Some find this next section a little tedious. After
the dramatic mountains and lakes on the first stage then onto the limestone
plateau of the Westmoorlands, the rolling Yorkshire Dales and the lead industry
along the Swale, it is easy to miss the beauty of this common-or-garden rural
landscape.
Frankly I like the rural setting, the meandering across
fields, climbing over stiles and through kissing gates.
I like seeing the day-to-day life around the farms
even if it means wading through some unpleasant cow poo.
There is something about a walk through a meadow
and passing a barn full of cows, with all the noise and smells of rural life.
I just like this.
And today I am not on my own.
I met the 9:33am bus from Darlington at the Market
Square, my cousin Jane McKiernan alighted donned in her walking garb.
I hadn’t seen her for about twenty years. A very
nice catch-up indeed.
Today with the Swale as our companion we leave
Richmond and enter the Vale of Mowbray, a flat landscape mostly under a crop of
barley.
The next two-days walk across the Vale marks the
crossing from Swaledale to the Cleveland Hills.
It is a pleasant change to be on less demanding
ground, ticking away the miles in quick succession. This is an easy section for
Jane who is a walker but not as hardened as I have become over the last two
weeks.
As Jane and I set off down the steep hill towards
the river we are chatting madly, we agree that my job today is to get us to
Danby Wiske and Jane will decide the pace of the walk.
We leave the road and head off up by the sewage
plant and onto the fields. The crops here are denser than similar crops in
Australia, due to the amount of rainfall England gets, but the cracks in the
mud along the fields reminds us that it hasn’t rained for a while.
It was quit nice wading waist deep through a barely
crop, on what, in Australia would only be described as private property.
Unfortunately our trail ended abruptly with a
deviation due to construction work, sadly it was onto the road down to the
A6136 then along this through Catterick Bridge past it’s racecourse and over
the A1, before rejoining the Swale.
Leaving the road noise behind we stopped on the
banks of the Swale and had lunch.
After which we left the now gushing Swale River for
the last time, on this walk at least.
The Swale has been my companion for the last four
days and I have seen it
grow from ooze in the bog that trickled into Whitsunday
Beck, joining the Swale at the foot of the Nine Standards Rigg and heading eastward. And now it turns southeast on its long
journey, like me, albeit in a slightly different direction, to the North Sea.
We continue east across Yorkshire’s broad acres
neatly patterned by clipped thorn hedges and wooden fences.
Through the village of Bolton-on-Swale and across
Whitewell Moor.
Amongst the barley crops there are some dairy farms
and we pass many a field full of lovely, fat, milking girls. Not wanting to
come between mother and calf as we plod on.
Finally relieved as we have been out for over 6
hours we see the White Swan in the bustling (not) village of Danby Wiske.
A pint of Northallerton Dark (the local brew) for
me and half a larger for Jane.
Whiling away the rest of the afternoon in the on
and off sun until we are joined by Cath, Joe and Evie for dinner.
Gee that Northallerton is good!
Daily Stats.
Distance 24km
Assent 418m
Descent 497m
Time out 6h
5m
Stopped 1h
23m
Moving average 5.2km
per hour
Weather 8 to16, overcast occasional sun.
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