Walks Around Reeth & Upper Swaledale: (Walking North East)

Considered to be the capital of Upper Swaledale, the village of Reeth stands high above the confluence of the River Swale and the Arkle Beck and over the centuries has kept watch over the changing face of the dale. Here the Mesolithic hunter/gatherer came on his foraging expeditions, the Bronze Age tribesmen created cattle ranches and began the early steps into agriculture and clashes arose between the native Celts and the invading Anglians who were to form the embryonic England. The Vikings who recognised the similarities between their home and this little rugged dale came and settled, creating as they did so a character that can still be recognised today. During the Medieval period large religious houses became established, evidence of which still exists on the ground and in place names. Then in the 17th and 18th centuries the industrialisation of the dale took place with hundreds employed in the mining and associated industries. Join the writer in a series of walks that explores both the countryside and the history that shaped it, in this corner of what is thought of as the most beautiful of all the Yorkshire Dales.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Introduction 2. Access and the Right to Roam 3. The Walks 4. Weather 5. Maps 6. Accommodation, Facilities & Attractions 7. Tourist Information Centres & Websites 8. Lead Mining Glossary Walk 1: Hurst 7.5 miles Walk 2: The Southern Dykes 3.6 miles The Grinton - Fremington Dykes Walk 3: Marrick Abbey & Fremington Edge 7.3 miles Walk 4: Maiden Castle 4.8 miles Maiden Castle Walk 5: The Enclosures of Calver 7.6 miles Early Life on Calver Hill Walk 6: Whitaside Moor & Green Hills 9.7 miles Walk 7: Surrender Smelt Mill & the Barney Beck 7.2 miles Walk 8: Grinton How Smelt Mill & the Grovebeck Mines 6.8 miles Grinton How Smelt Mill Walk 9: Harkerside & Apedale 9.9 miles Appendix Ferguson Grading System The Author Trailguides Limited Acknowledgements Disclaimer

About the Author :
Keven Shevels Kev has been involved with outdoor sports since his school days doing the Duke of Edinburgh award, spending his time either walking or running and latterly mountain biking through the countryside of the Northern Dales and beyond. He first went up Swaledale as a young lad with his father, the pair of them fishing on the Swale above Grinton. In his teens he did all his training for and his actual Duke of Edinburgh expedition on the hills above Muker and Gunnerside and then during his twenties and thirties when he was heavily into fell running, one of his must-do events each year was the Swaledale Marathon, starting from Reeth and covering the moors between there and Gunnerside. As you can guess he's always liked this part of the world and over the years both the history and the landscape of the dale have held a fascination for him. His great delight is spending hours reading a map and coming up with new routes which he can then subsequently set forth to explore. This in-built curiosity to go and view things, more often than not, leads him to objects and places that don't appear in other guide books and he enjoys sharing these experiences with those that read his ramblings. Now in his fifties, Kev has been unable to continue his running due to injury problems but that hasn't curtailed his pleasure from being in the great outdoors and he now spends as much of his time as he can walking the hills and dales of this region. Over the last couple of years he has been the co-author of one of the most innovative series of coaching books for fell and trail runners published and he now brings his easy to read, informative style of writing to guide books for those who walk in the countryside of the Northern Dales.

Review :
Reeth is considered a paradise by most walkers. The landscape is littered with heritage, covering thousands of years from Iron Age hill forts to when the area was occupied by lead miners. The handy guide contains nine walks ranging from 3.6 miles to 9.9 miles. Colour photography and hand drawn maps. The Yorkshire Dalesman. October 2012 The walks are then described in detail, with great clarity, and have clearly been well researched by the author, who guides the reader step by step, from start to finish. In fact, the routes are so well described, that I found myself building up an accurate picture of exactly what to expect. Numerous photographs are also included, not only of the landscape variety, but also of interesting features you will encounter on the walk. All in all, I found this to be a great little guide to a wonderful area, and a very useful addition to the bookshelf. I look forward to reading many more of Trailguides publications. Paul Mitchinson Guided Walk Leader. Published in TGO magazine