Askrigg

There was a lot of field hopping on this walk and we traversed our first stone wall as soon as we crossed the road bridge out of Bainbridge. A lot of the stiles in this area are of thet type where there is a small opening in the wall, accessed by a couple of stone steps, closed by a small gate with a spring return. I find these easier to use than the high wooden stiles or the stone steps over the stone wall, although some of the gaps are a bit too narrow and some of the springs on the small gates are rather strong. Normal gates are the easiest of all, of course, although small kissing gates are always a nightmare for me.

It wasn't long before we started walking into the village of Askrigg. Just before we reached the centre, we followed a fingerpost back into the fields, that headed towards the river. We went past Low Barn a restored old building. An information board declared that the roof is partially supported by reused medieval timbers. Judging by the bow in its ridge, I think it could have done with a bit more support. In fact, the board said that you shouldn't enter the barn because the roof is unstable.

We'd arrived in the Dales when the hay meadows were forming. I always love to see the brightly coloured flowers in the fields...they always provide a nice foreground on photos. Since the 1930s, 97% of hay meadows have vanished (according to the National Trust).  Other crops brought in more cash for the farmers and so they followed the money. Hay meadows seemed to have made a resurgence in the Dales though.  They are harvested and used for food for the farm animals over winter.

River Ure

There were some stepping stones across the River Ure near to Askrigg. They looked difficult to traverse and I suspect that they weren't used. We found another set further down the river, nearer to Aysgarth. These looked even worse with water freely flowing over the tops. I had wondered about incorporating either one of these into a future walk, but it was quite obvious that this wouldn't be possible.

'All the bloody river and I managed to get hooked up on this bush.! A fly fisherman was untangling his line from a bush. We'd seen him casting the line as we approached and I thought his line was going a bit too near the foliage.

We came across plenty of Geese (Canada and Greylags). They also had plenty of Goslings paddling after them. Some of the time, our path followed the line of the old railway track that used to run along the Wensleydale valley. The line was closed to all traffic in 1964. There are some people who want to reopen the line between Northallerton and Garsdale. To be honest, I prefer the track as a footpath. 

It had been decades since I'd visited Aysgarth Falls. So long ago, that I've a feeling that the memories I have of it are false. They were probably formed when watching the Robin Hood film with Kevin Costner that used a location sequence there. False memories or not, I was looking forward to seeing them.

Aysgarth Falls - High Force

Aysgarth Falls are in three sections: High Force, Middle Force and Low Force. Our path brought us down to High Force first and we joined many other people that had pottered their way along the trail from the Aysgarth Dales National Park carpark.  High Force was indeed spectacular with a lot more water going over the falls than I'd expected. The river had recessed into the landscape with the south side of the river being a wooded cliff. There was a prime spot to get a photo of the falls, but a woman had commandeered the position.  She seemed to be taking multiple videos on her phone and then reviewing them, oblivious of the queue of people that were waiting behind her. In the end, I gave up and walked further upstream to take a photo. Two men in their 50s clomped up in full, leather motorcycle leathers. They must have been sweating cobs in these muggy conditions. They looked similar and I assume they must have been brothers.

Having got our fill of High Force, we followed the two bikers to the Visitors Centre where I decided to get an ice-cream. In the café, I told the assistant that I wanted a lemon sorbet cone. 'No! You must have one of these!' and she pointed to a large machine that looked like something out of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.  She then gave me the hard sell for the quality of ice-cream that this fantastic machine produced. I really wanted a sorbet, but I didn't want to offend her, and so I agreed to go with her recommendation. She switched the machine on and the cafe's lights flickered, and the ground shook with all the grinding and whirring of the cogs and spinning wheels inside the machine. She hung a cone under one of its teats, and a whirl of spiralling chocolate and vanilla ice-cream was extruded onto the cone. The ice-cream must have been 6 inches high but had a rather narrow base. I was concerned that it was going to topple over and so I immediately bit off the first top 2 inches after she handed it to me. 'That's £3.80, please' she informed me, with a look that said, '...another sucker has fallen for the hard sell.' I did think about regurgitating the ice-cream and handing it back to her, but I have some pride. 

Aysgarth Fall - Middle Force And Low Force

We followed all the other people on the trail to Middle Force and Low Force. Middle Force was impressive too, although it was difficult to get an unobstructed view of the falls since there was some foliage between the viewing area and the river. At Low Force we were able to get right down to the side of the falls and walk for some distance upstream on the limestone slabs. Some people were sat down, having some lunch or just enjoying the sun that had eventually decided to make an appearance. The Biker Boys were sat down on some rocks, gradually melting away in their leather suits. All three sets of falls have their own character and it was well worth making the effort to see all of them. The Biker Boys led the way back to the Visitors Centre; I bet they couldn't wait to get back on their bikes and get some cool air around their gills. Aysgarth Falls ticked, we  would now make our way back to Bainbridge on a slightly higher level route down the Wensleydale valley.

Caperby

The first stop was the village of Carperby. We had to do some field hopping to get there. The outside tables at the Weatsheaf Inn were fully occupied with people making the most of the good weather. I noticed a sign near to the entrance to the door saying that the pub was a waypoint (or maybe that should be a swaypoint) on The Inn Way, a 76 mile pub crawl around the Yorkshire Dales. There are 26 inns along the route and takes around 6 days. I debated whether I should make this one of my Ventures. 13 miles walking per day wouldn't be a problem, but a daily refuel of 4.5 pints of beer might be an issue, purely from a navigational point of view. 

Beyond the old stone cross along the main street, our route followed the path alongside the end of a house. A large dog was slumped down on the grass as a woman cut back the ivy on the gable end of the house. As I chatted with the women about the negative aspects of ivy, the big dog got to its feet and lumbered over to me. I scratched its head whilst talking to the woman. 'I'm surprised she's not barked at you; she normally does with strangers' said the woman, looking at her dog. I quickly retrieved my fingers, making a visual check that I'd still got the correct number. After a hasty departure, we headed off on a path towards some interesting looking craggy, scars on the skyline.

The High Route

We made our way up to what turned out to be a wonderful high level route along the Wensleydale valley. It offered marvellous views down into the valley to our left, and also up to the dramatic scars running along the top of the hills to our right. Initially, we followed a lovely grassy path below Ivy Scar. I noticed a stone circle in the grass near to the track; the OS map labelled it as an 'enclosure'.  There were also a number of mushroom circles about 10 metres in diameter.  Further on, below Ivy Scar, there was a scar of a different sort, with the remnants of the extensive lead mining that used to take place here. 

The sun was out now, and for some reason it felt a bit like we were doing some Alpine meadow walking. I think it was because of those impressive crags and scars on our right. The Cabin Boy started saying that her blisters were hurting. I had intended walking further along the contour of the hillside in order to have a look at Whitfield Gill Force further to the west, but a more direct route back to Bainbridge now looked more appropriate. We dropped down on a pleasant path through a wood and fields to the small hamlet of Newbiggin. On the other side we walked through a delightful hay meadow, and before we knew it, we were back at the village of Askrigg for the second time that day.

Return To Bainbridge

We followed the same path back to Bainbridge as we'd used on the outbound route. Halfway between Askrigg and Bainbridge we came across half a dozen cows. They were mooching towards us and a couple of them started stamping their hooves. The Cabin Boy showed signs of panic and so we made a detour around them involving a climb up a steep hill. After we'd escaped, I looked back at the cows and noticed that they were now further along the footpath; it looked like they were just nervous about passing us.

At the road bridge over to Bainbridge, we met a posh, elderly couple who were walking from the 5 star Yorebridge House. I doffed my sunhat and couldn't help myself saying 'Good day, sir.' They were interested in where we'd been walking. I wasn't sure whether this was to check that we'd not trespassed on their land, or just out of general interest. They said that they were just taking their dog for a walk along the river. I was tempted to ask how big the mixed nut bowls were at Yorebridge House; I'd been thinking of treating the Kapitan and Cabin Boy to a shared bowl. I then remembered that I'd already spent £3.80 on that bloody ice-cream at Aysgarth and so I didn't bother.

The walk was far better than I expected. The riverside walking along the River Ure was a delight, and Aysgarth Falls an impressive natural wonder. The higher level route along the valley provided some superb views of the crags and scars of Wensleydale. A  marvellous walk.