Words & Photos Ian Battersby

December 03 2009

There’s a distinct lack of parking on the Kingsdale Road on White Shaw Moss, bearing in mind you need to leave passing places clear, but luckily no one else had had the same idea this day, so I found a crafty parking position and shunned Whernside for the slopes below Crag Hill.

My plan was to be on Whernside’s soaring summit for sunset. This could then be followed by a nice short descent in the afterglow of dusk before it got dark.

I set off along the undemanding bridleway, which winds around High Pike before disintegrating into taxing muddy ruts as it negotiates countless streams at Blea Gills. Gastack Beck resides within the gloom of the north-facing gill, where it tumbles down a fabulous waterfall. Once out of this scene the track dropped easily towards the little gem of Dentdale, a painless beginning to my topsy-turvy route. Beyond the broadside of Aye Gill Pike intermittent sunshine picked out sensuous folds in the Howgill Fells, while overhead escalating fluffy clouds pushed out of the blue, before scuttling eastward on a keen breeze. Some ganged together, threatening rain, but it was all just posturing for now.

I dropped into the valley and took an amble by the river to grab a bite and a pint in the whitewashed beacon of Dent. Studying the onward route my eye turned to Whernside Tarns. They’ve often aroused my curiosity, but their remoteness from the path meant that so far I’d dismissed them. I was now in a different mood. Why not use the bridleway to get past the walls, and then use Open Access to make my own way up? It seemed like a workable idea, and it all came together when I realised the terrain was easy-going grassland with little in the way of heather or bog.

Once again the Howgills popped into view, as I concocted a route that aimed for the towering cairns that sit below the tarns. The tarns area was wonderfully wild away from the paths and sitting below a volatile sky in the midst of a mood swing. The sun struggled to get through the swirling cloud, and I knew I had little chance for my sunset on Whernside, so I wandered around, exploring these shining jewels and making the most of the dying rays, until the biting chill of that mean westerly forced me on.

Strangely Whernside, King of the Dales, was seeing off the wind. Thank you my friend. The sunset was lost, and a ghostly fog settled on the top, through which I could make out Ingleborough and a vague, almost imagined outline of Pen-y-ghent, before slipping into the dale. As I did so a wave of cloud came crashing over Green Hill, receded, then came again – this time for real. It was time for off.

Distance: 12 miles/19km Ascent: 2360ft/715m Time: 7-8 hours Start/finish: White Shaw Moss on Kingsdale road (GR: SD 721818) Map: Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 Landranger sheet 98 (Wensleydale & Upper Wharfedale) Information: Ingleton TIC, 015242 41049 Travel: Difficult to reach by public transport. Dent rail station is 4.5 miles from Dent village. Information from Traveline: 0871 200 22 33, www.traveline.org

Technical Spec
Head N along road to bridleway, which leads generally W past High Pike to Blea Gills. Continue N for 2.5km to junction. Continue down bridleway NE to lane. NW to road junction near telephone box. Track N then path NW to Dent. Return to river and take Dales way SE to Cage farm. Continue SE along road, forking right to bridleway. Follow bridleway ESE past the intake walls. Climb S past cairns, tarns to Whernside’s trig point. Path drops steeply W to road.