More of the Yorkshire Dales 18 Oct 13

With the weather coming in from the west and heavy rain forecast we decided to head east again. This time to Dentdale for a gentle walk along the river Dent following part of the Dales Way. A nice drive over the Dales bought us to the quiet little town of Dent.



That was the plan until the path appeared to disappear! It should have followed the river but ran up against a fence with no stile! So we took another path up the hill and then wandered along a quiet country lane. 

A pleasant enough walk, including a diversion to a Lime-kiln and dried up waterfall,  then Chris noticed that some where on our outward leg we had missed a left turn!! Not sure how but we had! 

The Lime-Kiln

Chris and Mark go exploring

Yorkshire respect proper gradients 

So when we eventually found the route of the Dales Way joining the road we decided to follow it back to Dent and find out where we went wrong. 

Another Lime-Kiln on route

A lovely decent alongside a babbling brook, then a stroll along the bank of the Dent only to find that the left turn we missed had been in the local football ground less than 100 yards from where we started!!!!

Dent from the river

I blame poor way marking on the part of the Yorkshire Dales Park Authority, It could not have been Chris's fault.

Once back in the village we visited one of Chris's cycling cafes and not only had some hot drinks but some fantastic Apple and Blackberry crumble with lashings of custard!!
In response to my comment that it was nice to see 'lashings of custard' the proprietor bought out a small jug of extra custard! FANTASTIC!! 

After lunch we drove through Dentdale past Dent Head Viaduct 

Then on into Garsdale and in to Wensleydale visiting the Wensleydale Creamery at Hawes, the only place that makes Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese in the world!! There was a whole room dedicated to tasting the different variants of Wensleydale and the other cheeses made on site. And to think that in May 1992 Dairy Crest decided to close the site and it was only a management buyout that saved it and this great cheese!
Sorry for the quality of the photos today it was very overcast and eventually  started to rain.

Foot note:
Driving back to Kendal following a Fiat Punto I suddenly became aware of a black saxo that appeared to be reversing across our lane into the junction the car doing close to 40mph shot in front of the Punto over the dry stone wall and into the field!! Fortunatly both driver and passenger walked away from the wreck with no apparent injuries. If we had been 30 seconds earlier I may not have been able to post this blog as my car would have been by that stone wall!!!

Janet's Foss & Ribble's Head! 17 October 13

We escaped Cumbria today and traveled to the Yorkshire Dales missing the turning to Malham in Settle we turn back on ourselves only to find the lane we used was impossible to turn right out of because of the gradient and angle of the junction. After some very cleaver maneuvering Chris got us back on the right road and we parked at the Yourkshire Dales Country Park Visitor Centre in Malham. 

We planned to walk via Janets Foss to Malham Tarn via Gordale Scar then down to Malham Cove and back to the village.

The first part was easy with a quaint clapper bridge across the river by the Smithy some lovely countryside and photo opportunities Janet's Foss  was reach with little effort an worth the visit. 

So what are these parallel bars for??

Answers on a postcard or comments bellow

An amazing tree stump

Janet's Foss

We then followed the route to Gordale Scar an impressive lymestone canyon with the stream running through it. The gorge gets narrower and narrower until the way is blocked by a water fall. 

Spot the footpath!!

Victorian impression of Gordale Scar 

Here is our first problem the footpath is supposed to proceed up past the left of the waterfall but we could not see an easy route, especially one that Asher could manage. 

We turned back and found a path round the foot of the hills heading toward Malham Cove. After tackling some difficult, for Asher anyway, stiles we came to a sign that directed us to Malham Cove 3/4 mile at this point Chris headed north toward Malham Tarn. 

Chatting to Sam as we walked she comment that she had never seen a Peregrine Falcon in the wild, with in a few minutes as I scanned a couple of large birds in the sky I noticed off to the left a grayer bird and on inspection through my binoculars I realised it was a Peregrine! Sam was thrilled to watch this master of the skies in flight.

We worked our way up hill till we came within sight of Malham Tarn then as we crossed a wall Steve noticed a finger post which said Malham Cove 1 1/4 miles! He asked why we had walked for so long to end up farther away from our target?

We headed down Ing Scar a dry valley that would have, had it been wet, spilled over the cliff at Malham Cove as an amazing water fall. We found our way over the amazing Limestone Pavement at the top of the 'Cove' and then down the steep 'stairs' to the foot of the cliff where we found that the stream just appears from underneath the massive cliff!!

Looking down Ing Scar

Looking back where we came from

Limestone Pavement

Looking toward Malham from the top of the 'Cove'

Malham Cove from the stream

Another clapper bridge

Having worked our way back to Malham we drove back to Kendal taking in the Ribblehead Viaduct on route {sorry no photos}

Have a few fungi though!

The Gnome that's missing its Toadstall

The Lakes 16th October 13

Don't know what I did yesterday but my knee is not working properly today so Steve and I dropped Chris & Mark at Aira Force and we went for a walk down by Ullswater its self. Whilst we where eating lunch a small sailing boat with a strange, to me,  sail arrangement, appeared so I tried to photograph it through my birding scope. The results are grainy but I think worth sharing. Sorry it was very overcast today so the photos are a bit flat.

The boat when we first saw it

The boat is dead centre in this photo roughly
where it was when the last three photos where taken

The hills above Ullswatter

After a picnic Lunch Steve and I then drove to Dockray to meet up with Chris and Mark at The Royal Hotel a local pub. Whilst there I noticed some sculptures made from wire netting in the garden and thought they where interesting. It had started to rain by now so the photos are a bit dark.

sorry a bit of camera shake on this one

windows get in the way on this a bit

A smaller example in the porch

After a refreshment break in the the pub we drove to The Rheged Centre where in addition to a display of some work  by local artists we found some more of the wire sculptures, this set showing a diver doing a single piked somersault {photos courtesy of Marks phone}.

I haven't forgotten the fungi