Northern lights

Many thanks to Mark Reid for covering for me and doing the walk the last two weeks. I have been on my travels, to London (not for the march) and then to Arkengarthdale the most northern of the Yorkshire Dales. This is the first of three outings in Arkengarthdale, a place out of the way but often in the media. Indeed the first thing I saw when I entered the Red Lion Inn in the village of Langthwaite was one of Mark Reid's books with said pub on the cover. In it he claims the Red Lion is "the most filmed pub in the world" and on the walls are shots from All Creatures Great And Small and also of Phil Collins etc.

We walked from the pub. Up on the near slopes are beech woods, there are ash by Arkle Beck and the far side of the valley is bare and broken with lead mine damage. The route follows the river to Scar House, a large Scottish-style shooting lodge of the Duke of Norfolk; this has nice neat walled riverside gardens. Next a short tour of valley floor, through a scattering of buildings, many ex-mining, the unmistakable and isolated hexagonal one was a powder store. Then a length idyllic by the river where mimulus flowered yellow and orange in a spring, scented woods were lush with sedge and ferns, and pastures heavy with scree are wrestled into order by extravagant dry stone walls.

The comfort factor was increased by a halfway teashop in the hamlet of Whaw. With the menu came newspaper clippings - "the finest sandwich in 17 years" wrote Mike Amos of the North-ern Echo; "who needs Vermont in the Fall" wrote the Guardian's walking correspondent, or rather lost correspondent, "lost amid a maze of spoil heaps on a moor dotted with secret shafts". Not us eh? Maybe next week.

We had noticed before we tucked into scrumptious blackcurrant crumbly square cube that behind the teashop the land rises vertically. Don't be deterred from feasting as a ziz-zag path makes it easyish to the top and then you can settle down to a gated road drift for a mile with views Mike Amos considered "perhaps the finest in all the dales" . They are fine, down the valley, and quiet; two Land Rovers chugged by. There's a lime kiln, and a spring was lilac with flowering water mint. We reached Scar House again, and path confusion, arrows would help. Eventually we sussed it and skirted round the back into craggy Scots Pine woods then into beeches.

A bench offers a view of valley with a large church, a competitively close and tall chapel and the large CB Inn. These date from the times the dale was full of people busy with lead mining.

The inn has been further extended to accommodate tourists and, having been recommended by a honeymooning friend, was our roof for the next two nights.

Directions

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed.

1. Into Langthwaite village, after pub alley/ track on left, fieldgate and straight on (wall to left for a while, yellow blob marks).

2. Stile/fieldgate to gravelled area, pass adjacent house, left to tarmac drive, bridge over Arkle Beck and immediately fork right to track, pass house, track curves right, fieldgate. Stay on track.

3. Cross road to squeezer, 100 yards, footbridge over Arkle Beck, left to beckside path.

4. Road into Whaw, 25 yards, right fork to track on right by Tea Rooms (signed Seal Houses), ladderstile/gateway, 20 yards up bank, right to squeezer and stiles to track that winds up through wood. Stiles out, 11 o'clock, squeezer, 11 o'clock, squeezer then straight on (squeezers). Right to gated road.

5. Cross road at junction to squeezer into field, path to squeezer in far left-hand corner (ford sidestream) then path follows beck.

6. Footbridge and gate into wood, 20 yards, footbridge then immediately left, faint path up-hill for 50 yards, curves to right and levels. At drive left, 50 yards, right to connect with path behind Scar House (the big house). The cut up from near the backyard of Scar House could be just usage. After house, path follows lower edge of wood. Right to road into Langthwaite.

Fact file

Distance: Four and a half miles.

Time: Two to three hours.

General location: The north of the Dales National Park.

Start: The village of Langthwaite.

Right of way: The route is along public rights of way, possibly modified by usage around Scar House.

Date walked: Tuesday, September 17, 2002.

Road route: Via A1, Richmond and Reeth.

Car parking: Pay-and-display car park.

Lavatories: Near church.

Refreshments: Red Lion at Langthwaite - simple fare, toasted sandwiches. Chapel Farm Tea Room at Whaw (open Good Friday to end of October) good and inexpensive. CB (Charles Bathhurst) Inn - ace food, weekend evenings booking is advisable (Tel 01748 884567).

Tourist & public transport Information: Reeth TIC 01748 884059.

Map: Based on OS OL30 Yorkshire Dales Northern and Central Areas.

Terrain: Riverside and valley side.

Points of interest: Reeth is good to visit and has a useful National Parks shop/office and a post office. Both are stocked with books on local mining history.

Difficulty: Moderate/easy.

Dogs: Suitable.

Weather forecast: Evening Press and recorded forecast 0891 500 418.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.

Click here to view a map of the walk

Updated: 15:43 Friday, September 27, 2002