Friday 28 October 2011

Muker, Crackpot Hall, Gunnerside and the River Swale

Date:                    Saturday, 15th October 2011
Start/Finish:          Muker
Distance:              10 miles
Time Taken:          6.5 hours
Companion(s):       Dittzzy (Tracey), HumperLumper (Rich), DonnaNook and Frankie

Route Map:




Having done no walking since 2nd October and with the prospect of a really good weather weekend ahead, I was determined to get out and about this weekend if at all possible.  A quick message to Tracey to see if she was still available resulted in plans being made for our day out and Tracey choosing a walk for us.  Once we had agreed the route, I contacted Rich and Donna to see if they would like to join us and we were soon all organised and eager for the day to come.

Well the day dawned and I headed down to meet Rich, Donna & Frankie from their train at Northallerton station.  I arrived in good time, even had time to grab a quick cup of coffee from the station shop, and we were soon on our way to meet Tracey.  By the time we arrived at the car park in Muker, the sun was shining and it was already quite warm so we wasted no time, got geared up and set off.






On arriving at Ramps Holme Bridge, we crossed the River Swale....




...and then headed further up the valley...





....to arrive at Fair Yew End.















Continuing on our way, we headed uphill....












...until we arrived at Crackpot Hall....


From here, we joined a scary path which led us up through Swinner Gill under Buzzard Scar...










...to reach the Swinner Gill Mines and waterfall....










Passing more waterfalls on the way, we followed the path up East Grain....






....until we reached the moors where we joined the track heading towards Lownathwaite...





....where we had a lunch break and then continued on our way, keeping to the track above Gunnerside Gill....














Then we headed down to Ivelet to meet up with the River Swale again which we followed all the way back.....





















....to Ramps Holme Bridge and the path which would return us to Muker.





What an amazing day we had!  Excellent weather, stunning scenery, brilliant company and, after an eventful journey, I even managed to get Rich, Donna and Frankie back to Northallerton in time to catch their train home - woohoo! :-)

Thanks to Tracey, Rich, Donna and Frankie for their company on this wonderful walk xxxxx

No comments:

Post a Comment