Too Old Codgers

Statistics:
distance - 11.2 miles
moving speed – 2.9 mph
start – 10.00 am
finish – 4.15 pm
moving – 3h 55m

We had our usual breakfasts at 8.15, and it was very good. We had a short walk today, so lingered over breakfast. We had a table by the window, looking out at a birdfeeder – visitors included blue tits, coal tits, chaffinch, sparrows, starlings and a dunnock. Graham took lots of pictures of the birds.

'Graham updates the diary before breakfast'

'Birdy distractions at breakfast – a chaffinch'

We got away at 10, dawdling through Hawes on a crowded market morning. Then we headed up to Gayle and the Wensleydale Creamery where we bought a Wensleydale cheese and oatcakes for lunch. In the village we met a charming resident who had lived in a village house overlooking Wensleydale for 40 years– we told her we were jealous.

'Hawes on a busy market morning'

After leaving Gayle we climbed over the Pennines. Firstly we crossed fields, then followed Gaudy Lane and continued along the Pennine Way skirting the tops of Ten End and Dodd Fell and overlooking the steep-sided Snaizeholme Beck valley. We encountered some of the renowned Pennine bogs, but were able to get around most. Meadow pipits were common, and we saw several birds of prey, buzzards maybe.

'Climbing the Pennines, Gaudy lane on right, Dodd Fell left'

'Looking back over Wensleydale farms, barns and walled fields'

'Another Pennine bog'

'Meadow pipit'

Around midday we met one of the people from our B&B at Hawes – he was out for a circular walk and had stopped for lunch before heading back to Hawes. A little later we chatted with a couple of lads with Germanic accents who were backpacking the Pennine Way. We wished each other well for the remainder of the walks. They were heading for Tan Hill that night – three more ridges and valleys to climb and descend for the afternoon.

Along this section the guidebook warns 'If you find yourself descending to woods, you are wrong …'. The woods had been clear felled some time ago.

'Woods mentioned in the guidebook have been clear felled'

At 1 o'clock we stopped and spread our packs, lunch and bottoms on a flat rocky outcrop beside the track. We had an expansive view over the Snaizeholme Beck valley. Dodd Fell to our backs protected us from a chilly wind, and it was warm when the sun came out. The peace and isolation of our lunch spot was wonderful, as was the Wensleydale cheese.

'Lunch overlooking Snaizeholme'

At the head of the Snaizeholme Beck valley, the Pennine Way joined the route of a Roman road, the Cam High Road. We turned west along the road, marching into the hot afternoon sun. At a couple of places we could see an overgrown raised track with ditches either side running parallel to the existing road, and wondered whether that was what remained of the original Roman road. Ahead of us we saw a couple coming up the Dales Way path from Langstrathdale. At the junction of paths they stopped to take pictures. We could make out another two couples and a single walker a little further along. We were to meet several couples and groups along the Dales Way over the next few days. We soon passed the last of the Dales Way couples, but both they and us were too weary and focussed on the end of day for a long chat.

'West Cam Road at the head of Snaizeholme'

'On the Roman Cam High Road, Pen-y-ghent on the horizon'

'Was that the original roman road?'

'Junction of the Pennine Way and the Dales Way – North of England Way unmarked'

As we continued our long descent, Graham was saying 'We should see the Ribblehead viaduct soon'. Just as he finished speaking we rounded a bend, and there it was – a most magnificent structure down in the valley under the brow of Whernside. Soon afterwards we saw the reason the road we were walking along had been upgraded – a large logging truck passed us taking out pine logs from the Cam Woodland. And it raised a pall of dust, something we did not expect to see in England!

'Ribblehead viaduct, and logging truck raising dust'

We diverted from the NoEW along the B6255 to our accommodation for the evening, the Station Inn. The road was fairly busy, so we walked in single file on the verge or off the road where possible. A belligerent Dales Way couple persisted in walking abreast across one lane of the road, forcing drivers into the oncoming lane of traffic on a twisty section of road. As was the case at the conclusion of most day's walking, the walk along the final mile to the inn took forever. As we neared the inn we passed a dozen cars and an icecream van parked at a vantage point overlooking the viaduct, and lots of people with cameras poised for the moment a two carriage train on the Settle to Carlisle line passed over the viaduct.

'Station Inn, Ribblehead'

'Looking back along the B6255 to the white ribbon of the Cam High Road'

When Graham had made email contact with the Station Inn, the Australian cricket team was thrashing the English team in an ashes series in Australia. The initial response of the manager of the inn to my enquiry was that bookings were not being taken from Australians because of the cricket. Our booking was finally accepted in good humour. When we arrived at the inn at just after 4pm, Graham asked at the bar if the cricket fanatic with a sense of humour was present. He was told by the barman that he (the barman) was not the person with a sense of humour. Graham was handed a key with no guidance on where to find the room or our luggage. We managed to find both.

After a too-hot shower (temperature couldn't be adjusted) we returned to the bar for drinks before dinner. Mary's was the usual double scotch with ginger ale. Graham asked for an interesting sounding ale, to be told it had run out. So he asked which of the other two beers was best. The barman said the Station Ale was popular. The bar (and our room) were stiflingly hot, so we took our drinks out into the beer garden where the tables and chairs (large and small wooden cable spools) were falling apart, but there was a great view over the viaduct and a juvenile robin hopping along the back wall. After not enjoying the first beer, Graham then tried the third beer – for the second time in his life, Graham found a beer so bad he poured it out. When we went back to our room Graham was cheered up by seeing a mayfly on our window.

'Station Inn beer garden'

'Juvenile robin on beer garden wall'

'Mayfly on the window'

After our 'welcome' to the Inn and the beer, we went into the dining room for dinner with some trepidation. The waitress with a French accent presented us with an interesting menu. Mary, with her preference for simple food, ordered ham, eggs and chips and was served a mountain of food. Graham ordered steak and mushroom in a suet pastry with mash, carrots, cabbage and turnips, and was served fantastic food. We shared a Spanish red ordered from the bar, labelled Qu4tre - the barman said he didn't know how to pronounce the name or anything about the wine, but it was good. As long as the waitress and chef remain at Station Inn, it is worth staying there just for the food.

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