I decided I need to start getting some hills back into ye olde leggies and also needed some wild places. So I headed for the massively touristy Farndale.
The plan was to walk up to Rudland Rigg, do a loop round the top, then descend and return along the Daffodil river walk (of “I wandered lonely as a cloud" fame)
SatNav got me there okay and I pulled into what I thought was the car park only to see loads of cones dotted around. A helpful chap from the North Yorks. Moors National Park pointed me in the right direction – you know – straight in front of me – a mahooosive sign saying “Car Park this way” … doh! Epic Fail #1. Lesson learned = look further than your nose-end.
I paid my £2 for all day parking, observantly (this time) noted what time the Village Hall “bandstand” tea room closed, found the loos and off I pootled up the hill. I was quite impressed – I only stopped once to catch my breath and I wasn’t wheezing like back in my fag ash lil days. My calves protested a bit though. Soon enough, I reached my turn off:
So off I meandered along a well-surfaced farm track. So far so good. It was a gentle, steady uphill but I still stopped to enjoy the views opening out around me:
And then it all started to go wrong. Up until now, there were nice, blue arrows pointing me along the bridleway – you know – a track which horses and push bikes can go on? Blue arrows mean bridleway and all that (ie. no stiles). Remember that for later… Anyway, after a farm, the blue arrow pointed me across a field. My map said the bridleway went straight ahead but the arrow said different… so I followed the arrow assuming some sort of diversion was in place. Down a steep field to a stream. “Hang on a minute” I thought, “I’m not supposed to cross a stream”. But I did anyway. The stream was deeper than I thought and I got wet socks. Marvellous. Still unconvinced that I was on the right track but assumed it would join up with something somewhere, I started up the other side of the hill. Only then, once I had some views, did I look at my map properly and actually decide I really shouldn’t be where I was and I really should have just carried straight on the well-surfaced farm track. Epic Fail #2. Lesson Learned = ignore waymarkers, trust your instincts.
More wet sockage later and I was back on track (the proper track). I managed to waste half an hour doing that.
Pootling along the track I came to another marker point me straight on. I stared at it mistrustfully but it was right (this time). I soon came to a building called High Barn:
A lick o paint and a roof and it’d be worth a fortune. I had a bit of a poke around it (nowt much to see) before carrying on. Round the corner the arrow pointed me. All is good and round the corner I go. I see that (on my map) the bridleway leaves the track and, yayy, the arrow points me away from the track. So off I go. Over a stile I go and drop down to the beck as I’m supposed to be crossing it now-ish. Nope. No way of getting down to the actual beck due to a barbed wire fence. No worries, maybe I cross it in the next field. So over another stile I go. Has anybody spotted the errors of my navigation here yet? It wasn’t until I reached the third field that I thought “haaaang on a minute, I’m going in the wrong direction”. The beck should be on my left (it wasn’t) and I shouldn’t be able to see High Barn on my right. I should have crossed the beck by now and should be heading up the side of Rudland Rigg by now. I spotted a gate which lead back onto the well-made track so I decided to get back to where I knew I was (if you know what I mean). I passed High Barn (again) and turned off the track (again) went over the stile (again). [censored] what part of “bridleway” don’t I get? How the bluddi ‘ell is an ‘oss gonna get over a stile? This thought sort of glimmered in my brain cell as I was looking for ways down to the beck. Then I got in a mood with myself and headed back up to High Barn (for the third time) and sat on the wall to study my map properly – you know, the minute detail that looks blurry without glasses. Sure enough, I could then see that I needed to veer off the track only slightly before turning off to cross the beck. And, sure enough, when I did that *ta-daaaahhhhhh* a bridge:
So basically, I climbed 3 stiles and did 2 laps of some marshy, tussocky fields for absolutely NO reason whatsoever. Epic Fail #3. Lesson Learned = I’m a muppet.
Nice gnarly, fallen tree though:
Having crossed the beck (hoorrahhhhh) I headed up the steepening hillside, looking for a gate somewhere on my left. I found it and carried on. This hillside was steeper, gnarlier and squelchier than the other hill and my out of condition legs were getting a bit tired. I’d only done 2 chuffin’ miles by this point. But, the way was clear and I could see gates in all the right places and heading in the right direction so I carried on, stopping much more frequently. I reached the gate informing me I was entering access land and decided to take a bit of a breather and nibble a sarnie. It was trying to rain/mizzle and, after looking at how much further I had to go to complete the walk, I made an executive decision not to go any further so I dropped back down a little ways to find a sheltered spot and have my lunch “proper”. I sat there for ages listening to nothing but the muted gurgling of water on the hillside, the cak-cak-ing of an occasional grouse/pheasant and the wind blowing round the rocky outcrops. Big deep breath and “ahhh”, lovverrly.
My lunch stop views – Looking towards Rudland Rigg:
And looking back towards Low Mill:
Once I started getting a bit chilly I headed back downhill, across the beck, past High Barn (for the fourth time), onto the well-made track again and back down the road to Low Mill. Strangely enough, I decided not to follow my outbound route “to the letter” – I can’t think why not.
Back at the car park and I headed for the café. Never has a cuppa and a bun tasted so good. Reasonable prices and all home made. Nom nom nom nom nom.
So there you have it. Navigation at its finest
Roll up, roll up folks. Sign yourself up for the Peaks Meet in April….. I’m leading. What could possibly go wrong?
Thanks for reading.
Mel