In the north of the Yorkshire Dales National Park you will find the unspoiled beauty of Swaledale.
In this video we will show you a six mile circular route from the
village of Muker to Keld which now has to be a new contender from my favourite Yorkshire Dales walk.
Wander through colourful hay meadows dotted with old stone barns.
Discover cascading waterfalls that feel almost hidden away in an enchanting gorge.
Explore abandoned ruins with far reaching views across the dramatic landscape.
If you would like to do this walk yourself then I will include practical information at the end
of this video but for now I hope you enjoy the incredible scenery that this walk has to offer.
There are some public toilets here on the right but we're going to head
up this path here keeping the tea room on our left.
Heading through the pretty stone cottages you will find a sign pointing you towards Muker's hay
meadows. Next we're going to follow this sign to Gunnerside and Keld through the meadowland.
this way
wow look at that
For reference we're doing this walk in June because it's the best time of the year to do
this walk because all of the meadows are in full bloom and it looks absolutely amazing. The Muker
meadows are some of the most remarkable hay meadows in the Yorkshire Dales and many are
now protected as part of the Muker meadow's site of special scientific interest. The meadows are
at their best in June after they've had time to flower but before they are cut back in mid-July.
At this time you'll see a huge variety of grasses and wildflowers such as buttercups, common sorrel,
wood crane's bill, yellow rattle, pignut and many more. As well as the abundance of plant life
hay meadows also support a variety of insects such as bees and butterflies, plus small animals and birds.
It's so colourful and there's a lot of bees, they seem very happy around here.
Since the 1930s over 97% of wildflower meadows have been lost. However the Hay Time conservation
project has been working alongside farmers and partners to restore the precious hay meadows in
the Yorkshire Dales and have helped secure the future of over 700 hectares of degraded meadows.
As you're walking through the meadows you'll see old cow barns like this one here.
The 18th century barns or cow houses as they're called here
were used to shelter cows in the winter and store hay harvested from the surrounding meadows.
We think from looking at the map that we just keep following this footpath until we reach
the river and then we'll cross over. We've just reached the river so we're going to turn right
and cross over that bridge that you can just see over there.
After the bridge you'll come to this sign that says left to Keld or right to Gunnerside
we're going to go left to Keld. This way
Now we're heading through the valley keeping the river on our left. Isn't this gorgeous?
After following the footpath down towards the waterfall and going over the footbridge
and you can see there there's the remains of Beldi Hill a lead smelting
mill.
We're just taking a moment to look back at the way we came and look at that view.
On the right hand side we've just come across what seems to be the remains of an old tractor.
Turn right at the tractor and head up the hill to take a detour to see Crackpot Hall.
This is Crackpot Hall which is the remains of the 17th century farmhouse. Take a look around
the abandoned farmhouse which has been unoccupied since the 1950s, except for the resident sheep.
You can look down into the barn from here
You can still see a rusty tin bath on the stone floor in front of the fire.
As we can see here there's some 17th century spaghetti loops. And if that
wasn't enough of a reason for this mini detour then look at this amazing view over the valley.
That detail was well worth it and not very far out of the way either.
Yeah literally a couple of minutes if that. Follow the path and you will soon cross a
bridge over East Gill Force. first you reach the upper falls which have a 15 feet drop.
This is a tranquil spot to take a break before you continue cross the footbridge to view the
lower section of the falls which cascade almost 10 feet down to join the River Swale.
Once you're done at East Gill Force follow the path up the hill towards Keld.
After short but I think essential ice cream break we're going to go back the way we came which is
heading back down that path there where there's some people coming out of.
Don't take the left turn back to East Gill Force instead continue straight on towards Muker.
You can either keep going straight ahead or you can take the fork to the left
like we're doing. Take care on this next part of the route as it's quite steep and rocky
however the path is very pretty, surrounded by moss-covered rocks and lush vegetation.
Once you reach the bottom the gorge is lovely and peaceful and it's where you'll find Kisdon Force.
There are two waterfalls an upper force and a lower force. First we spent some time above
the upper force before heading down to the lower force which was the most impressive of the two.
I don't know if the camera will pick it up but all of the rocks
are shimmering from the reflection of the water. It looks really nice
Right we're going to follow the route back up.
We've come back up that same path that we took to get down towards the waterfall
and now we're going to go this way following the river.
Keep following the path until you reach a stone wall. We head through this hole in the wall here
and it rejoins the path. When we rejoined the path we've turned left which takes us downhill
this way. We just heard a woodpecker and now we've spotted him through this tree!
The route is dropping us back down towards the river.
You think we've got food? As a reference point as to how far we've come on the way back to Muker
we can see over there the first waterfall that we came across and the lead smelting mill.
It's taken us about 10 minutes from the last reference point to rejoin the river. Continue
to follow the river eventually you'll turn left at a barn where you will find yourself back at Muker
meadows. We were happy to get the chance to see the wildflowers one more time before returning to Muker.
If you have decided that you would like to do this walk yourself then here are
a few things you might like to know. In terms of difficulty I would describe this walk as moderate
especially if you take the detour we did down to Kisdon Force due to the fairly
steep and rocky sections, as you can see by how slowly Aaron is taking this part of the path.
While overall the rest of the route isn't too taxing you do have to be okay with an incline.
It's fairly steady most of the way although it does become quite steep in some places.
To get there head to Muker in Richmond. There's a car park in Muker which charges four pound
fifty for the day although please note they only accept payment in coins you can pay by
the ringgo app although we tried to pay when we got there but couldn't get any internet so
no joy. However you do also have the option of the laybys at the western side of the village.
If you're traveling to Muker from the southern dales then you could go via buttertubs pass
which is possibly the most well-known road in the Yorkshire Dales. This incredible road
crosses the high moorland between Wensleydale and Swaledale and gives you dramatic views over the
valley. Just watch out for the sharp turns and of course the oblivious sheep. oh gosh
As for facilities there are public toilets available in both Muker and Keld although
make sure you have a couple of 20ps with you. Keld is also a good stop for refreshments with Rukin's
park shop campsite tea room being one of the first things you see when you arrive in Keld. If
you enjoyed this video or found it helpful we do have a playlist of other walks in Yorkshire which
I will link here. If you're looking for a walk with more waterfalls then we have a video showing you
the stunning waterfall trail at Ingleton. If it's more wildflower meadows that you're after then how
about a circular route that includes the meadows on the Grassington Park Estate. Thanks for watching