Butter Tubs Pass, Abbotside Common, Black Bank Shooting Box, Lovely Seat,Nth Yorkshre.
[13.3 km] Wed 30 July 2014

OS Grid Ref: SD 86596 92767
Lat/Long: +54.330292, -02.207619

I drove via the M6 motorway and Sedbergh to Wensleydale where I turned north to head up the Butter Tubs Pass towards Swaledale. The roads were quiet and deserted when I reached a small parking area by some old spoil heaps. Just 3 and a half weeks ago on Sat 5th July the whole area was a mass of people who had arrived to watch the first stage of the Tour de France pass by. All that was left now was some road graffiti.

I left the car in dismal weather and light drizzle. The map shows a path leaving the road at Shivery Gill but a better route was shown on Google Maps. Just above the quarry is a track heading up towards Abbotside Common. It was a steady climb up the vehicle track and at the top was a path marker post. I heard the sound of an engine and soon a land rover drove up the track and away into the mist. The driver gave a wave as he passed.

As I walked across the plateau I couldn’t see much because of low cloud. In clear weather there would be good views across Wensleydale. At North Rakes Hill the vehicle track continues east but the map shows nothing. The cloud lifted enough for me to get a distant view of Addlebrough to the SE.

There was an easy ford at Sargill Beck where I had a view of the spoil heaps of the Sargill Side Lead Mine area. The 1:50K map shows some kind of building by the track but the 1:25K doesn’t. On the ground there is no sign of a building. The track then climbed to the north and on to a magnificent stone Black Banks Shooting Hut.

Its probably the best I’ve seen. The land rover I’d seen earlier was parked by it and the ranger was doing some jobs around the building. I stopped for a chat before continuing along the vehicle track down to Cogill Beck. I crossed by a wooden footbridge and then my easy walking ended. I was heading for an old sheepfold and had to cross rough ground to get there. It was a nice location so I stopped to eat my sandwiches. Further up the hill was a tall cairn on White Beacon Hill.

For the next mile or so the going was slow and rough as I had to cross many side gutters and bogs. Eventually the ground improved on the short climb of Lovely Seat. The summit cairn had been rebuilt to be in the shape of a seat. I continued over the top and found a faint path which joined a fence at a stile.

I continued along the fence which descended to the Butter Tubs Road at a cattle grid. At the road I turned left to walk south back to the car. There were a few cyclists out and one family group were resting by a wall. I spoke to the man for a while as he had an old traditional bike with 531 tubing.