England - The Dales Way, Day 4

Friday, 17 May 2019

Hubberholme to Oughtershaw (overnight in Hawes), 5 miles

We are now entering the most remote section of the trail, where overnight accommodations are scarce and lunch at a tea room / coffee shop is not an option. Public transport is also not available. It's a challenging section of the Dales Way.

The church at Hubberholme.

The bridge at Yockenthwaite. While still following the River Wharfe, the upper reaches of the watershed are known as Langstrothdale ("long marsh valley").

The small river frequently disappears totally underground. The base rock is limestone, so this is "karst" territory with lots of caves, sinkholes, springs, and disappearing streams.

Today's lamb picture.

Another lime kiln.

An interesting rock circle or ring cairn dating to the Bronze Age, and so at least 4,000 years old.

Today's walk ended at this incongruous phone box in Oughtershaw, where we had instructions to call the pre-arranged taxi for a ride to Hawes, 7 miles away. There's no cellular phone coverage, and Oughtershaw is at most six houses, so there's nothing to do but wait here. Our short walk got us to Oughtershaw just after noon, but the taxi had been told to pick us up at 4 PM! Another couple is following the same itinerary, so we were able to convince the taxi to come earlier, and we finally got picked up about 1:30 PM. Taxis are also in short supply here, and they are used for school transport and other services, so scheduling can be a problem.