Dent to Ribblehead 16/03/13

Walking over Great Shunner Fell, in May last year, had me regarding the uplands and valleys that separate the eastern flowing Wensleydale from the western flowing Ribblesdale, Dentdale and Garsdale, and wondering why the names of these geographical features were unfamiliar to me in the inventories of the ups and downs of the Yorkshire Dales. As with so many new things in my walking career, I made the resolve to venture into these lands between Hawes and Ribblehead, once the predictable routes had been covered and to find out the hidden corners of the North Country therein. So once a FOSCL walk shows up in the vicinity at the start of Year 2 of my 1,000 miles, it's the right time to make my first tentative steps in that direction, and as the weather projections shift from mediocre to changeable, a late winter walk in the high lands would be an ideal distraction before the Dales Way comes calling.

Dent to Ribblehead, via Arten Gill and the flank of Blea Moor.  9.6 miles

Dent Station

Dent station holds a couple of remarkable records, namely being the remotest from its eponymous settlement (4.8 miles) and being the highest mainline station in the country (350m above sea level, though Garsdale is closer to Ais Gill summit, but lower, puzzlingly). It is also a rotten place to end a walk, apparently, having no facilities and being located at the top of a steep slope at the exposed head of Dentdale. It makes for a good start point though, and we gather our FOSCL party of 14 under the leadership of A&R at 10.20am for what I anticipate as being my first trip into the Dent Fells. Start out along the Coal Road, so-called because of the ancient industry in these parts, and follow it on a steady ascent through the kind of ice and scrub scenery that I expected on my previous Dales escapade, until a walker coming the opposite way warns of snow on the road and, sure enough, as the road levels out we wander into a winter wonderland again. I'm surprised that so few of the party seem aware that the Coal Road leads all the way down to Garsdale, visible through the mist to the north-west, so maybe my bouts of bedtime map-reading  are not normal behaviour, but it would be a fun walk on a day like this, so file that thought for the future.I had been under the impression that the walk was due to go over Great Knoutberry Hill, the walk literature seemed to suggest as much, but we will not be doing so, instead following the route of the Pennine Bridleway around said hill hanging around the 520 metre contour. I'm mildly annoyed to not go for the summit, 150m higher up, but even if that had been the plan, the going would have been challenging and the view would have been negligible, at best. 


Arten Gill Viaduct

Even at our altitude, the amount of snow is surprising and the clouds roll in to threaten a sleety dousing and to obscure the vista down into Dentdale, which is one of the best views in the Dales. Just to prove how easy it can be to get disorientated in the mist, taking views down into the valley has me thinking that the far side of the valley has suddenly got a lot closer until I realise that the path has swung eastward into Arten Gill, a deviation that is a mile up the valley before descending a mile and half in the opposite direction, Swiss railway-style. Look down below the mist and see Arten Gill viaduct carrying the railway across the valley and this structure will be keeping us company for a while, staying visible in the landscape along the whole of the descent, unlike other viaducts that have played hide & seek with us as we went. The snow thins out as we go, and fun is had as we encounter a gate that will not open and then is completely lifted off its hinges as we attempt to close it, and once we hit the eastward limit of the path the mist has cleared and its a good spot to teabreak. Then continue down, and the lack of snow and ice makes the going good, though it is one of the spongiest gravel paths I've ever trod, and the view of Arten Gill viaduct is maintained all the way down, looking a modest six arches long until the angle of the hill alters to reveal it in all its eleven-arched glory, and the sun finally bursts out for a few seconds to make it glisten among the gloom.


River Dee, Dentdale

Thence downhill to the valley floor, still believing that a well-placed viaduct enhances a wild landscape, and roll into the imaginatively named hamlet of Stonehouses, only a mile and half from our start point after 4 miles of trekking, and join the road that links Dentdale with Ribblesdale and follow a stretch up alongside the River Dee, a remote and idyllic location I'm certain, at least in brighter weather than today. We must be in some hard gritstone territory here as the river flows rapidly over some level strata of rock, with neat little waterfalls at each change of level, and watching that can provide entertainment as the road is plodded along, and hopefully it'll be a bit brighter and leafier when the Dales Way brings me back here in the spring. My old road sign sensor spots a West Riding marker, and an 'S 11' (indicating 11 miles to Sedbergh, I guess), and the former Shooting Lodge / Youth Hostel at Deeside house looks like a fun location, completely out of character with its location, and we move off the road at Bridge End Cottage before ascending a muddy path to reach some field walking that is very soft going after all those nicely firm paths. Stop for lunch below Dent Head Viaduct, largely hidden by trees and Great Knoutberry Hill still hides beneath cloud, but its companion across Arten Gill, Wold Fell, shows its good face. Chat with one of the FOSCL regulars as she explains her 37 year walking career, and drops a lot of interesting pointers about this area, suggesting that Dent Head farm is owned by an ex-RAF type, and judging by the epic moustache on the man tending the wildfowl and holding the gate there as we move on, I think that summation was entirely correct.


Blea Moor Tunnel

Our path leads us into more muddiness, as we ascend over the stream with its charging waterfalls to find our first spoil heap of the day, and as we are shadowing the railway, this brings us to the north portal of Blea Moor tunnel, the longest and deepest on the line, 2,404m and 150m respectively and the Midland Railway's major engineering feat on the line. It would also be a useful shortcut, but I doubt we've time to make the dash through between trains, so we will take the more traditional route over the top of the moor, and that means more mud to traverse to find our way into the plantation of conifers at Hazel Bottom,. That bit of cover provides a bit of protection from the wind, but reaching the access road half way up through the forest brings us to a scene of desolation as the plantation has been extensively logged, the land to the south and east being a mess of stumps and broken branches. Our path is soft going uphill, and again the weather seems to be closing in around us, but then again we might be walking up into the clouds as we venture onto the flank of Blea Moor. Meet the first airshaft of the tunnel, and pause so our leader can talk Victorian engineering whilst the view behind us disappears again, and also explains why we will not be venturing to the Crag of Blea Moor, 'Peat Hags' is explanation enough in these conditions. Continue up to the crest of the path on the moor and the group spreads out so we can have a bit of moorland solitude, but going improves as the top of the ascent is made and the damp clouds are left behind in Dentdale, and we see sunshine again, illuminating the upper slopes of Whernside, standing massive to the south-west.

Airshaft 2, Blea Moor

The cloud finally breaks apart as we reach the second airshaft, and sunshine comes through among the chill so we get some good illumination as we continue down between the massive mitten-shaped spoil heaps that the path bisects as it follows the line of the tunnel, and I don't envy the navvies who had to work up here back in the 1870s! Pass airshaft three and then it's hit the jets to get off the hillside as the track proves hard going as all the water run off on the moorside seems to be running off onto the path before it runs down into Little Dale Beck. Observe the path that leads up by Force Gill and onward to Whernside, and also look to the cutting where the railway reappears from under Blea Moor but catch no sight of the south portal. Then its continue along Blue Clay ridge, with the Ingleborough Massif ahead of us, showing as much of its face as I've seen this year, but the summit remains frustratingly hidden as the cloud remains around the 700m contour. This brings us down to Blea Moor signal box and its signalman's house, and I wonder just how habitable that building might be, and as we pass, we encounter the freightliner roaring south, and I start to suspect that this is a scheduled service that I have met before on my exploits through the Dales.


Ribblehead Viaduct

At this point we're given the option of continuing our walk to get it up to the promised distance of 12 miles or to make a break to catch the earlier train home and I'm surprised just how many people choose to depart, including myself. Both routes would follow paths already trodden and as I've got 40+ miles of the Dales Way to come later in the week, it would be better not to overwork the legs, and anyway this has not been the most sociable of FOSCL walks, with limited banter and no free cake either, my head must be in a solitary mood again. So onward down to Batty Green, to enjoy the sunshine on the flanks of the Three Peaks, and to take another hundred pictures of the monster that is Ribblehead Viaduct, 28 arches of joy and it'll be a sad day when I tire of seeing it. Also take a look out towards Cam Fell, where I will be walking in a week's time if all things come together and I start to prepare myself for leg three of the Dales Way, knowing that there are probably going to be winter conditions on the ground when I make the transition from Wharfedale to Ribblesdale. That is for another day though, for today we don't really have enough time for drink at the Station Inn, and make for the station for a 3.10pm finish, and for a chill to descend on me as the delayed train takes an age to arrive. Honestly, I don't want much more cold weather walking, Spring cannot arrive soon enough!

Next on the Slate: Backpacking the first three legs of the Dales Way!


1,000 Miles Cumulative Total: 525.9 miles
(2013 total: 60.6 miles)