Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 4

24th May 2021: Reeth to Richmond – 12 miles Well that was another interesting day, something of a roller-coaster (geographically rather than emotionally thankfully today). At the start of this walk, I’d parked my car in Reeth, which meant I had options today. As I’m in the Black Bull again tonight I decided to drive […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 3

23rd May 2021: West Burton to Reeth – 14 miles Well that was an interesting day, something of a roller-coaster (emotionally rather than geographically).   I had an excellent meal in the Street Head Inn – having said that, pretty much any meal would have felt great after 3 or 4 days living on toast. I […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 2

22nd May 2021: Kettlewell to West Burton – 12 miles My delayed start to this walk seems to have paid dividends, as I only had a couple of stomach cramps today and only a single  false alarm, which occurred when I was in the middle of nowhere and I would have coped OK if it […]

Cross-Dales Trail 1 – Day 1

21st May 2021: Settle to Kettlewell – 15 miles I was supposed to be walking today, but rather than writing this in my B&B in Grassington after a long day’s walk, I’m sat at home with a clear path to the toilet. Some of the following details may be a bit graphic, so close your […]

Cross-Dales Trails

Last year was a disaster. The death of 75,000 Britons, in any context is a disaster. We aren’t out the other side of this yet of course, but 2021 looks like it could see the tide begin to turn. We have two vaccines being distributed and more in the pipeline. I’m hopeful that this coming […]

Herriot Way 2019 – Day 4

21st April 2019: Keld to Aysgarth – 14.5m When I set out this morning I had every intention of walking from Keld to Reeth along the new low route, beside the River Swale, that I’m adding to the fourth edition of the guide book. As it turned out, I ended up walking to Aysgarth instead. […]

Herriot Way 2019 – Day 3

20th April 2019: Keld to Reeth – 12m I slept like a log (an expression that has always baffled me), that is to say I slept soundly. Soft pillows helped immensely of course as did not having to listen to a neighbour’s TV all night. I stirred about 5am and drifted in and out until […]

Herriot Way 2019 – Day 2

19th April 2019: Hawes to Keld – 11.8m I dozed off about 8pm last night, but never got a decent period of sleep, thanks to the inconsiderate twat in the room next door who decided that full volume was the only way to listen to the TV. He/she was also one of those people who […]

Herriot Way 2019 – Day 1

18th April 2019: Aysgarth to Hawes – 13.1m I set out from Aysgarth in a mixed frame of mind this morning. It  was good to be walking again, but the disappointment from last night was still weighing heavy on me. City’s Champions League quarter final against Spurs was one of the most intense football matches […]

Herriot Way 2019

Next week I’ll be driving to Aysgarth to begin 5 days walking around some of my favourite northern Yorkshire Dales. The primary motivation for this is to do a complete re-walk of the Herriot Way route in preparation for the latest update of the guide book. For those unfamiliar with the walk, it runs from […]