Today’s post is 1380 words, 30 photos, a 6.5 minute read. Enjoy!

Hi everyone,

This week I’ll take you on the walking paths of the Herriot Way in the North Yorkshire Dales. We’ll see a lot sheep, maneuver through many stiles, and meet some really nice people along the way. If you missed the first seven stories in this series about our time in Scotland and England, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

Walking the Herriot Way

We were in the Yorkshire Dales to walk the Herriot Way, a four-day 52 mile walk through the Swaledale countryside. We are big fans of the new All Creatures Great and Small series that appears on PBS Masterpiece Theatre. By the way, season 5 begins on January 12, 2025 or binge watch the seven episodes on PBS Passport. The show is based on the books written under the pen name of veterinarian James Herriot (real name Alf Wight). During one of the 2023 PBS pledge drives, my Traveling Partner and I watched The Herriot Way film about the walk in the Dales that Alf Wight would hike with his son. My Traveling Partner said we must do that before we get too old and decrepit. Hence, the trip was planned and booked well in advance. The Youngest would join us on the trip.

During our time in the Dales, we stayed at the Butt House in Keld, a five-room bed and breakfast run operated by Chris and Jacqui Giles and house pup Scamp. The package we purchased included five nights of lodging, breakfast every morning, and a ride to the trailhead in the morning and a pickup in the late afternoon. They also provided us with a guide book to the trail and maps to find our way. Jacqui and Chis made us lunch everyday (a sandwich, crisps, a fruit, and a drink plus we took our evening meals at the communal dining table with the rest of the guests in the parlor. If you find yourself in the Dales, I highly recommend lodging at the Butt House, you won’t regret it.

Day 1 – Aysgarth to Hawes

We were up early to ready ourselves for our first day of walking. After a hearty, delicious breakfast cooked to order by Chris, he drove us to Aysgarth Falls Park where we began our journey. Chris took a photo of us before we headed out. Here we are with our backpacks, water bottles, poles, boots, hats, maps, and guidebooks. A good thing he took the photo at the beginning of the walk because after walking 12.45 miles and 34,000 steps in 8 hours, I was dragging.

Well before we left home, we ordered a copy of this guidebook that provides very specific directions (turn left/right/straight, notice the gate ahead, etc. etc.) as you can see in the second photo. The folks at the Butt House also gave us a copy, we used them both. It proved to be invaluable, only a few times did the trail deviate from the instructions in the book.

It took us a few minutes to orientate ourselves to the directions but it didn’t take long for us to take our first detour to take a look at the falls on the River Ure. Aysgarth Falls were quite nice with the pleasing sound of rushing water.

After viewing the falls, we back tracked to the trail and came to our first climb in elevation. It certainly wouldn’t be our last or highest. There was a low level grumble from the seniors in our group when we ascended (my Traveling Partner) or descended (me!) any significant change in elevation. As we entered the village of Aysgarth, population about 300, we passed by St. Andrews Parish Church and its cemetery with old, nearly unreadable headstones.

We reached the Aysgarth war memorial where the instructions in the guidebook began. Out of this small village, three men perished during the Great War.

We were standing at the memorial looking perplexed on our next move when a couple of villagers came along and asked if they could help. I didn’t get the name of the fellow, Yasmin was the woman’s name. After reading the description in the guidebook, they pointed us in the right direction. Relieved, we quickly passed through Aysgarth into the countryside.

Many of the footpaths along the Herriot Way were marked with directional signs, but we always verified with the guidebook. There are several walking paths in the area, it was important to stay on the one that would get you to the next destination.

The paths often took us along steams and rivers. Sometimes there were foot bridges, sometimes the crossing was along a narrow road, and sometimes it was by way of stepping stones.

We walked through pastures filled with sheep. There were young lambs by their mother’s side, only if we were too close the mommas would raise their heads and give us a warning stinky eye. A couple of times, the lambs began to follow us, thinking we would bring them some feed.

Cows were not as plentiful as sheep but we did walk through a few pastures with grazing cows. In one we saw a bull off in the distance. I grew up on a farm with cattle, therefore know it’s best to keep one eye lest the bull or a momma cow takes your presence as an assault. With is this mind, we moved through this pasture quite quickly.

Sometimes the path was narrow like this one between a rock wall and the steep river bank. We had to be careful not to trip on rocks or tree roots and in some places the trail was slippery.

Many of the pastures had an old stone cow or sheep barn, granary, or residence. Some were in disrepair, others still in use.

Askrigg

About five miles from Aysgarth, we came to the village of Askrigg, population 535. Askrigg is popular with the fans of the 1978-1990 version of All Creature Great and Small. The Skeldale House was the home of the veterinary practices of James Herriot in the series. It’s now a popular bed and breakfast.

In front of the Skeldale House sits the Austin car that James Herriot used to make farm calls.

Across the street is the Kings Arms, a family run pub, that was used as the setting for The Drover’s Arms in All Creatures. There were a lot of fans milling around the pub and Askrigg.

We ate the lunch made by Chris and Jacqui on a bench by St. Oswald’s Church in Askrigg. This church served as a backdrop in the 1970s series of All Creatures.

On the way to Hawes, we saw some of the most beautiful landscapes found anywhere, at least in my opinion. The patchwork of fields and pastures outlined by stone walls, the river valleys, the sloping mountains, the quaint farmsteads, and the bleating of lambs looking for their mothers. You be the judge.

During our four-days of walking, we passed through many stiles, those narrow openings in a wall or fence to allow humans through but not the animals. Sometimes they were so narrow we had to remove our backpacks. In one portion of our Day 1 walk, we passed through 16 narrow fields within 3/4 of a mile. Each field had a stile or a gate, talk about slow going. We liked the gates better than fitting through a narrow slit in the stone wall. In the photo below, one of the sheep appeared to be guarding the stile. As we approached, she ran off.

Hardraw

When we got to Hardraw, we made a rest and water stop outside the Green Dragon pub. More about this famous landmark in a future blog. 

It was downhill into the market town of Hawes, population a bit over 1000. It was close to 5:30 and Jacqui was waiting for us. It took us longer than expected but we are slow and not in prime condition. Back at the Butt House it was good to take off our walking books and take a shower before dinner at 7 PM. Before I fell into a deep sleep that night, I recounted the walk, thinking how lucky I was to be in this beautiful place at this time in my life.

Next week join me for Day 2 of the Herriot Way Walk. We’ll travel from Keld to Reeth along the River Swale.

Until then, happy travels!

Tom

PS: Click here for a link to the post about my book “Farm Boy.” Contact me if you are interested in purchasing a copy. Thanks to all have plunked down your hard earned dollars and read the book. TM