The moors are perhaps at their most attractive during late summer, when the heather blazes in a rich swathe of purple. The limestone grasslands on the other hand are best in spring, when an amazing variety of small flowers, such as buttercup, vetch, rock rose, cranesbill and campion, speckle colour across the landscape. Small patches of woodland are also most appealing in springtime, when bluebells, ramsons and wood anemones abound.
While the limestone pavements themselves are almost devoid of vegetation, the deeper clefts between the clints offer soil, moisture and protection from grazing. Ferns are amongst the most common plants here, but very occasionally a hawthorn might just escape the attentions of sheep and reach maturity. On the floors of the dales, unimproved hay meadows contain a rich mixture of grasses, as well as an abundance of flowers, and are at their best around June. And even if you do not venture off the lanes, you will be charmed by the mass of flowers that sprout from the crevices of walls and underneath hedgerows.
Such an abundance of flowers supports many insects, of which butterflies and moths are most likely to attract attention. The relatively cool climate of the uplands precludes an abundance of species, but amongst those commonly seen are tortoiseshell, peacock, green-veined white, common blue and green hairstreak.
Birds are the most obvious wildlife throughout the dales, and even the most unobservant birdwatcher cannot help noticing them from the highest fells to the depths of the vales. Red grouse, golden plover and curlew are common across the moors, with merlin and even peregrines hunting for food. Skylarks hover high above the upland pastures, and lapwing, snipe and fieldfare are all to be found. The woodlands, too, harbour many small songbirds, and you will often hear – if not actually spot – a woodpecker. Streams and rivers attract dippers and wagtails as well as sandpipers and oystercatchers.
Apart from the rabbit, which seems to appear just about everywhere where there is grass, and the grey squirrel, which is earning for itself an increasingly bad press, other mammals are more timid and less easy to spot, although, be assured, they are very much present. Roe deer, hare, fox and badger are amongst the larger animals likely to be encountered, and occasionally the native red squirrel might be seen in woodland. The woodmouse, vole and mole are common but shy, and there are several species of bat, which are most in evidence at dusk. Frogs, toads, lizards and even adders also live in the national park.
With such a tremendous variety of landscape within a relatively small area, the Dales offers some of the most satisfying walking to be had in the whole of the country. Its thousands of miles of pathways, tracks and quiet lanes offer endless possibilities for personal exploration, whether it be in gentle riverside strolls or demanding upland treks. The area is criss-crossed by several long-distance trails, such as the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast, and is also home to the Yorkshire ‘Three Peaks Challenge’, the 23-mile (37km) ascent of Pen-y-ghent, Whernside and Ingleborough completed in less than 12 hours. But equally, the charming villages and hamlets strung along the valley bottoms make ideal bases for both short and full-day walks. There are also many opportunities to combine a walk with a visit to one of the local attractions, such as the Wensleydale Dairy at Hawes or the museum at Reeth, or perhaps the spectacular show cave at Stump Cross, but the greatest appeal for many who come here is undoubtedly the intrinsic natural beauty of the countryside.
Rebuilding a drystone wall (Walk 33)
THE NORTHERN AND EASTERN DALES
This volume covers the northern corners of the Dales: the Howgills, Mallerstang, and the catchments of the rivers Swale, Ure and Nidd, the three coming together in the Vale of York as tributaries of Yorkshire’s greatest river, the Ouse. The Howgill Fells apart, the overall character of the area is determined by the Yoredale Series of rocks, whose layered strata of limestones, shales and sandstones foster an immense variety in both the wider topography and the diversity of vegetation. In traversing the valley sides, the different rocks and soil are reflected in the flowers, woodland and blanket bogs, as well as in the features of the landscape – outcropping scars, waterfalls, ravine-like valleys and shake holes and caves.
Mallerstang is the only valley oriented to the north, and although intimately connected in both geography and character to the Dales, like part of the Howgill Fells and Nidderdale, lies outside the national park boundary. This straight, drawn-out valley guides the infant River Eden from its source high on Lunds Fell, hardly a stone’s thrown from that of the River Ure, which runs off in completely the opposite direction. The long line of hills on either flank offers splendid, if energetic, ridge walking, and although the base of the valley is traversed by both railway and road, it engenders a distinct feeling of remoteness. Apart from The Moorcock, which in any case lies over the watershed at the head of Wensleydale, it has no pub, and as far down as Nateby, just outside Kirkby Stephen, the only habitation to be found is in a scattering of small farmsteads.
That same rugged beauty and sense of isolation is shared by the upper reaches of Swaledale, whose tributary valleys splay out to probe the bare moorland openness of the Pennines. Lower down, a string of tiny villages all trace their origins to the wave of Norse settlement in the ninth and tenth centuries, interspersed with an almost continuous string of farmsteads. The flanking hillsides are richly veined with seams of lead ore, some of which were possibly worked during the Roman period. But it was during the industrialisation of the rest of the country that the industry peaked, and hardly any worthwhile deposit was left untapped. In consequence, there are few places where you cannot find evidence of this exploitation, but strangely this only adds another dimension to the appeal of exploring the area.
Semer Water in winter, Addlebrough in the background (Walk 33)
Until it was dismantled in 1964, Wensleydale too had its railway, which ran all the way to Garsdale Head, where it connected with the Settle–Carlisle line. Although it remained in existence for less than a century, the railway was a boon to both farming and a small textile industry by providing a ready conduit for export, as well as opening the valley to the early tourism of the Victorians.
But even before that, Wensleydale had a major thoroughfare in the form of the Richmond–Lancaster turnpike, and for this reason of all the dales it is the only one to have a market town of any size in its higher reaches. In appearance too Wensleydale is different to the other dales, being broad and flat-bottomed for much of its length, where its pastures supported a much richer farming industry than was possible in the other dales. There was mining for both lead and coal as well as quarrying for stone, but these were scattered in small pockets, bringing diversity of occupation rather than the focus of an all-consuming enterprise.
Nidderdale is the one major valley that no longer has a through road, although in earlier days strings of mules and pack-horses crossed the bleak moorland pass into Coverdale. Nidderdale’s exclusion from the Yorkshire Dales National Park appears to have been because of the chain of reservoirs built to supply the expanding population of Bradford, but although something was undoubtedly lost in the flooding, few would strenuously argue that the lakes do not now bring another element of loveliness to its upper corners. With limestone gorges at its heart, stretches of luxuriant woodland beside the river, and overlooked by the striking formations of Brimham Rocks, it displays some of the greatest diversity in the whole of the Dales.
The Howgills, quite literally, stand apart from all else, a great mass of green hill rising abruptly from the deep valleys that separate them from the neighbouring high ground. The uncompromisingly steep buttressing flanks are undoubtedly a deterrent to their greater popularity, but the effort of getting to the tops is rewarded by superb panoramas and long, undulating walks on broad grassy ridges.
THE YORKSHIRE DALES NATIONAL PARK
Centred on the core of this unique area is the Yorkshire Dales National Park, created in
