UK. 2019
2. Yorkshire Dales.
Dent
We'd arranged to meet our friends Paul and Jella at Dent in the Yorkshire Dales before carrying on to Hawes where Paul was taking a melodian course. After that they went back to the Lake District and we spent another week in the Yorkshire Dales.
The Dent valley.
Dent caravan park. Our van looks tiny compared to Paul and Jella's Winnebago!
Plenty of room inside Bertha (their winnebago) for all of us to sit and have a meal.
Dent is a lovely old village with some very narrow cobbled streets.
Dent station is the highest mainline station in England and is on the Settle to Carlisle line.
Hawes
The melodian course was held at Hawes Countryside Museum. Hawes is in Wensleydale, which is probably the most famous of the Dales and we were able to park in the car park for the weekend.
On Saturday morning we had a look around the museum which had plenty of exhibits showing the past history of the area, primarily farming and mining. In the afternoon, while Paul was at his course, the rest of us went for a walk to Hardraw.
Richmond
We spend a couple of hours visiting Richmond Castle which is at the eastern end of the Dales.There were great views of the town centre and the River Swales from the top of the tower.
Upper Wharfedale
This is probably one of the lesser-known Dales so we managed to find a lovely quiet farm campsite. We had fantastic weather and were able to get out walking and cycling and had BBQs every day!
From Buckden we walked up the hill and had a great view of the valley with the village of Starbottom below us.
After a pint at the pub in Starbottom we walked back alongside the River Wharfe to our campsite.
Our campsite at Buckden.
Burgers for our evening meal.
Nice quiet back roads.
Grassington.
Malham.
Malham has to be one of the most popular area of the Yorkshire Dales and one that we've visited on several occasions but not for several years so we parked up, walked to Malham Cove and then up the cliff and along the valley to Malham Tarn.
Malham is a pretty little village with Malham Beck flowing though it.
Malham Cove.
Malhan Beck appears from a cave at the bottom of the cliff.
There's a new path to the top of the Cove. Looking back down the valley towards Malham village.
From the top of the Cove we followed the dry river upstream for a few kilometres.
Near Malham Tarn this stream disappears underground. For many years it was thought to be the river that appeared at the bottom of the Cove but it actually enters Malham Beck further downstream.
Ribblehead Viaduct.
The Ribblehead viaduct was built between 1870 and 1874 during the construction of the 72 mile stretch of the Settle to Carlisle railway. The viaduct is 400m (440 yards) long with 24 arches spanning across Batty Moss. During construction the navies were housed in camps close to the viaduct with some interesting names - Sebastopol, Belgravia and Batty Wife Hole.
Ribblehead viaduct.
Ribblehead Station which also has an interesting museum.
Last updated: November 2020