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Castleton Walk, 5th June 2014, Report. Ken Wilson Nine hardy souls and a large black dog gathered at the car park above Castleton at 8.00am on an bright but overcast day, looking forward to a good days walking.
However the
walk was very nearly cancelled as a motion by one of the “Elders”
proposed that we forego the walk and head straight for the “all day
breakfast”, fortunately the motion was defeated by a small majority and
off we went. Initially heading south down a gently sloping path into Danby Dale turning east at Crag House Farm and across the dale to North End Farm before climbing up to Ainthorpe Rigg and turning to skirt southwards along the edge (admiring the views across Danby Dale but ignoring the pre-historic remains - it was too early for culture!).We had a bit of excitement dropping down and up through “Old Hannah’s Nick” I’m sure it’s done better on the Fox & Hounds Chase but we made it through and arrived at the coffee stop by the stream at the head of the dale.
The cultural
element of the walk was achieved by examining and photographing the
circa 1832 Bee Boles at Dale Head which were restored in 1985.
Continuing straight through Westerdale Village we climbed back up to the
moor and headed easterly along the well trodden track dropping down to
Dibble Bridge and then climbed back up to the car park arriving at
1.30pm. A quick change (just as the rain started) and then down to Castleton for the looked forward to “all day breakfast” which did not disappoint. We were lucky with the weather, overcast with occasional sight of the sun; the forecasted rain did not arrive until we were back at Castleton.
The mileage was 11.5 miles and approx 2000ft of climb. The three photos, above, are by Terry Coupland 1 Grouse chick in the grass 2 Coffee break 3 Would you buy a used car from any of these people? |
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Suitably
refreshed we climbed back up the side of the hill still following the
F&HC route. At the point where we were to turn west to head towards
Esklets an executive decision was taken to miss out that bit and head
straight to Westerdale (the call of the breakfast was getting
stronger!). So we climbed up to High Crag and dropped down via Dale Head
and Broadgate Farm into Westerdale.