Muker is lovely - small (20 houses), lovely B&B (Bridge House) and a good pub that served Old Peculiar on draft (plus 3 other beers). Do not expect any mobile reception however. Our day was slow and easy. We were only ambling to Reeth which is a mere 7 miles down the valley. Some people skip Reeth and walk to Richmond but this is a holiday, not a march. It was a fantastic peaceful walk down the valley of the Swale. The rain the previous night has swelled the river and it veritably raced along. By the time we finished today we had climbed the equivalent of 30 floors, ambled 11 miles and had consumed a lot of food (well I had).
Longer version
The Farmers Arm at Muker is a traditional warm homely village pub that was perfect for a night out. We had a superb evening and woke up refreshed. The Swale at Muker is a narrow V shaped valley but as you walk down to Gunnerside so it starts to widen out. The walking is easy and even Andrea's left leg seem to like it. The Swale today was running a lot faster than the day before due to the overnight rain - in winter it must be a torrent (powerful enough to damage a bridge looking closely at the photo below).
Sand Martins nest in the banks of the Swale and then buzz around your head whilst catching flies etc. I tried to take a photo of them but failed dismally. I have to say some of the walk is on a B road that is a bit disappointing but other bits are very idyllic through buttercup meadows. After Gunnerside (where we stopped for tea and cake) there is a bit of the walk on a wall: although you can not really make it out there is a 3 foot drop on either side:
Eventually the valley broadens out with barns and cottages nestling on either side. It's a very peaceful place that is well worth a visit: less popular than Wensleydale (which is a bonus) - possibly has less things to see but when you walking that isn't really a concern:
As the day went on, so the weather improved. I think we ended up getting faster because of it :
Due to this we entered Reeth at 2pm having covered the 11 miles in under 6 hours. Luckily Reeth has 3 coffee shops, 3 pubs, an ice cream parlour and 2 other shops., so there was plenty to do. Here is the huge grass square:
It reminded us of "All Creatures Great and Small" or maybe "Last of the Summer Wine". It also has a surprising number of benches .... yes benches in the centre must number over 10. No, we are not sure why either.
Quirky thing of the day
Walking along the B Road we spotted in the middle of nowhere a tea party - bizarre maybe:
It was their to raise money for the Air Ambulance. I am not too sure what the monkey was doing however: Yorkshire is challenging Cumbria for the weird
No comments:
Post a Comment