Dalesway - Sedbergh to north of Dent

Saturday 18th June 2016

Things are piling up.

There are two more sections of the Lancashire Witches Walk remaining, but BC is away in France so I must await his return.

I still have two unclimbed English Marilyns to do.

There are some sections left of my Dalesway campaign: filling in previously unwalked sections.

I have a stack of books to read.

All this and I am off backpacking again on 6th July - I have bought my rail ticket to Penzance.

Anyway I did another short section of Dalesway yesterday.

My last section finished where the Dalesway coincides with the Dales High Way which I have previously walked, and the overlap continues north beyond Dent, to Barth Bridge so that was my target today starting from the north this time, near Sedbergh.

This excellent LDP continued to uphold my high rating, following ancient tracks and bye-ways. One constantly has that connection with the medieval picturing people travelling with donkeys and horses, and even on a short section of Tarmac I was imagining this as it would have been, unsurfaced as a rutted track as I was passing farmhouses and buildings that haven't changed since the 1600s and earlier.

This kind of walking is ever changing with much to see and with the feel of following a purposeful route established over the centuries, compared with walks that pass through crop fields outside any national parks or AONBs and only connect you with modern day intensive farming and ankle twisting field edges on pseudo paths that have no pedigree.

On such a popular route I met various others approaching from the south, mainly having started that morning from Dent, so once those morning starters passed things quietened down.

There were two guys in their late twenties from Leeds backpacking the whole route - enormous rucksacks towering above their heads, tin mugs dangling, straps flailing, and wearing enough clothing for winter in Scotland whilst I was wearing only shorts and a shirt and even so perspiring profusely.

In contrast a man and his wife who were also backpacking the whole route had rucksacks which appeared smaller than my own when backpacking - they confirmed they were carrying a tent and sleeping bags etc, and cooking equipment, but you would never have known - they said they were carrying about 9kgs.

A party of young girls from Boston USA provided pleasant chat - they were doing the through route, but with baggage transfer.

A disillusioned fly fisherman appeared moaning about the lack of trout. He was wearing shirt, sweater and a stifling bulky Barbour jacket, again in contrast to my own hot sunshine attire.

Nearing my outward destination a mixed party of retirees approached, "does the Dales High Way branch off from further on up here?" They appeared to have no map or other directions and one woman was working up to assassinating the male leader when I told them they would have to retrace their steps a kilometre to Barth Bridge. I tried to console her by suggesting that an extra kilometre on such a delightful path was a bonus, but she still kept ranting at her leader, so I tuned up and sang a bit of Look on the Bright Side of Life as I followed on behind.

Meeting so many people had proved entertaining and my return by the same route rounded off a very pleasant little outing.

Sedbergh is well known for its private school - this is one of their rugby pitches. Part of southern edge of the Howgills in background

The Pepperpot. Here is a link to the history: CLICK HERE such histories are often boring but this is worth reading especially if you persist to the next to last paragraph

Interesting passageway - part of the remains of the Akay estate landscaping I reckon

River Rawthey bridge, Millthrop

Horseshoe gates near Millthrop

On the old tracks

Back to Sedbergh and the Howgills

Even field walking is on an old engineered track - super walking

Small gate on outside of boundary wall of large house; fancy taking so much trouble with the ornate hinges in a place where it doesn't really matter -"... they don't make 'em like that these days"

Relic

Brackensgill Bridge, 1999, over river Dee (Dentdale's river)

Another relic

The mapless, routeless walking party on their way back to pick up the Dales High Way after I had redirected them. I wonder what became of them?

Click to enlarge. At Ellers I diverted a bit from the Dalesway on the return