Captain's Log

Muker

Fifty yards after setting off on our walk we had to stop; the Kapitan had a stone in his boot. What surprised me was the size of the boulder that tumbled out when he shook his boot. How on earth had he managed to get his foot in the boot with that Brimham-sized Rock in there too? It made me wonder. Normal service resumed, we made our way through the quaint village of Muker. 

Our plan for today was to follow the River Swale as it turned northwards from Muker towards Keld. I decided to stick to the path in the valley since the morning’s weather forecast seemed mixed. We would go as far as the beautiful East Gill waterfalls and then join the Pennine Way. The National Trail would take us southwards to Thwaite. Field-hopping along Swaledale would then return us to Muker. We’d all walked in this area before and so we knew we were going to be in for a great walk. 

River Swale

It had been a fairly thick mist as we’d driven over the Butter Tubs pass on our way to Muker, but the weather was now surprisingly good in the valley. Spots of sunshine danced across the hills, always moving too fast to capture that perfect photo. Ramps Holme Bridge delivered us to the east side of the river. There was plenty of water tumbling underneath it. The waterfalls along the valley and at East Gill should look good with this much water coming down. This was confirmed when we did a detour to have a look at the waterfall cascading down Arn Gill. It looked very pretty. It was so sunny, I wondered whether I should have chosen a higher level route today, to make the most of the weather. I had no regrets though, as the footpath climbed and offered magnificent  views along the valley. We couldn’t stop taking photographs. At Swinner Gill we left the track to have a closer look at the ruined buildings of the mining industry. Another cascade of waterfalls tumbled down the gill. A Landrover made an appearance from the direction of Keld. It had to cross the ford over Swinner Gill and I pondered whether it might have problems with the amount of water coming down. It rolled straight across it without any problems and scooted off towards Muker. 

I’d not included Beidi Hill on my original plan, but it didn’t look like a strenuous climb and I thought it might present some good views at the top. Ten minutes later we stood on its summit admiring some excellent views over Keld and beyond. The remnants of the lead mines were clearly visible in the surrounding area. We chatted with an elderly mountain biker who said he lived further down the Swaledale valley at Low Row. I commented that he’d done well to make it to the top of this hill.
‘It’s not so difficult when you’ve got battery power to help you’ he informed me. We dropped back down to the main path and I was surprised to find that we had a pretty clear view down to Kisdon Force. I can’t remember seeing it from above like this before. We reached the East Gill waterfalls and found a bench to have a coffee break. There were a few groups of walkers out now, having probably made their way from Keld. The waterfalls looked just as good as I was expecting. Having crossed the footbridge over the river, we climbed the footpath on the other side to join the Pennine Way. 

Pennine Way

I find this stretch of the Pennine Way one of the prettiest along the National Trail. It isn’t one of the easiest though. It does undulate and the limestone rocks make the footpath slippery when wet. There were great views across the valley though as we progressed southwards along a contour high on Kisdon Hill. The day gradually became greyer as we made our way along the footpath. We came across a Geordie couple who were sitting on a stone taking a break. They told us that they’d climbed Great Shunner Fell, yesterday.

‘It was sunny all the way to the top and then the heavens opened. We were thoroughly soaked when we got back,’ they reminisced.
‘At least you didn't have to have a shower when you got back’ I offered as compensation. 

We reached the farmhouse at Kisdon and started the descent towards Thwaite. The view over the village to the mighty Great Shunner Fell beyond is one of my favourites. The sun had gone for good now and the grey clouds threatened rain. We reached the bottom of the valley and crossed a small bridge to enter the field. There were some faded letters painted on to the wood structure of the bridge. They are difficult to decipher now, but I know from previous viewings that it said ‘Single File.’ I instructed the Kapitan and Cabin Boy that we should walk single file or risk incurring the wrath of the local farmer.

Muker

Before entering Thwaite, we picked up another footpath that field-hopped towards Muker. We crossed a pretty stone arched bridge over a beck. The route took us through Usha Gap farm, which has a campsite that I’ve still yet to visit. It looked okay, so maybe I’ll make it there next summer. Yet more field-hopping brought us back to Muker. As we walked back along the road to the car, the Kapitan pointed out two memorial plaques embedded into the old school walls. These were to commemorate Cherry and Richard Kearton, Muker’s famous residents. The brothers were naturalists and some of the world’s earliest wildlife photographers. They developed innovative methods to photograph animals in the wild. My research revealed a photo where the brothers were taking a photo of a bird's nest. The tripod must have been at least 10 feet high and one brother was standing on the other’s shoulder to look through the viewfinder. Well, I guess you’d call that innovative. Given their upbringing in the Dales, maybe it was unsurprising that they took such a keen interest in the natural world. 

I noticed that the Kapitan didn’t shake his boots when he took them off and so I fully expect a repeat performance of ‘I’ve got a stone in my shoe’ when we set off on our walk tomorrow. It had been a cracking walk and we'd been lucky with the weather, at least for the most part of the day. The highlight was the wonderful waterfalls that we encountered along the route.