The pretty village of Carlton in Richmondshire played host to two significant events this May.  The Tour de Yorkshire - followed shorty afterwards by this LDWA North Yorks Social Walk!

Ten of us (including one welcome guest) set off in good conditions for this Coverdale expedition heading initially south to West Scrafton.  Continuing from there in a broadly south westerly direction we traversed Swineside Moor, Hindlethwaite Moor and Arkleside Moor before ascending south to (the aptly named?) Dead Man’s Hill.  Time for a mid-morning coffee stop in preparation for what was to follow!

The coffee to lunch segment from Dead Man's Hill was a challenging anti-clockwise quarter circle - initially downwards and then up Little Whernside, then down again before the long ascent of Great Whernside.  Terrific 360 degree views and “peat moonscapes” - and some pretty soggy underfoot conditions!  Also some unexpected rain which wasn’t supposed to materialise until later in the day.  But the Great Whernside summit is a fantastic lunch stop and viewpoint.

A revised route due to some impassable tracks had us dropping down from Great Whernside across Angram Pasture and towards Angram and Scar House Reservoirs - the sunny conditions making for spectacular views of these iconic feats of engineering.

Finally a northerly ascent of Shaw Gill led to us rejoining our outbound track at Arkleside Gill for a pleasant and generally sunny return to Carlton.  

Thanks Anton for a great day’s outing, improvised re-routing and expert navigation.  Thoroughly enjoyed by all.