Monty the Motorhome is still at Kettlewell for day 2 of the Murvi ‘mini-meet’.
Woke this morning as it was getting light (about 4.00am) to the sound of a Curlew. The thought occurred to me that it would make an ideal ‘natural’ chime on an alarm clock.
Everyone was doing their own thing today. Geoff and Carol, the meet organisers, kindly asked if I wanted to tag along with them and I jumped at the chance, knowing that they were keen walkers who knew this area like the back of their hands.
The three of us set off at 10.00 am and made for Great Whernside (2308’), a climb of over 1700’. The going was good, with distinct paths that were bone dry in places as there has been very little rain over the last few weeks. The top is an excellent viewpoint down to Wharfedale, as well as into Nidderdale. At the summit we saw Golden Plovers - a summer visitor to our high moorlands and a species I had not seen before. It is sometime since I last added a tick to my British Birds list.
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| On the way to the summit of Great Whernside. Kettlewell is at the bottom of the valley - centre picture |
We continued on, firstly along the ridgeline, then dropping down to the pass between Great Whernside and Buckden Pike. The latter was the next objective. Just as we left the pass a short eared owl dived into the vegetation close by. Within seconds it was up and circling above us. It showed no sign of fear and we concurred that there was a nest nearby. Onwards and upwards after that, with a short stop at a memorial to Polish airmen killed in a plane crash during the second world war. One person survived the crash and managed to limp down into one of the valleys, where he was promptly arrested on suspicion of being German! Part of the tale is that he was completely lost after he left the crash site and found his way to civilisation by following a fox. How true that is no-one knows, but the memorial stone does feature a fox’s head carved in stone.
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| Spot the fox head, just below the memorial inscription |
From the top of Buckden Pike (2302’) we came down to the village of Buckden, a picturesque place all decked out in bunting ready for next week’s Tour de France.
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| Approaching Buckden |
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| A colourful welcome |
The walk back was alongside the River Wharfe - following the Dales Way. In one part we came across the front part of a crayfish skeleton, which had probably been predated by an Oystercatcher. It was about 15cm long, which means there must be some pretty big specimens living in this river.
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| Sorry no scale, but it was much bigger than I expected |
All told a distance of about 15 miles, done in just over 8 hours. Not sure about the height climbed, but getting on for 2500’ I should think.
So tired legs and feet tonight.
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