Saturday May 6 Horton-In-Ribblesdale to Hawes
Today is supposed to be 10 F cooler. Hooray! It was
uncomfortably warm yesterday. By 8:30 I was passing
the Crown Hotel and turning onto the PW drover’s
track. Climbing up the fells over Horton, Penyghent
looms on my right and Horton recedes on my left with
a clear track ahead of unremarkable landscape.
Just past Old Ing Farm, I come to a beautiful beck
at Calf Holes or, as Wainwright calls it, Dry Laithe
Cave. The beck disappears into the cave and looks
fascinating to explore, but I press on along a
walled packhorse lane. I pass ruined stone houses
and barns in scenic meadow land, culminating at Ling
Gill with it’s dramatic rock sides and a lovely 16th
century bridge. Definitely photo worthy and fun to
walk on the limestone in the water. Continuing on a
packhorse track, I began climbing through bleak peat
moors towards Cam End, the upper reaches of
isolation. What an uninspiring climb, but it was
good to reach the Roman Road which I remembered from
walking the Dales Way the previous year.
Here, at the junction of the Pennine Way and the
Dales Way, I had a quick lunch and continued past
Cam Houses to the Hawes turnoff. I saw a couple of
solo walkers and two cyclists on the Roman Road,
also a Royal Mail truck turning in at Cam Houses.
From here, I noticed an easy way to access the Roman
Road from Cam Houses, much better than that bloody,
muddy Dales Way path that I took last year. It was
quite a nice walk to Hawes with a peaceful valley on
my left and Dodd Fell rising abruptly on my right. I
met a few daytrippers out of Hawes, it felt like a
veritable crowd.
At Gayle, just before Hawes, I noticed some people
in a parking lot looking at what seemed to be
antique cars. It was actually a car show of the DRK
Motor Club. The cars were spectacular, but not
antique, only looked antique. DRK is a 3-wheeled
two-seater open sportscar made in the 1980’s using a
Renault 5 engine and front suspension, with body of
plywood covered in aluminum. Only 59 were made,
excellent workmanship by a retired mechanic.
Apparently, the cars became an instant legend loved
by all. I felt honored to see them.
Back on the path, I passed a church, rounded a
corner, and there was the White Hart Inn in the
middle of Hawes. I’ll eat there later. It’s only
3:30, so I have time to look around this interesting
old market town. I had coffee at a cafe with hordes
of motorcyclists out front. They were all over town,
Hawes being one of their favorite destinations on
weekends. At the outdoor store, I bought a package
of Compeed plasters for the blisters which are
beginning to develop on my feet. I definitely wanted
to get some of the famous Wensleydale cheese for my
lunches, so I sampled several flavors in the market.
The original plain one suited me best.
On to Fairview B&B, a lovely old stone two-story
Edwardian house. Barbara gave me a large en-suite
room with a luxurious double bed. The single room I
had booked was taken by a cyclist. Too bad!! I’m
looking for a computer to send an email home, but
theirs was not available and the library which has
internet was closed. I feel bad about not contacting
wife Cathryn since I arrived in England.
Dinner at the White Hart was an excellent lamb shank
with cumberland mint sauce, potatoes and vegetables.
Bombadier ale by John Wells was strong and very
good, a new one for me. The pub was full of cyclists
watching a soccer game, noisy and friendly. Back at
the B&B, my room has TV w/DVD and a collection of
movies in the hall. There is also a mint on the
pillow. Ahh, this is very nice!