Hawes Day Two - the Hawes Trail

This was not the public footpath that we took!

This is the last stretch of the trail, heading away from
Sedbusk and back down to Hawes.  And it was
straight down!  So glad we did it the other way,
this would not have been fun to walk "up"!

I love all the stiles that help walkers climb fences.
Some of the stiles were very steep though too!

Haylands Bridge

We bought a leaflet about the trail I had spotted the night before, it is simply called the Hawes Trail! Maybe I should have read the very first sentence in the leaflet before just now as I am actually looking at it. (don’t get me wrong, we looked at the map, just didn’t read everything). The very first line says “This fairly strenuous 3.5 mile valley-side walk”.  Oh, forgot to say, we did not go to Sedbusk first, but went the other way to make this a full circle, starting at Hawes, up to Hardraw Force, through hay meadows and over bridges, walking past numerous field barns and meeting hundreds and hundreds of sheep!

The walk was absolutely magnificent and I am so glad I did it, but it was so hard! And if I had just gone up to Sedbusk thinking that little 1/2 mile was do-able....it was straight up! At least coming back the other way, it was straight down!

But I believe more detail is necessary to convey just how fabulous this walk was! So here goes:

The initial description also says the walk takes about 2 hours, but I believe it took us almost 5 hours, with detours at Hardraw Force and stops for ice cream, and photos. Plus it is a very steep walk and I took my time!

The starting point is at the Dales Countryside Museum, but we are closer to the second point called Charcoals. It is just a flag stone path through a sheep field. The leaflet says the name suggests that charcoal may have been processed there once upon a time.

Next is Haylands Bridge. Since so many of the fields we crossed in this walk were labelled as hay fields, the thought is this was indicative that they used it to transport hay!

This truly was a path for single file only!

After the bridge, we went through so many hay fields with signed requests that people walk single file to protect the hay. I was very impressed that most walkers we saw obliged! There was no hay growing at the moment, it has all been harvested, but I bet it is a sight to see when it is blooming. The Dales National Park Authority encourages farmers not to use artificial fertilisers and, with these more traditional farming methods, they get more variety and lots of flowers in the hay.

Hardraw Force
with Alan getting a better angle!

Next stop, Hardraw Village! There is a lovely church and a big pub with some other houses. There is also a tea shop there and they sold Wensleydale ice cream in addition to teas and cakes, so we bought a salted caramel cone each and sat down for a while. I must say, the customer service at this tea shop was horrendous. No feeling of welcome or even that we had entered the room. If we ever went back, we would wait to go to the reception for Hardraw Force where they also sell ice cream. But not Wensleydale ice cream! But at least they were nicer!



We then took a long detour, long in time, not necessarily distance! Hardraw Force is one of the most famous waterfalls in the Dales. When you see it, you might wonder why! There really isn’t much to it, but it holds the record for being the “highest single fall waterfall in England”. We spent quite a bit of time here and it was nice to rest and catch my breath while Alan took lots more photos!

The trail continues at Hardraw Village
between the hotel and this cottage!

The next turn off of this trail was a bit hard to find. We knew the trail had to go up but could not figure out exactly where it was..... Eventually we noticed a tiny gate next to a house. This gate looked like it opened onto their private back garden, but the public footpath sign was there so we followed that!

The walking sticks and honour box

This is when the path began to really climb! I am not good at going up hill and this was a very impressive and steep climb. But I managed it and was very proud of myself, plus the view was spectacular up there! There was a house at the top of this before turning toward more hay meadows and it had an honour box for buying two different kinds of walking sticks! I just love honour boxes, but had no need of a walking stick so didn’t get myself one. The prices were either 3 or 5 Pounds depending on the quality of stick preferred!

Hawes is down at the bottom of this valley right in the centre of the photo.

We got to Simonstone Hall and discussed whether to stop there or not. I was tempted to stop but it seemed the wrong time to stop in the middle of getting where ever we thought we were going. We have driven past the front of this hall many times, but not stopped so walking past the back of it and not stopping was just in character!

Simonstone Hall

Next seemed to be an unending amount of hay fields with many field barns in them, not all fields had barns, but there were quite a few! And still so many sheep!

Sedbusk ahead!

And finally, Sedbusk! I think I had saved myself to stop at Sedbusk for a drink or a snack and, guess what! There is nothing to stop in! There are just houses! We were told 90% of them are now holiday houses too so I can’t imagine it would be sensible to open anything that has such a short season! 

I was pleasantly surprised to see a post box with "VR" on it in Sedbusk. Those letters indicate it was set up there during the reign of Queen Victoria!  and I believe these are the oldest post boxes possible, since the postal system as we know it only started during her reign.

Smiling in my exhaustion!

The Stone House Hotel

Now we began our decent, and it was shockingly steep! I am so glad Alan wanted to see Hardraw Force and we walked the route the way it is meant to be done. I do not think I could have managed up those steep hills to get to Sedbusk from Hawes! Going down was enough of a challenge!

Just as I was beginning to run out of energy and no hope of stopping for a drink, Alan spotted the sign for Stone House Hotel and it said open to non-residents! So we went in where we were truly welcomed and made to feel right at home. And the woman who runs it is married to Mr Taplin who, along with Mr Mageean has developed a lovely local gin called Taplin & Mageean! So that made it even more fun to stop there! 

I chose the peach one and then got the signature one the next day at a pub in Hawes. They were both very nice! We sat there over an hour and even met a couple from Sweden and had a nice, relaxing chat. Yes, we will go back there, but hopefully next time in a car!

The last point of this walk is called a Packhorse Bridge and seems hardly worth noticing - especially when you are exhausted! 

But reading the description, they were very important for packhorses to transport goods and other things. So they did not have a parapet to enable horses to get over them even with side loads. So they really should be noticed!

Got back to the motorhome, made a ready meal we had already purchased and collapsed in a heap! 19,000 steps today, but my phone only counts “steps”, I would love to know the altitude and heights I accomplished in this walk!