It's who you meet

On Yorkshire Day we had to have Yorkshire puddings, so Sunday lunch at the Bistro it was. Then we set out for the obligatory trip into Yorkshire. My Yorkshire is really the moors and industrial towns of the old West Riding, but as it was a Summer Sunday afternoon, we were not going near the A65 or to any of the popular places. Neither did we want to go too far. 

So it was to Swaledale we headed. It is such a beautiful area and does not get that many visitors. We always like to have a specific aim and today it was to find the beginning of the River Swale. Not the source, which is high in the hills above Kirkby Stephen, we wanted to find the point where two becks come together and their confluence marks the start of the Swale. 

We were following the OS map, on Gordon’s phone via his much loved OS App, and on sheets he had printed out and it wasn’t too long before we knew we were in the right place, or should I say above the right place. In my photo you can see Birkdale Beck winding its way round the slightly higher ground, where there are the marks and ruins of buildings from the lead mining past, and the point in the distance where Great Sleddale Beck comes round the other side. Just before the buildings on the left, Stone House, the two becks meet and the River Swale begins.

We carried on and the road soon dips steeply down until it meets the river and crosses High Bridge. We porked up and walked along the track by the river. This headed to a campsite, where there were a lot of tents and people in and around the river. We had seen group of youngsters in wetsuits heading to a place further down the river. Good to see them out and about. 

We met up with a farmer on his quad and, on asking him a question, he stopped for a chat. He turned out to own most of the land around and said his family had farmed it for many generations. He told us about the river, the bridge, the campsite, a great flood that happened to his great, great grandparents. He told us how the current farm was built from stones from lead mining buildings. He showed us where the original bridge was and explained that the track we were on was the old road. He was amused, as he told us about all the people who go up to Ravenseat, just over the hill, all to see where ‘The Shepherdess’ lives. We had only a vague idea what he was talking about and said we had no intention of following the crowd. What a great guy. 

We did a bit more exploration (High Bridge is in extras) and then returned home. A good afternoon in a beautiful part of Yorkshire.