn’t cross the bridge though and headed off through the fields towards Bainbridge instead.  We came across an interesting gate where the farmer had improvised some hinges using soles off hiking boots. It wasn’t long before Bainbridge came into view. We decided not to cross Yore Bridge and enter the village itself. Instead, we started following the footpath westwards, back towards Hawes. 

Return To Sedbusk

The path followed the line of the old railway that once ran along the Wensleydale valley to Hawes. Not surprisingly, this provided easy, although occasionally muddy walking. The River Ure meandered alongside us on our left. For 30 seconds, the sun tried to break through the grey ceiling, but gave up in despair and didn’t try again for the rest of the day. Near Cams House we joined a single track road. A sign warned that motorists should take care because a blind dog might be on the road. I half expected to see one with dark glasses on or maybe one being led by another guide dog, but we didn’t find any dogs at all, blind or not. It started to drizzle again as we climbed gradually back uphill towards Sedbusk. The village looked just as gloomy now as when we’d left it this morning. 

Return To Hawes

After crossing Haylands Bridge we headed off the road to follow the southern bank of the River Ure. I’d not walked on this footpath before and was curious to see what it was like. The buildings of Hawes could be seen over to our left. The old railway line traversed the fields in front of the town, some small bridges securing its way across the uneven ground. We departed from the riverside path and went under one of the old railway bridges, before heading towards the back of the houses along Hawes' high street. A pathway snaked through the buildings and brought us surreally to some leather clad Baby Boomer bikers who were licking ice cream from cornets outside a café. They were hardly Hell’s Angels calibre. There again, they probably thought that we were hardly Pacific Crest Trail thru hikers. 

It had been a rather miserable, grey day, but we’d made the most of the hand we were dealt. The walk did involve a lot of field hopping, but a lot of the views were actually quite good across the valley towards Drumaldrace and Addlebrough. It was definitely a good walk to do given the conditions. 'Did you enjoy today's walk between Hayes and Rainridge?' I asked the cloth eared Kapitan. 'Around about three thirty' he replied.