Pennine Way 11 Hawes to Thwaite

A real treat today, a much shorter walk from Wensleydale to Swaledale, two of my favourite places. The weather was fine and warm again, a bit hazy in the distance and some whispy cloud on the top of Great Shunner Fell.

This was a very pleasant walk starting off from Hawes and passing through meadows to the village of Hardraw.Then a steady 5 mile climb all the way to the summit of Great Shunner Fell at 2340 ft. This is the highest point so far on the Pennine Way.

We had plenty of time to do the walk and had a couple of stops on the way up to the top. You can tell how warm it was because even Derek took his jacket off and we don't see that too often!

Once we left the summit all we could hear was the sound of skylarks above us as we made our way down hill with fabulous views of Swaledale and the village of Thwaite nestling amongst the fields of wild flowers. The only bit I didn't like was the rather rough and stony lane towards the end of the walk that was rather hard on the feet but the thought of cups of tea in Thwaite kept me going.

Apparently a 'thwaite' is a piece of land cleared of woodland for habitation.

Many of us visited the Kearton Guest House tea rooms, while others found a shady spot in which to relax.

William then treated us to a rather scary ride back to Hawes via the Buttertubs Pass. It was very spectacular but a bit unnerving if you were sitting on the lefthand side of the bus!

Pennine Way 10 Horton to Hawes

Yet another day of glorious weather as we turned our backs on Ribblesdale and the famous three peaks of Pen-y-Ghent, Ingleborough and Whernside and headed across the watershed into Wensleydale. Most of the route today followed old packhorse trails and was well sign posted. My book said that 'even a lame packhorse with a coal sack over its head would have no problems'!














We seemed to have plenty of time to stop and stare and take in the splendid views.






Some of us took a slight detour to look at Calf Holes where the water falls into a sink hole before making our way to Ling Gill Bridge to eat our lunch and ponder or paddle as the mood dictated!


















After lunch we climbed up to Cam End where the Dalesway meets the Pennine Way halfway between Horton and Hawes. At this point we realised we'd only done half the walk and picked up the pace a bit but most of the rest of the walk was downhill. It was good to see Ray back out again after his operation, taking a bit of gentle exercise!

By now the views had changed character as we approached Wensleydale and the village of Hawes. The meadows were a brilliant yellow colour and were full of millions of meadow buttercups. Apparently, according to an article in the Daily Mail, it is a good year for buttercups due to last year's torrential downpours and a warm spring. We are so lucky to have seen them at their very best as Hawes looked very inviting surrounded with a warm yellow glow.
Plenty of time for drinks, cups of tea, or fish and chips in my case before catching the coach home. Some of these photos, (the best ones probably!) were taken by Peter Newby who was reliving a previous experience of walking the whole Pennine Way in 15 days in 1999.