17 miles
Weather - sunny and warm
A quick visit to Spar to buy provisions and we were off through the pretty village of Millthorpe. We had a delightful walk along a green lane and then woodlands to enter Dentdale. This is a dale I am quite familiar with as I passed through it on the Dales Way and The Dales Highway long distance paths. It is quite lovely. We arrived in Dent and had a cup of tea and some cake at the heritage centre where we made the decision not to climb Whernside. The day was turning into a hot one and as I had climbed the peak before we thought we would take a lower path to Ingleton. This is the route which AW took on his original walk in 1938 so we were following in his footsteps along minor roads through Deepdale and then Kingsdale.
The road was fairly quiet although we did meet a few cars as we trundled along. We also met lots of cyclists who were toiling uphill with pained expressions and lots of perspiration. We discovered a beautiful waterfall by the roadside which reminded me of Rivendell in Lord of the Rings. It was quite breathtaking and we would never have known it was there if we had not been walking - all the cyclists did not give it a second glance as they struggled past. Down in the dale we listened to a farmer herding his cows like a wild west cowboy - yeehaa!
We passed from Deepdale into Kingsdale and the view was marvellous. The whole dale laid out before us. Lunch was enjoyed on a grass verge surrounded by wild flowers and bees. Our view was wall to wall limestone crags and quite splendid in the sunshine. Tractors trundled back and forth bringing in the hay and the bees hummed whilst the butterflies flitted.
Eventually we left the minor road in Kingsdale and headed to the top of the Ingleton Falls. We saw the strange sight of a sheep stood on a stone wall. My questions were how did it manage to get up there and how was it going to get down? It was a confused looking sheep. Then joy of joys, an ice cream van appeared. This was strategically placed at the top of the falls to serve refreshments to the hoards who were ascending the waterfalls from Ingleton. Of course, we both enjoyed an ice lolly whilst watching red raced tourists struggling up the last stretch of path to the van. We rejoined the official route by Twistleton Hall and descended into Ingleton and found our B&B Inglenook Guest House. Another day finished in lovely sunshine but tomorrow the forecast is heavy rain...all day.
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| Kingsdale |
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| Sheep on a wall |
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