Muker walk - Muker to Thwaite - Pennine Journey

Route: Muker to Thwaite

Area: Yorkshire Dales

Date of walk: 27th June 2018

Walkers: Andrew

Distance: 4.7 miles

Ascent: 600 feet

Weather: Sunny, cloudless, very hot

I parked in the public car park by Straw Beck at the edge of Muker, and after walking into the village and past the church I followed a path beside the River Swale, part of the well known Pennine Journey. A glance at the OS maps will show the walk to Thwaite can be made shorter, but the reason for my choice of paths was to walk through some of the Muker meadows, a series of wildflower meadows which are protected as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. I was just in time, as haymaking was in progress all around the valley and it won’t be long before the remaining meadows are harvested in order to provide winter fodder for livestock. The detour was a worthwhile one and it was a beautiful, albeit short, section of the walk

Just beyond Rampsholme Bridge I reversed my direction of travel, turning sharp left by a stone barn, and joined a path leading gently uphill. This in turn joined a metalled track which took me uphill to Kisdon, the highest point of the walk at around 1,200 feet, from where there are extensive views along Swaledale

From here I could see Thwaite in the distance and a simple descent took me into the quiet village. By now I was parched, thanks to a combination of sweltering heat and a climb, and I realised that I’d stupidly left my water in the car. Luckily refreshments are available in Thwaite and I was able to slake my thirst at the excellent Kearton Tearooms

I retraced my steps back through the village and then joined a path through the meadows beside Straw Beck. The path ended at the valley road, but after a couple of minutes I turned off and walked through a campsite to join another path through the fields which took me directly back into Muker, and the end of a thoroughly enjoyable walk

For other walks here, visit my Find Walks page and enter the name in the ‘Search site’ box

Click on the icon below for the route map (subscribers to OS Maps can view detailed maps of the route, visualise it in aerial 3D, and download the GPX file. Non-subscribers will see a base map)