Based as we were at Hardraw we were spoilt for the choice and type of walking we had on offer without the need to hitch up and drive to a starting point. The Pennine Way passes right through Hardraw, with Great Shunner Fell rising directly behind the Green Dragon where the majority of our group were staying. There were also plenty of options for low level walks along the riversides and byways of Wensleydale. So, a compromise was the choice for today, not a high level, not a low level but rather an in-between that would see us taking in some riverside pastures, climbing to a respectable 500 plus metres above one of the many famed limestone scars and see us returning to Hardraw via a woodland beck complete with it’s own small waterfall. All in all a pleasant prospect for a day’s walking.

Leaving the Green Dragon we crossed the lower pastures of Bellow Hill on the footpath leading to Hayland’s Bridge and Hawes before crossing the road just north of Haylands Bridge and turning north east to a quaint old stone bridge over a narrow stream and then heading uphill, still on pastureland towards the hamlet of Sedbusk. By default, pasturelands in the dales tend to be quite small fields all of which are invariably bordered by a dry stone wall, and although there may well be a gate for farm vehicle and livestock passage, the strict access laws in England often demand that the right of way takes the walker to a stile in the wall over which their route follows, and it was already evident that this was going to be the case on todays walk, by the end of which we had lost count of how many stiles we had queued to clamber over. Who said there would be no “climbing” on today’s walk!

Beyond Sedbusk we left the low pastures behind and began the gentle climb up Shutt Lane, a typical rough stone and gravel dales lane, walled on both sides with open high pastures beyond. We were now heading for the clearly visible gap between the high points of North Rakes Hill and North Rakes Rigg where we would leave the dry stone walls and pastures behind and join a fine track along the moorland above High Clint. Approximately half way along the track, between North Rakes Hill and Pike Slack, but unseen from the track itself, there is marked on the OS maps a pair of large cairns, which David had visited on a previous walk, and to where we headed as we broke away from the main track, and after a few short steps, just enough to gain a slightly higher vantage point, the cairns came in to view.

The high point of the day, two majestic cairns, wonderful views, a beautiful sunny day with clear blue skies and just a gentle breeze blowing, what more would you want for a lunch spot, it was an open invitation to just drop our rucksacks, get out those sitting mats, open up the lunch box and sit and relax for however long we wanted.

A very leisurely lunch break over, we packed up our rucksacks and headed back to the main path to continue what was now a downhill stroll to Pike Slack beyond which we ventured onto the only unpathed section of today’s walk as we transited an area of old quarries and limestone scree and headed towards the largest single gathering of cairns that I have seen. At least eight of them in a short line on an indistinct spot on the hillside, these and a fair number of single cairns dot the landscape along the length of High Clint, their purpose and meaning eluding all attempts to find a reasons as to why they are there.

Leaving the cairns behind, we made the final descent back onto pastureland and a very pleasant return through fields and woodlands, and even a fine small waterfall nestled in Shaw Gill Wood to exit the hillside a few metres from our start point at the doors of The Green Dragon where some fine refreshments awaited us after a wonderful day on the lower hills and moorlands of upper Wensleydale.

Thanks David a brilliant walk, and thanks to everyone for their fine company.