Following The Wall

It was a steady plod up to the top of Firth Fell. It was moist underfoot and became even moister when light rain started to fall. The very top looked to be in mist and I thought we might be in for a day with limited views. Fortunately the mist didn't stick around and we were only left with the light rain. We put our anoraks and rucksack covers on and we soon reached the top of the fell. Firth Fell trig was off our route, but it was only a 10 minute out-and-back to bag it and so we wandered across for the tick.

Navigation was actually quite easy on today's walk. All we had to do was follow the stone wall that ran along the broad ridge of the fell. Occasionally this turned into a wire fence, but the route was very obvious. When we dropped down into the valley, the route would follow the Dales Way, which is very well signed. The Kapitan was navigating today and it wasn't too much of a challenge even for him. We started following the stone wall towards Birks Fell.

Birks Fell

There was a vague track running alongside the stone wall. It wasn't too bad underfoot, although it was boggy in places. Some basic dams had been created on the top of the fell to try and trap the water. Some of them seemed to work, but quite a few looked dry. There was quite a lot of water in Birks Tarn though and it was a bit bigger than I'd imagined. The top of Birks Fell was just beyond the tarn and marked by a small cairn. it is a Dales 30 peak and I thought there might have been something bigger to indicate its top. Peak bagged, we headed back to the stone wall along the ridge, and continued our journey.

Bog!

The next section around High Combe Stoop was an unexpected challenge. A small tarn forced us away from the stone wall and the terrain became very marshy. There didn't seem to be a way to progress forward. Every time we tried, our feet started sinking into the watery marsh. Several times we had to retreat to safer ground. The Cabin Boy got caught in one bad section and water poured into her boots. 'For f$%&s sake!' she shouted. Once we were on better ground, I suggested that we stop so that she could empty her boots, This was abruptly dismissed. I decided to keep quiet and plod on. We eventually started to get beyond the worst bit. As we did so, we must have disturbed a Roe Deer since it ran quite near to us and bounced off a wire fence at some speed. It obviously hadn't injured itself since it returned back the way it had come and bounded across the marsh without any further problems. At the end of this very bad marshy section, there were a few deep shake holes. The landowners had filled one of them with rotting wooden stakes and rusting rolls of wire fence. I've seen quite a bit of this shake hole dumping across the Dales. The bad section behind us, we continued following the stone wall.

Horse Head Moor

The mist disappeared from the surrounding hills. The Yorkshire Three Peaks, Penyghent, Ingleborough and Whernside came into view. We hoped to complete that challenge sometime in the next 9 days. Our path was still boggy, but nowhere near as bad as that horrendous stretch at High Combe Stoop. Horse Head Moor had a tiny cairn to mark the summit. There was a more significant cairn over to the southwest. It seemed higher, and the OS map indicated that it was, at 609 metres. Looking at the hill on the Hill Bagging website, a survey was carried out in 2006 and found the site with the large cairn to be 35 cm lower than the small cairn for Horse Head Moor. That was good enough to me. There was no stile to get across to the larger cairn anyway. The top of Horse Head was further to the northeast of Horse Head Moor. This had a trig, although this was on the wrong side of the stone wall with no stile to access it (n.b. it is possible to get to the other side of the wall where the Pennine Journey path intersects it to the southeast. Unfortunately, a visit to the trig involves quite a long out-and-back, since you need to be on the east side of the stone wall for this walk, and there is no opportunity to cross north of the trig).

Into The Valley

We continued following the stone wall. I thought for a time that the sun might come out. That was wishful thinking. It did seem a bit brighter though. We eventually came to an obvious track that headed down into the valley to the north. We followed it and valley views opened up that were quite impressive. The track down was a bit sketchy in places but a few small cairns helped us pick a reasonable route down.

The farm at Beckermonds was nestled into a very pretty spot where the Outershaw and Green Field becks merge. According to the map, this is where the River Wharfe starts. We joined the Dales Way at this point. The westward trail follows Outershaw beck; the eastward trail follows the River Wharfe. We started following the River Wharfe back towards Buckden.

Valley Walking

We hadn't walked very far down the river when we met four elderly Australian women. They were quite jolly and told us about their recent exploits that included: Rob Roy's Way, St Cuthbert's Way and Southern Cotswold Way. They were 3 days into their Dales Way and so weren't doing bad. They claimed that it was too hot on the Southern Cotswold Way. I told them that I didn't expect Australians to be whinging that England was too hot. They said they were off up to Skye after they'd completed this trail. I wasn't sure whether they meant the Skye Trail or maybe they were doing the Cuillin Ridge; I wouldn't have put it past them. I felt a bit disappointed that I couldn't Tommy Top them. We said our goodbyes and we went our different ways along the Dales Way.

Helen's Farm

The Dales Way section from Beckermonds to Buckden is exceedingly pretty. There is a lot of field hopping but this doesn't detract from the excellent views. Just before Yokenthwaite Farm we came across a stone circle (7.6m in diameter) which is believed to be Bronze Age in origin.

Half an hour's walk beyond Yokenthwaite Farm, we came across an elderly American couple from Boston. 'Have you seen Helen's Farm?' the woman asked. I told them that I didn't recognise the name. They said they were fans of All Creatures Great And Small (the new series) and the filming location of a character's farm was just up the valley. We assumed this to be Yokenthwaite Farm (a correct assumption as it turned out). I told them that the farm was about half an hour walk up the valley. They really didn't seem to have the right footwear for the path and the weather looked like it might be turning to rain. I felt a bit sorry for them. It seemed that they'd come a long way to have to turn back at the last minute. We wished them well and continued our journey to Buckden.

Return To Buckden

Just before we reached Buckden we came across a large group of Americans who just seemed to be standing around the path. 'We just put our waterproofs on because it started raining, and now it's stopped and so we're wondering whether to take them off' one of the group informed us. 'Well, that's England's weather for you' I replied.

The Cabin Boy made use of the Buckden National Park's carpark toilets when we returned. After the Kapitan's positive review this morning, I was wondering whether the Cabin Boy might be similarly impressed. They got the CB's thumbs up too.

It had been a mixed day weather wise, but we were lucky in that we were never deprived of views. The ridge walk along Longstrathdale is quite enjoyable, apart from the horrendous marshy section at High Combe Stoop. The Dales Way path between Beckermonds and Buckden is exceptional and has prompted me to look at doing the National Trail myself.