Surrender Bridge, The Old Gang Smelting Mills, and a Flue.

For various reasons I haven’t updated the blog recently.  I do have all sorts to update the blog with but I'm very behind, so I'll catch up later perhaps.  Today I am going to post my latest walk, if only because I enjoyed it so much that I can’t wait to shout about it.

I’ve been recovering from a twisted ankle – (which I twisted twice!).  I chose this easy route, on what is mostly a flat track, without the hazards of rough ground.  The drive to Surrender bridge is only 30 mins max from home, and the weather forecast was good, so it seemed the perfect walk. 

The thing is, after getting dressed this morning,  I wondered if I really wanted to leave my home comforts to tackle a six mile trek.  After all, walks can be hard work and there is always plenty of stuff I could be doing around the house.  As I was getting ready, I was thinking, “Can I really be bothered?”  But I got meself sorted all the same, and was soon in the car heading for Healaugh and Surrender Bridge. 

And boy was I glad that I gave meself that little push.  Booted up and taking my first steps towards the bridge, the view, the sun, the sounds and the air suddenly reminded me why I like being out in the Dales so much.  From that point I knew I was gonna have a fantastic walk. 

And it was.  Here are the pictures. 

The view as I stepped from the car.  That's Old Gang Beck (or Mill Gill), below, Surrender Bridge ahead with the bulk of Reeth High Moor behind.  And it's a wonderful day. 

From Surrender Bridge, looking down stream to the old Smelting Mill

Following the track.  The colours of the bracken and heather are wonderful.  

It wasn't long before I reached the ruins of the Old Gang Smelting Mills

Old carts and rusting machinery

Not sure what this piece of machinery is

But I don't think most people would imagine one this size

I think this is what's left of a massive chimney, with the flue leading off out of the door sized space and up the hill. The flue has always interested me.  I'll come back to this later. 

After spending a good 20 or 30 mins around the old mills, I carried on.  Today the grouse were very vocal and quite prolific - they where everywhere!  Sometimes they startled me suddenly shooting out from the heather, but mostly they kept me company, appearing in flocks or on their own, walking or flying, and constantly telling me to "go back go back go back".........  Not on your Nelly! I was having a wonderful time.

A few hundred meters from the smelting mills are the shooting huts, and a pretty disused bridge. 

A disused bridge and one of the shooting huts.  Note the tunnel to the right

One site I read suggests this is a tunnel into the lead mines.  I'm thinking it may be for ventilation, or drainage, as it seems a little small for people to use.  Maybe it had a deeper floor 100 years ago?

The little disused bridge looks lovely

Onwards and ever so slightly upwards, the track continues North West following Gang Beck.

Looking back is as good as looking forward. You can see the pretty little bridge and  two shooting huts. Up on the hill on the left is a row of pillars, with a couple of end walls.  This is actually an old peat store.  Peat would have been used to fuel the fires in the smelting mills. 

I continued along the track, first stopping at Hard Level Force, which is normally a waterfall.  I've visited before, where I've seen sheep get confuddled as to how to cross and fish in the plunge pool at the bottom.  Today it was a water trickle, which disappeared into the ground below.
Old Gang Beck changes to Hard Level Gill, which was for the most part dry.  I passed Level House Bridge and walked through the slag heaps of the lead mines.  Definitely not the best part of the walk.
Hard Level Gill becomes Flincher Gill and the track continues gently up.  Just as it turned east I came across more entrances to the lead mines below ground.

There are two entrances. The tunnel on the right swiftly reduces in size and isn't really big enough for a person.  The barred tunnel on the left is much larger. 

Inside the left tunnel, you can see the rail tracks for the carts that were used.  Stuff like this always makes me want to know more. 

After a short break at the tunnel entrances, I set off again up through the surface stripped area of Forefield Rake.  

Forefield Rake.  The surface of the land raked, smashed and pulverised to extract the lead. 

I'm about half way on my walk now.  The track turns and gently, uneventfully descends South East. Ahead the view is taken up by Reeth Low Moor and the steep slopes up to Fremington Edge.

You'll remember that I said earlier that I had an interest in that flue from the Old Gang Smelting Mill?  Well, if you look on a map, you'll see that the flue extends nearly half a mile from the mill upwards to the top of Reeth High Moor.  I wanted to see the top, and the easiest way to get to it was from this side of the hill.  Once I'd reached the right point, I turned off the track, and headed through the heather to the top of the flue.  Luckily I had Gizmo with me, my GPS kept me on track through the uneven ground and deep heather.  It was worth the effort though. 

There isn't any way I could get a photograph to show the whole thing, but this picture gives an idea.  The top of the flue is behind me, and you can see the flue tracking all the way down the hill to the smelting mills at the bottom of the hill and out of sight. 

Not only was I pleased with meself for finding the top of the flue and satisfying me curiousity - I was especially delighted with my other find on the top of the moor. 

A little bit of a dramatic cliff edge near the flue.  Not that big a drop, but wonderful all the same. 

Massive limestone pavement slaps - really impressive

And rocks carved by the wind and rain.

And a veiw of Low Reeth Moor and Fremington Edge.  Wonderful. 

I loved it up there on moor, but it was time to find my way down.  Bearing in mind that my foot and ankle had still not properly recovered,  I couldn't afford the slightest twist or sprain, The deep heather hid rocks and drops. and as per my way up, I was a very careful about where I put my feet. 

But I was back on the track and making my way along the last mile or so of the route soon enough.  The walk ended far to quickly to be honest, but then, there is always another day. 

Here's a map of the route, you can see my little excursion to the top of the flue. 

A little over 6 miles. 

From Keld to Tan Hill

Kisdon Hill

Following the theme of "catch up" this is another catch up post of a walk I did in September with a member of the walkersforum.   The route was one found in a local paper and it was his idea to try it out,  but since it was a good idea, I decided to join him.  (By the way, he did invite me, I didn't gatecrash!)

We'd agreed to meet at Keld at midday.  I live fairly locally, and reckoned on half hour to get there, so I set off just gone 20 past 11.  I should've had time to spare.

Silly me hadn't reckoned on it being late morning on a beautiful Sunday, and every Miss Daisy in England was out for a drive in her automobile.  Yes I agree, the scenery is stunning, and yes, the roads are windy, and no, there is no need to race.........................BUT! .............

I drove most of the route in 2nd and 3rd gear arriving in Keld at 20 past 12, very, very frustrated.
Good job my walking partner for the day (TH) is a patient guy eh?  I made use of the public loos and parked on the road.  TH was already parked in the car park for the very reasonable honesty box price of £2

So we set off a bit late,  TH was a little concerned that he needed to be back on the A1 before dark.  He needn't have worried, the walk was straightforward and the weather was brilliant.  All we had to do was enjoy it.

At this point I discovered the battery on my camera was flat.  DOH!  Luckily my phone has a reasonable camera on it, and didn't have a flat battery.  Here are the pictures.

Near the start - what a glorious day. 

To stop the sheep crossing the bridge?  

The Tan Hill Pub, from Tan Hill

On the return walk, sheepfold and bridge over Stonesdale Beck

Looking out over West Stonesdale Pasture.  

Wossat then?  Mebbe for the Tan Hill Pub behind us?

Just past Ravenseat, the Dales looking like...... Well, the Dales. 

A gorgeous little gorge - How Edge

And just past How Edge, We're looking down from Oven Mouth

And then we were back alongside the Swale heading back to Keld with that fantastic view of Kisdon hill I put at the start of this post. 

10.2 miles and 1600ft of up.  

Thank you TH for inviting me, I had a wonderful afternoon.

High Cup Nick with a twist

But not the kind of twist I'd recommend! This is a brilliant walk which we did in August, and it's not as hard as it looks. I have no idea why I didn't take many photos of the early part of the walk, or the end? But I did manage to get pictures of the best bits.

You can see from the map we parked in Dufton and set off along the Pennine Way from near Billysbeck Bridge. The track becomes an old drovers road and takes you up hill with Dufton Pike on your left. From the track Dufton Pike is a near perfect little dome, I really like it.

Dufton Pike

We continued on the track up to Peeping Hill (fantastic name), and then onto the well trodden path that follows the North side of High Cup Gill. 'Cept it became less trodden and more hidden. I thought this was odd, because it's a well used path and it shouldn't be hard to follow? I think we must have been up above High Pots before we realised the mistake. A sharp left and a steep climb and we were back on route. No harm done. (Peter was leading of course, so naturally it is his fault that we'd lost our way slightly).

We continued on Narrow Gate Path, happily pottering along and loving the views when it happened. The track is boulder covered and my right leg missed its footing and twisted slightly as I almost fell. My left leg stumbled to keep me upright but my foot got jammed behind a rock. The ligament twisting turn to my left ankle was excruciating.

Concerned walkers tried to help as my ankle screamed in pain. Luckily, a few minutes later the initial hurt had gone and I was left with a tender joint.   It was alright as long as I kept my foot level. I thought about the walk ahead and the one behind and I decided I could continue. I decided that the short sharp way down was preferable, thinking that all I had to do was keep the foot flat. Surely I could manage that?

So we walked on and I watched where I put me feet. It was a brilliant day, and the views up there are magnificent.

Hich Cup Nick from Narrow Gate Path

High Cup Nick - Nichol Chair

We reached High Cup Nick, and sat for a few moments enjoying the scenery.

High Cup Nick, the view from the top

There were loads of other walkers there, I could hear some of them talking.....

"Don't get too close to the edge!"
"I can't even look over"
"There's no way you could get down there!"

But really it's dead easy to get down to the valley bottom from this point. OK, it looks difficult, but on closer inspection, you'll see it's an easy scramble for the first bit and then a steep grassy slope.

The grassy slope concerned me at first, but I used my behind. That is, I went down a fair amount of the hill sitting on it, which also took the pressure off me ankle.

The next bit was the bit that we hadn't thought about properly. Remember I had to keep me foot level? Well! It was a bit difficult to do that whilst negotiating all these rocks, but not keeping it level was far too painful. I made it across slowly and with the help of sticks.

Looking back to High Cup Nick

Then it was the nice grassy bit across the bottom of the valley, the last time we walked here, it was really wet and boggy, but today was really nice.

Looking up at the rock formations from High Cup Gill

High Cup Nick from Middletongue Crag

Negotiating the route across from Harbour Flatt to Keisley Bridge wasn't easy, as it's not signposted, but we did manage to find our way out of the farmers' field and onto the road. By this time, my ankle was starting to ache, so we decided to take the flat road route all the way back to Dufton, rather than the ROW marked on the map below.

Once again a brilliant day, the route shown on the map is just under 9 miles with 1660ft of ascent.

We've done this walk before by the way - here's the previous blog post >> High Cup Nick August 2011