Walking in Swaledale
Swaledale is another incredibly popluar part of the Yorkshire Dales to walk, and if you are looking for a starting point, then Reeth is one of the most ideal places to begin. Reeth used to be the chief town in Swaledale, and as such held a regular market which a lot of farmers and people would visit. Today tourism provides the main income for the residents of Reeth, with walking and fishing being two of the most popular activities on offer.
One easy circular walk from Reeth of about six miles climbs east in the direction of Marrick and then returns past Marrick Abbey towards Grinton and Reeth along the edge of the River Swale. The walk offers excellent views of Swaledale and takes about three hours. It starts by leaving the centre of the town towards the Arkleside Hotel and then following the path to the beck and turning right on the footpath which takes you towards the main bridge before the town. At this point you cross the bridge towards the garage and look for a public footpath across two fields which goes to High Fremington in a north-easterly direction.
From here, the footpath leads to the road, which you follow for about a mile up a steady incline until you reach a sharp left bend at the top of the hill. Straight ahead is a gate and public footpath which cuts across three fields before you turn right onto Marrick Road passing a farm on the right. In Marrick you follow the road round to the right and the road passes an old chapel and becomes a footpath again which leads west to wards Steps Woods which contains an old flagged path. At the bottom Marrick Abbey should be visible.
Once past Marrick Abbey, the footpath breaks away from the River Swale slightly but after about half a mile, you cross the road and join the path that follows the north side of the River Swale all the way to the bridge at Grinton. From Grinton the footpath heads north-east bypassing Low Fremington and joining up with the Reeth road just before the garage where the footpath to High Fremington started.
There are public toilets in Reeth as well as several good places to eat. The Sunday lunch at the Kings Arms Hotel was particularly good the day we walked.
This entry was posted on Monday August 11th, 2008 at 10:22 PM and is filed under Places to Walk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.
Leave a Reply
Where Can I Go Exploring the UK and Abroad