Captain's Log

Rain

It looked a grim day when I looked out of the living room window at our digs in Hawes. Grey skies, cloudy tops and rain. Yesterday had been the same and I’d spent the day indoors going stir-crazy with the Kapitan, Cabin Boy and Ted. We had to get out no matter what. It didn’t seem worth driving anywhere and so I looked at the OS map and worked out a route around Hawes. It would be a field-hop for most of the way, but at least it would get us out. Initially we’d follow Gayle Beck upstream to Aysgill Force. We’d then meander our way northwards to Appersett, before making our way over to Hardraw Force. I identified the Green Dragon pub as a fuel stop at Hardraw. It would then be another field-hop and pavement walk back to Hawes. It didn’t look too inspiring on the OS map, but given the amount of rain we’d had, I expected Aysgill Force and Hardraw Force to be well worth a visit. 

Aysgill Force

A large volume of water tumbled down Gayle Beck as we stood above it on the road bridge. The last time I was here, there was more limestone visible than actual water. What a difference a few rainy days make. We escaped the outskirts of Gayle and joined the Pennine Way. This was only a short engagement and we branched away to join a footpath along Gayle Beck. It was a pretty path, but rather muddy as a consequence of all the rain. On the other side of the beck, mini-waterfalls cascaded down the steep embankment to join the water below. The roar of a major waterfall gradually became louder and soon enough we had a ringside seat for Aysgill Force. It was a fine looking waterfall and given it was so close to Hawes, I wondered why I’d never visited it before.

‘There’s a Woodpecker up in that tree there.’ The Kapitan and Cabin Boy had gone ahead of me and now they were pointing up to the highest branches of a tree. It was that gloomy and dark, it was hard to spot anything.
‘Come over here and you’ll get a better view’ commanded the Kapitan. I wandered towards him and took the viewing position. It was only later that I found out it had been a ruse to get me to walk through a massive cowpat as my attention was distracted towards the tree. Such is my generous nature that I still improvised a re-route to avoid some cattle for the Cabin Boy’s sake, I get little or no reward for these efforts I make. 

Appersett

We headed northwards on a farm track where we met the Pennine Way again. This was an even briefer encounter with the National Trail than before, as we diverted off on to Bands Lane and then Cam Road. At least these farm tracks were drier than the fields. After a short section along the B6255, we were field-hopping again westwards towards Widdale Beck. The rain had stopped now although clag still hung heavily on the hilltops. Occasional patches of sun illuminated the landscape. We joined Lanacan Lane on its northern journey towards Appersett. Before reaching the village, the lane went under the impressive Appersett Viaduct. The five-arched bridge was built in 1878 and saw its last train in 1959. The village of Appersett is on the A684 and we walked along this for a few hundred metres until we crossed the River Ure at New Bridge. The road wasn’t particularly busy, but care was required. 

Hardraw

It was field-hopping territory on the other side of the bridge. The first field was more like island-hopping as we found the driest route through the flood water. It was lunchtime, but we couldn’t find anywhere that was suitably dry to sit down and have our snap and so we plodded on. The route turned east and gradually descended into the village of Hardraw. In the churchyard of St Mary and St John’s Church we found sanctuary at a bench and so settled down to have our lunch. 

Given how impressive Aysgill Force had been this morning, we were keen to check out Hardraw Force. The waterfall is on private property and the Kapitan unlocked his wallet to pay the fee for our team. It’s a shame you have to pay to see the waterfall, but I suppose you do get two well maintained trails around the falls. We decided to do the Lower trail first and headed along the narrowing gorge to the waterfall. Some footbridges allowed access to a trail on the other side of the beck. I've visited Hardraw Force a few times over the years, but I’d never seen it as stunning as it was today. Massive amounts of water poured into its limestone amphitheatre causing a great deal of noise and generating plenty of spray and mist. The Kapitan couldn’t resist the opportunity to get wet and he proceeded down the footpath to get as close as he could get to the waterfall. The Cabin Boy, Ted and I stood back at a drier distance. When the Kapitan returned he was totally soaked. He looked happy though. The Upper Trail clung to the top of the cliff edge. It was safe enough since there was a wire fence between ourselves and the vertical drop. There was quite a bit of vegetation that restricted the views somewhat, but there were one or two gaps to get some dramatic views down to the waterfall. We crossed the beck above the waterfall using a footbridge and watched the white water head horizontally and then disappear into the oblivion of the gorge below. The trail went through some nice woodland and we watched a small Red Squirrel for a while, burying nuts. We came across an old limekiln on the descent to the beck, that had been made into an over-engineered one man shelter. It had probably only taken us 40 minutes to do the Hardraw Force trails, but it was definitely money well spent. Especially since it was the Kapitan’s money and not mine. 

Hawes

The Kapitan had his wallet out again at the Green Dragon. I could have gone for the cheapest draught, but they had Old Peculiar on tap and so I told him to buy me a pint of that. Very nice it was too; beer always tastes better when somebody else is paying. There was a sign at the pub’s entrance saying ‘Hippies Use Backdoor - No Exceptions.’ You have to be careful what you say nowadays, but I guess if you were to discriminate against any group, then I guess laid-back hippies would be a good community to insult. 

With a pint of Old Peculiar inside me, the field-hop back towards Hawes seemed to pass quickly. The day got even darker as we progressed and I thought we might be in for a spot more rain. It held off though and we made our way through Hawes’ pretty little streets back to our digs.    

It was good to blow off the cobwebs of yesterday’s inactivity. It had been a good idea to avoid the tops. It had turned out to be an excellent walk with stunning views of both Aysgill Force and Hardraw Force.