H T Fell Walking Club: August 2012

Friday, 17 August 2012

September Walks from Hawes

Our next walk will be from

Hawes

in North Yorkshire

and will be on

Saturday 8th September 2012

0800hrs prompt from the short stay car park

Hawes Market in 1999.

Hawes is a small market town and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England, being granted its market charter in 1699. Historically within the North Riding of Yorkshire, Hawes is located at the head of Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales, the River Ure runs through the town and the dale which is one of the honeypot tourist attractions of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The parish of Hawes also includes the neighbouring hamlet of Gayle. The hill of Great Shunner Fell stands over the town. The town is famous as being the home of Wensleydale cheese.

Local tourist attractions include the Dales Countryside Museum, based in the old Hawes railway station of the Wensleydale Railway; nearby Hardraw Force waterfall; and the Buttertubs Pass, which links Wensleydale to Swaledale. Further down the dale is Aysgarth Falls. Hawes itself has a regular market, as well as many shops, pubs and tearooms. The Hawes Promotion/Relegation party for fans of Sunderland AFC takes place there every summer. It is well attended and organised, and grows year upon year.

Hawes is at the centre of great walking (hiking) country and the Pennine Way (the UK's first National Trail) passes through.

Derivation of Name Originally the town was known as The Hawes, deriving from the Old Norse word hals, meaning "neck" or "pass between mountains".

There will be three walks as normal:

Weather Forecast for Hawes here: - It is looking good!

A Walk at Hawes

Leader: Steve Edwards
Distance: 11.7 Miles approx
Total Height Gain/Descent: 1957 ft

Hawes A Walk Route

Hawes A Walk Elevation

This walk is a delightful hoseshoe walk encompassing the Sleddale valley to the south of Hawes in Wensleydale. The two significant hill ranges are Wether Fell to the east and Dodd Fell to the north and west.

Please be prepared for a very difficult, but satisfying walk as this is long and in some places hard under foot.

We skirt Hawes from the car park and make are way to Gayle where we start the accent to Gaudy House and past it by following Gaudy Lane. The views were fantastic with fields of beautiful colourful flowers.

Great Shunner Fell as seen from Gaudy Lane

We climb higher and see Dodd Fell ahead of us and to our left, continued uphill we follow the Pennine Way which we were are forced to leave and climb the last 10 minutes to Dodd Fell Hill top across the fells with no discernable path.

Walking without the guidance of a path and through tussock grass is tough going but we eventually reach the welcoming trig point on top of Dodd Fell Hill.

Maybe time for a cuppa to admire the beautiful views south over the distant 3 peaks of Yorkshire

Ingleborough comes into view near Ten End Peat Ground

From Dodd Fell Hill we made our way south east towards Cam High Road and after walking through a few interesting peat hags and following a boundary wall we reach the road.

At this point we have a 'bailout' option down to Gayle via the road but the preferred route is to follow an old Roman road to Wether Fell.

A cairn marks the top and once there we can enjoy magnificent views of Wensleydale from Burtersett High Pasture

From the cairn we retrace out steps for a few yards, rather than negotiate more tussocks, and head north east then eventually downhill towards Gayle and a potential stop in the cheese factory or cup of coffee time depending.

B Walk at Hawes 2012

Leader: Beverley Kelly
Distance: 8 Miles approx
Total Height Gain/Descent:1400ft

B Walk Route, click to enlarge

click to enlarge

A walk down Raydale which is like going back to the English countryside of 100 years ago, it is so quiet and unspoilt. The paths are natural, the air is clear and the buildings are old, even the village has a quant old English name.

The coach will drop us off at Bainbridge¹, a lovely small village complete with stocks, village green and toilets.

We cross the bridge over the river Bain, the shortest river in England and soon reach the pathway alongside the river. We follow this for about 2 miles across fields full of wild flowers, grasses, wild life and also stiles²!!!

Until we reach Semer Water, a natural lake with a terrible story!

We skirt the lake with wonderful views of Great Shumner until we find the remains of Stalling Busk Old Church. A small climb now to Stalling Busk, a pretty village where we can purchase tea and cakes to go with our lunch if we desire.

It is down Busk Lane now to Marsett crossing the beck to reach a farm. We now start a climb to Cam High Road, an old Roman Road , gaining views of the exceptional valley we have just walked. From the top there are views all round to savour.

A short distance on and Hawes comes into view and a steady descent to Gayle where the Wenslydale cheese is made and then across a field to Hawes and refreshments

^{1 Population 340 in 2001}

^{2 There are approx. 20 stiles on this walk}

Photographs taken on the reccie, click to view

C Walk at Hawes 2012

Leader: John Smith
Distance: 6.6 Miles approx
Total Height Gain/Descent: ? ft

This walk is a riverside ramble, on to the moorland village of Sedbusk, then countless squeeze stiles, a fine country house hotel,England's highest waterfall,a section of the Pennine Way and the magnificent Appersett Viaduct.

The terrain starts with field paths leading up to Sedbusk then on across a flat shelf of land through a succession of squeeze stiles to reach Simonstone.

Clear paths now drop to Hardraw (famous waterfall – ten minutes off track and £2) whence a stony track (Pennine Way) climbs before dropping down across pastures to reach Appersett.

A quiet lane then leads up beneath Appersett Viaduct before clear field paths lead back to Hawes, passing the Wensleydale Creamery, where I suggest tea is taken (pubs in the village), before a ten minute walk to the coach.

Distance: 6.58 miles.

Ascent: Hawes is at 740ft above sea level and the highest point on the walk is 1032 ft above sea level.

Estimated duration: 3 hours depending on the numbers in the party and the time taken at the stiles( Hardraw Force will take an extra 20/25 minutes, if time allows). The break for lunch will be extra too.

Source: “Walking Weekends” by Mark Reid, walking weekend no 6 – Sunday walk – amended !!