Herriot Way
6th-11th April 2006
The Herriot Way was devised by Norman Scholes, very loosely based on a youth hostel tour undertaken by James Herriot, his son and a friend, staying at Aysgarth, Keld and Grinton Lodge youth hostels.
Mr Scholes' 52-mile circuit was planned on the basis of overnight stays at these three hostels and also the one in Hawes, which opened after James Heriot's holiday. I stayed at Hawes Youth Hostel when I was at school, but it has closed again now, as have Aysgarth and Keld youth hostels. However by using B&Bs in Aysgarth, Reeth, Keld and Hawes, Discovery Travel's version of the Heriott Way is loyal to the original, as well as providing four very well-balanced walking days; approximally 13 miles each day.
James Herriot (in 'James Herriot's Yorkshire') says that some of his 'favourite country in the North Yorkshire Pennines' is included in this walk. I would agree that the countriside is beautiful. The route of the Herrot Way is also attractively varied - the walk from Aysgarth to Reeth ('history day') takes you past Aysgarth Falls and Bolton Castle then over the moors to Swaledale; the walk from Reeth to Keld ('water day') starts by following the Swale, then takes a high-level miners' track before following mountain streams back to Swaledale; the walk from Keld to Hawes ('view day') follows the Pennine Way over Kisdon Island to Thwaite and then Great Sunner Fell to Hawes; the final walk (from Hawes back to Aysgarth) is rightly called 'valley day' - the walking is at a lower level, passing waterfalls and then following the River Ure back to Aysgarth.
This was the first holiday in the UK that Richard and I went on together where we moved on from place to place each day (with someone else carrying our luggage!) - and it thus earns its place as JordanWalks first walk - though we'd done something similar in the French Alps when the children were teenagers. We chose the Herriot Way as a relatively short and easy first walk - and also to check that we were happy with Discovery Travel before booking with them for our summer holiday. At that stage this was planned for the Coast to Coast, but it became the Offa's Dyke Path, partly because we realised from the part of the Herriot Way that is common with the Coast to Coast that the latter might be rather busy and involve rather a lot of high-level moorland walking. We were very happy with Discovery Travel (especially their choice of B&Bs) and met both of the owners (Alan and Jeremy) because they do the luggage transfer themselves for walks that are relatively local to their base near York.
I'd recommend the Herriot Way strongly to anyone wanting a short walking holiday. It was an enjoyable and memorable holiday; the countryside was beautiful and walking in the Dales in early April meant that we were able to enjoy the antics of countless lambs. Fortunately we were equipped for the 'interesting' weather, which included driving hail and snow that apparently sometimes made it look as if I (with my two walking poles) was skiing not walking.
We used 'The Herriot Way' by Norman Scholes as our guidebook. If you want to follow Mr Scholes' route then this little book is essential; its instructions are a bit patronising in places, but generally good. In was published in 1997 but someone at Discovery Travel had helpfully made a few corrections (which I will endeavour to pass on in my descriptions of each day's walking). The only real difficulty we had was on Day 2 when Gunnerside Gill was a torrent, so we couldn't cross it at the place indicated. The guidebook includes detailed sketch maps but we also made extensive use of the 1: 25000 map - fortunately the whole route is included on Outdoor Leisure sheet 30 (Yorkshire Dales: Northern and Central Areas).
Helen was due to be walking the Herriot Way with us, in the Easter holiday before her A levels; but unfortunately the dates we'd booked clashed with her 'STEP school' - practice for the 'Sixth Term Entry Paper', the extra exams that are part ot the selection process if you want to study maths at Cambridge. So Richard and I left Michael and Helen at home and went off by ourselves.
We stopped off for a very pleasant walk at Fountains Abbey and Studley Water Gardens on the way to Aysgarth, where we left the car at Heather Cottage for the duration of the walk. Heather Cottage [now closed] was an excellent B&B (it had received its 4 star rating with a silver accolade just the day before we arrived); we were warmly welcomed by Peter and Angela Jauneika and their children. Peter and Angela gave use delicious lemon drizzle cake and later we had a very pleasant meal at the George & Dragon.
For more photographs of our walk along the Herriot Way click here.
JordanWalks Herriot Way pages last checked 25th December 2019