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.