Arkengarthdale walk

The sun shone for the most northerly half-day 'circular' route one can do in the Dales National Park.

We set out from Whaw, a handful of old houses down by the river in the top end of Arkengarthdale.

We walked a bit of loop road, there were no cars and the meadows were pretty. And then a long gentle climb, keeping up out of the valleys and through four farms.

One farmer on a quad bike said 'just keep to the track'. A retired shepherd, a member of the International Sheep Dog Society, said the same.

We were on tracks but off the beaten track, a land devoid of waymarks but busy with birds.

The usual culprits were vocal, the skylarks, curlews and lapwings, but near Hill Top Farm, in a network of tiny rivulets, the redshanks were wary and noisy. By Dale Head, the oyster catchers were putting their long orange beaks to good use.

You'll have seen plenty of landscape by the time you reach the top at Ravens Park.

After that, it's open grassland for a mile or so, and then a push up a side valley to High Faggergill, an interesting farmstead.

That left the descent back to Whaw, 300 feet mostly on a good track and then finally steep through a band of trees.

We'd been peckish for an hour so as we came down to the village rooftops it was cheering to see the sign 'Chapel Farm Tea Room Open' then disappointing to see three signs reading 'Chapel Farm Tea Room Closed'.

So we drove the mile down the Arkengarthdale road for lunch at the ace and very useful CB Inn, where we were staying for a second time.

Directions:

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

1. Road into Whaw, bridge, left, left over beck at corner (signed High Faggergill), uphill, left fork to track.

2. Fieldgate to right of house, track, fieldgate, fieldgate then Right of Way leaves track, i.e. right by wall as far as the little bridge made of pipes by a fieldgate then left back over field to rejoin track. Usage route stays on track shown on map. Fieldgates.

3. Straight through Hill Top Farm between house and barns to grassy/stony track (wall on right), fieldgate just to left of field corner, makeshift gates in wall and cross field.

4. Fieldgate into farmyard, pass Dale Head house and barn then track on right between barns (fieldgates) which is usage route to next farm as right of way unclear. Public Right of Way crosses fields up to wall then turns back to Ravens Park with wall to left.

5. Right fork by Ravens Park house, pass its garden, fieldgate, cross field, fieldgate to high grassland and keep by wall to right.

6. Wire fence where wall swings right, grassy track straight ahead for 30 yards then fork right to end up on middle of three grassy paths/tracks, crest hill, down to pipe bridge but do not cross.

7.Left (wall and stream to right), gated wall stile on right by new metal fieldgate (before barn ruin), slab bridge, ten o'clock, ladderstile, diagonally uphill, fieldgate to right of garden wall, fieldgate by house, right to track which turns to tarmac near end.

8. Right to road at T-junction, 100 yards, squeezer on left before house, small meadows with squeezers to trees. Stiles in trees and left to path downhill, left before old chapel to gateway into Whaw. Leave village on Reeth Road, over bridge 50 yards, squeezer on left, one o'clock, squeezer, ten o'clock, squeezer and right by wall, gate, squeezer to road, 50 yards.

Fact file:

Distance: Five and a half miles.

Time: Three hours.

General location: Northern Dales.

Start: Roadside near Whaw.

Right of way: The route is along public rights of way, and 'usage' lengths.

Date walked: Thursday May 27 2004.

Road route: From Reeth, the Arkengarthdale road for six miles.

Car parking: Roadside either side of turn off to Whaw.

Lavatories: None.

Refreshments: The Chapel Farm Tea Room at Whaw. The CB Inn, Arkengarthdale.

Tourist and public transport information: National Parks Visitors Centre, Reeth Tel: 01748 884059.

Map: Based on OS Explorer OL30 Yorkshire Dales northern and central areas.

Terrain: High grassland.

Points of interest: Whaw comes from the Norse meaning 'the enclosure near the fold where sheep are milked'.

Difficulty: To 1,400 ft, moderate in good weather.

Dogs: Suitable, but ground nesting birds.

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: 10:25 Saturday, June 12, 2004