Day 7 Keld to Reeth

Thankfully yesterdays deluge stopped and the Yorkshire Dales were given a much more favourable review.

 

Reeth and Keld are linked by the river Swale and after yesterdays rain we had thought about taking the easy option and just strolling along the valley but as there was the merest hint of sunshine we took the alternative over the moorlands.

 

Even the waterfalls of Keld were worth a picture or three, now that the rain wasn’t horizontal and may be it would be worth a second visit.

Quite impressive

The rest of the walk was a lesson in ‘Unnatural Landscapes’.

How much places we now take as raw and untouched were once cherished not for their beauty and remoteness, but for the wealth they held in minerals and commerce.

Dead machines were entombed in pathways

Swathes of hillsides had been bitten up and regurgitated in heaps of spoil

There was still the odd bird, mainly grouse for current industrial sport,

and, of course, sheep.

Buildings,

slowly decaying

as if life had just walked away

after decimating the landscape.

But nature fights back and green is returning.

Dropping down to Swaledale for the final mile you would never think it existed.

A mere 11 mile stroll over the hills! Last week I thought that was a long walk!