0610 Keld to Grinton
Up to now we’ve had little choice as to the route. Today, though, we had a choice – a high-level route past some of the industrial lead-mining history and ruins, or a lower-level valley route. There was some interest in the high route, given lead mining was a vital part of the history of this area. Lead has been mined in Swaledale since at least Roman times and possibly earlier, with Yorkshire being the heart of Britain’s lead mining industry, and during the mid 19th century Britain was producing over half the world’s lead.
However, the appeal of the lower-level riverside route won the day, especially after our host at Butt House advised us this was a great time of year to visit the flower meadows at Muker on the way out. It’s true that, after several days of hilly walking among the moorland, we were quite looking forward to a change to something flatter. Even Peter “climb every mountain” Lee agreed!
Leaving our wonderful B&B we dropped down to the valley, immediately crossing the north to south Pennine Way. This was a particularly sweet moment for Peter and Val, as the Pennine Way was at the heart of their epic Land’s End to John O’Groats walk in 2018.
Shortly after this the paths divided, and we walked down towards the River Swale, which was to be our travelling companion for most of the day.
With blue skies above – a change from the recent cloudy mornings – and a wide path along the river, we set off initially through woodland. Towards Muker we turned off the path to see the flower-filled hay meadows, and they were just as beautiful as we’d been promised – red clover and yellow buttercups and meadow cranesbill and yarrow (we think!).
We continued to follow the Swale through the hamlet of Ivelet.
Just outside Ivelet we saw a high arched stone bridge with a “corpse stone” beside it.
Corpse stones are a relic of past centuries when the deceased had to be carried out of the valleys to the nearest village with a church for burial, and it could be quite a journey necessitating having somewhere to rest the body from time to time.
On to Gunnerside village where we knew there be a tea room and possibly scones and cream – something we’d been eagerly anticipating, without success, so far. Our arrival coincided with the running of the 42nd Swaledale Marathon which started and finished in Reeth, so the streets were busy. However, there was still room for a party of four in the tea room, and our heroes ordered scones with jam and lashings of cream, a pot of tea and some home-made lemonade. (Yes, we know it sounds like something out of the Famous Five – rather, Julian!).
Suitably refreshed, we continued our path to a point where the official lower route would take us up and away from the river. We’d all enjoyed the river walk so much that we decided to take an even lower path right by the river – yes, we went “off piste” – and continued this to the village of Grinton near Reeth.
We weren’t actually staying in Reeth but at the YHA Grinton, about 2km away from Reeth. Unfortunately… the final kilometre was a mountainous ascent to Everest base camp, which seemed never-ending. We were all very hot and tired when we got to the hostel, located in an old shooting lodge and complete with towers and a castellated wall. Booking in was a bit of a fiasco, but we eventually got to our rooms. Barbie was delighted to discover a bath, located on the top floor of the main tower above their room.
We enjoyed a tasty dinner out in the central courtyard, enjoying the balmy evening.
Originally we were going to see a string quartet down in Grinton Village, but we unanimously decided to give it a miss because none of us could face the climb back up the hill afterwards.
Distance today: 19km
Saints to Outlaws 
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