Captain's Log

Muker

There’s only one thing that the Kapitan enjoys more than wallowing in mud, and that’s wandering about old derelict buildings,  redundant mines and paddling in toxic waste. Maybe it’s a result of him being a lifetime resident of Barnsley. Who knows? Anyway, it was the last day of our holiday in the Dales and I decided to treat him by taking him and the Cabin Boy on an exploration tour of Gunnerside Gill, where they’d be able to enjoy a plethora of  ruins of 18th and 19th century lead mines. There would be more crumbling gables, collapsing pit props and poisoned pools than he would know what to do with. It would be like Christmas for him.  His little face lit up when I announced what walk we'd be doing. The wandering along Gunnerside Gill would only be one half of today’s walk though; the other half would be getting to and from the gill by walking along the Swaledale valley between Muker and Gunnerside. We’d take an elevated road walk to get there in the morning and return to Muker by field-hopping alongside the River Swale in the afternoon. 

The weather forecast was pretty grim; light rain for most of the day. It was therefore quite a surprise when we drove from a rainy and glum Wensleydale, over a misty Buttertubs pass, and descended into a surprisingly dry and relatively bright Swaledale. Even the sun was threatening to make an appearance. We parked on the roadside, just to the west of Muker. 

The High Road

Our first task was to cross the  River Swale that heads down from the north between Kisdon Hill and Black Hill, before tumbling eastwards along the Swaledale valley. In order to cross the river we field hopped our way northwards and crossed the river using Ramps Holme Bridge. There is a more direct footpath eastwards from Muker, shown on the OS map, which presumably involves fording the river, but we didn’t fancy getting wet feet. In fact, on our return journey in the afternoon, there was a sign near this footpath on the eastern side of the river directing us northwards to Ramps Home Bridge, rather than fording the river. The bridge is well built and well worth a visit anyway, and so it's no real problem making the detour to use it. There is also a large well built cairn built on the eastern bank near to the bridge. I thought there might be a plaque on it somewhere, but there was none to be found. 

We walked up to the road head at Ramps Holme Farm. We’d follow this single track road, more or less to the village of Gunnerside. The road just serviced the few farms between Ramps Holme and Gunnereside and we only met a couple of cars along the route. It climbed up the hillside a little way and this provided us with a great view across the valley and eastwards down Swaledale. It was easy and fast walking and it wasn’t long before we got to our turn-off point at the small collection of houses at Dyke Heads. A Landrover track branched off onto the moors and we’d follow this to get to Gunnerside Gill. 

Gunnerside Gill

I’d guess that the Landrover track was used by the Tweed Trouser Brigade to provide motorised access to their bunkers that littered the moor above us.  At least it gave easy walking for us. Gradually we turned away from the main Swaledale valley and the Gunnderside valley started opening up to us. As we walked further up the valley, the remnants of spoil heaps and tumbled buildings started to become visible on the other side of the valley. The Kapitan started purring like a contented cat. Just before Botcher Gill Gate, somebody had built a small stone bench and we took the opportunity to sit down for a break. The weather looked a little less promising now with grey clouds accumulating ahead of us. As we started off again, the Landrover track disappeared westwards onto the moors and so we branched off on a bridleway that continued to follow a high line up the Gunnerside valley. The extent of the mine workings became more visible now. Tunnels, stone buttresses, roofless buildings and a multitude of spoil heaps dominated the other side of the valley. I physically had to restrain the Kapitan from taking a direct route across the valley towards them. ‘Patience Kapitan. We’ll return through the middle of them in half an hour or so’ I explained to him. He whined a bit, but then set off at a good pace down the path. The bridleway descended a little, but it felt more like Gunnerside Beck came uphill to meet us. The path brought us down to the remains of Blakethwaite Mill. 

Blakethwaite Mill

The Kapitan dashed off to explore the remains of a chimney up on the hillside while I wandered around some of the lower buildings at a more leisurely pace. Ore was smelted here from the 1820s and may have continued up until 1868 when the last lead was recorded. They used a ‘peat slide’ over to the west to transfer peat for burning at the mill. The smelting process was very environmentally friendly in those days. A small stone footbridge allowed me to cross to the other side of the beck where I met up with the Cabin Boy. She was staring intently into the water. ‘You going for a wild swim?’ I asked. ‘What is that?’ she responded and she pointed into the beck. There seemed to be a strand of weed or some debris that had caught in the rocks on the stream bed and was fluttering about. ‘A weed, I think’ I said. ‘No it isn’t, it’s swimming’ she replied. I took a closer look. It was probably 12 to 18 inches long and a pinkish colour. And yes…it did appear to be swimming. In fact while we watched, it went from one side of the stream to the other and then even ventured upstream against the strong current. I’d never seen anything like that before and I wondered if it was an eel. The Kapitan crossed the bridge to join us. He'd spent a couple of weeks fishing in Barnsley’s toxic waterways during his misspent youth and so we always consult him on anything that requires fish expertise. ‘Any idea  what that is?’ I asked him and pointed to the mystery creature. He looked and said ‘Hmmm…probably a worm.’ A foot long worm seemed a bit improbable, but we bowed to his superior knowledge. I wondered later on whether it was a Lamprey since you do get them in the Dales. There was one thing for sure, I wouldn’t be filtering any water from this stream…and not just because of the past lead mining. 

Gunnerside Gill

Blakethwaite Mill was our turnaround point for the day and we started making our way back down the east side of Gunnerside Gill. There had even more mining debris at the Bunton Level further along and I let the Kapitan go off and play. It was like an adventure playground to him. It was an interesting place, but there were only so many spoil heaps you could visit without it getting a little tedious. I walked further down the valley with the Cabin Boy in the hope that the Kapitan would take the hint; he didn’t, he was now investigating one of the old buildings. ‘Come on Kapitan!’ I shouted ‘Or else you won’t get your dinner.’ A sure tactic to reel in the Kapitan and he started dragging his feet towards us. 

Further down the valley he spent another 10 minutes trying to find a place to cross the beck to visit an old building on the other side. He couldn’t find one and came back to me and the Cabin Boy almost in tears. ‘There’s bound to be some more further down the valley’ I assured him. And there was. We came across the remnants of the Sir Francis Level and we settled down to have lunch whilst the Kapitan dashed away to investigate each spoil heap, buttress and building. 

There was an unexpected change to the landscape of Gunnerside Gill further downstream. Gone were the old mine works, to be replaced by a pleasant woodland path. It turned out to be quite extensive and took us right to the outskirts of Gunnerside village where we found a seat that had been made out of an old mining rail carriage. The Kapitan looked across at me with pleading eyes. ‘No we can’t take it home, Kapitan’ I told him.

The Low Road

Our way back to Muker from Gunnerside followed the River Swale and was a field hopping exercise. As you’d expect, this involved a lot of gate opening and stile climbing. Even so, it was a pleasant enough route with good views up to the hills and along the valley. The weather seemed to close in again as we progressed, but it didn’t rain. We passed through the village of Ivelet, but we were no sooner in, then we were out of it again. Back at Ramps Holme Farm, we followed the River Swale as it headed northwards to Ramps Holme Bridge. After crossing the bridge we field hopped our way back to Muker. As with every other time we’ve walked through the village, apart from the occasional walker, the place looked deserted. We headed down the high street and back to the car. 

It had been an excellent, relatively low-level walk. It had given us great views and a provided us with a variety of walking terrain. The old Gunnerside mine workings definitely appealed to the Kapitan and are certainly worth investing some time to wander around. After seeing that mysterious, giant eel like worm thing in the beck at Blakethwaite Mill, I definitely wouldn’t recommend any wild water swimming in the area though.