The weather had evidently been bad for the last day or two as the River Wharfe had overflowed and there seemed to be water running off of every available hill. I dropped my bag off at my B&B and was heading out for an afternoon’s walk before 1:30 to check out some of my potential cache sites, think about some of the history I had uncovered and to find an existing cache or two.
New to walking in the Dales (and more used to hill walking on Scottish granite) I slithered up the slippery limestone climb above Eshber Wood. The day wasn’t cold but the sun had gone and I climbed towards cloud. I zigzagged up and cut across the head of Cam Gill - Cladonia were brilliant with their scarlet spore bodies and there was scurvygrass flowering on old mine waste. A small waterfall was being blown back uphill such was the strength of the wind.
On round Starbotton Out Moor to Cam Head and good views across Park Rash towards the lower slopes of Whernside - the top was lost to the cloud. I struggled to locate suitable sites for a cache round here and will have to look higher up. Rain was beginning to come in now although there were glimpses of brightness further afield. Unfortunately I was headed up towards the cloud.
A springy walk across Starbotton Peat Ground got me up onto the southern end of the ridge leading to Buckden Pike. The wind now was strong and quite damp making for quite a miserable trudge towards the Fox Memorial - a journey not improved by the atrocious conditions underfoot. Broad expanses had become quagmires due to the passage of many boots and the extreme weather.
At the memorial I quickly located the geocache and struggled to sign the book before quickly moving on following the fence along the ridgeline. Here the Park Authority had relocated the path to the west side of the fence to allow the other side to heal. With every leap over boggy patch the wind forced me almost into the wall and at the viewless summit of the Pike I forced my way into the wind to (successfully) find the geocache. Returning to the path the wind pushed me along across the slabs that had been laid here.
Not a day to hang about I was off again and keen to head back down to the Dale. Following the engineered path my map was torn from my hands to be saved by a wall. It wasn’t easy trying to re-fold the map in the strong gusting wind. Dropping out of the cloud at about 450m I was pleased to see some views again although the path turned me into the wind which made for hard-going.
I took in the geocache at Cow Close and then dropped down towards Cray to look out for potential cache sites before wearily and gratefully heading back to Buckden, my B&B, a bath and dry clothes. I would highly recommend my B&B – the West Winds in Buckden – if you plan to stay in the village. Tea and cake on arrival, chocolates and fresh fruit and flowers in the room and a lovely breakfast all at a very reasonable price. They’ll even do you a packed lunch for a small extra charge… with more cake in it. If you are not planning to stay I would still recommend you go to the tearoom to sample their range of homemade cakes (the liquorice one was unusual but nice).
The pub in Buckden is closed for the time being so I strolled up to The George at Hubberholme for dinner – a very filling affair accompanied by a nice drop of Askrigg Ale. The twenty-minute walk back to Buckden helped with digesting before bed!
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