Re-wilding
01st September 2014
Recently I have been heading over to the Dales. Exploring the heights above Hawes, including Great Shunner and Wether Fell, also out to the quiet and much overlooked Arkengarthdale where I tramped over broad and wild, high moorland. I have made several visits to the remote and rocky hills of the Mallerstang Valley, where you are accompanied by the beautiful Settle to Carlisle railway that runs at the mountains feet. I have also tramped over more well known hills, such as Ingleborough and Wernside. In all cases I have found the area to be considerably quieter and wilder than the Lakes.
The Dales is not as obviously dramatic as the Lakes, but then the Lakes is not as dramatic as North Wales, or the Highlands, so all things are relative. However, the Dales offers huge skies, big broad views across miles and miles of open, empty and wild countryside. Plus, when you consider you can be in a busy village such as Hawes and already be a 1000ft above sea level. This means you are immediately placed in an environment where things are naturally different, though the immediate hustle and bustle of the village betrays this subtlety. The weather is harsher, the variety of wild life is made up of those that can survive these harder conditions. The habits and ways of the locals all shaped by the environment - as it's influence dictates how things can be done. These elements all add to making the Dales unique and gives the area a wild, ancient and remote feeling.
Every time I come to the Dales I feel I have gone back in time. This is not because the human elements, such houses, shops, farms are using old ways (there are all the mod cons everywhere) but due to the wild feeling gained from the landscape and the wildlife that it supports.
Up on these wild moors I am often accompanied by the call of the Plover and the melodic, though plaintive cry of the Curlew. It is a haunting call that emerges from the bleak, wild and desolate moorland. Caught on the wind, the curlews song flows over the rolling contours of the Fells and echoes across of the limestone and Millstone grit outcrops. When the mist is down the Curlew's reverberating trill fades in and out, like the lamenting moan of a buoy adrift in a fog bound sea.
Today I headed into the hills directly above the busy market town of Settle. The town sits on the south western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is the setting off point for the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line that runs through the Dales landscape. Settle is quintessential Dales, with lime and gritstone buildings that dominate each street and alleyway. These buildings are inhabited by an eclectic mixture of local purveyors, cafés, pubs, chips shops, hardware stores and a lingerie shop (yep, and it is big and proud).
Even in this busy place, freedom and peace is quickly and easily enjoyed. Immediately above the town (a ten minute walk) the valley of Stockdale Beck, surrounded by vertiginous limestone crags of Langcliffe Scar, is found. Up here you can walk unhindered and untroubled for many miles. Wandering through a landscape that could easily be a part of the film set from 'The Land That Time Forgot'.
As the seasons change and the weather comes less stable, these high moorlands will become even wilder and even more challenging. However, I intend to investigate them more as I am eager to become part of this increasing re-wilding process.
The Dales is not as obviously dramatic as the Lakes, but then the Lakes is not as dramatic as North Wales, or the Highlands, so all things are relative. However, the Dales offers huge skies, big broad views across miles and miles of open, empty and wild countryside. Plus, when you consider you can be in a busy village such as Hawes and already be a 1000ft above sea level. This means you are immediately placed in an environment where things are naturally different, though the immediate hustle and bustle of the village betrays this subtlety. The weather is harsher, the variety of wild life is made up of those that can survive these harder conditions. The habits and ways of the locals all shaped by the environment - as it's influence dictates how things can be done. These elements all add to making the Dales unique and gives the area a wild, ancient and remote feeling.
Every time I come to the Dales I feel I have gone back in time. This is not because the human elements, such houses, shops, farms are using old ways (there are all the mod cons everywhere) but due to the wild feeling gained from the landscape and the wildlife that it supports.
Up on these wild moors I am often accompanied by the call of the Plover and the melodic, though plaintive cry of the Curlew. It is a haunting call that emerges from the bleak, wild and desolate moorland. Caught on the wind, the curlews song flows over the rolling contours of the Fells and echoes across of the limestone and Millstone grit outcrops. When the mist is down the Curlew's reverberating trill fades in and out, like the lamenting moan of a buoy adrift in a fog bound sea.
Today I headed into the hills directly above the busy market town of Settle. The town sits on the south western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is the setting off point for the famous Settle to Carlisle railway line that runs through the Dales landscape. Settle is quintessential Dales, with lime and gritstone buildings that dominate each street and alleyway. These buildings are inhabited by an eclectic mixture of local purveyors, cafés, pubs, chips shops, hardware stores and a lingerie shop (yep, and it is big and proud).
Even in this busy place, freedom and peace is quickly and easily enjoyed. Immediately above the town (a ten minute walk) the valley of Stockdale Beck, surrounded by vertiginous limestone crags of Langcliffe Scar, is found. Up here you can walk unhindered and untroubled for many miles. Wandering through a landscape that could easily be a part of the film set from 'The Land That Time Forgot'.
As the seasons change and the weather comes less stable, these high moorlands will become even wilder and even more challenging. However, I intend to investigate them more as I am eager to become part of this increasing re-wilding process.