Dales Walk Day 6 Sedbergh to Burneside

Today we set off from The Dalesman Inn in Sedbergh in the most glorious sunshine.

Being a Sunday morning, it was very quiet as we left Sedbergh. The church service had already begun as we walked through the churchyard to  get back onto the Dales Way.

We walked past the immaculate sports fields of Sedbergh School and down towards the River Rawthey.

This walk is all about the scenic river valleys running through The Yorkshire Dales and Cumbria. We have walked beside the Rivers Wharfe, Dent, Dee and today it is the River Lune that we will have as our companion.

But first we will be walking along the path by the River Rawthey and twe joined by the side of this disused iron railway bridge.

We followed the river for a little way then had to briefly walk beside the busy A683 before crossing many fields and farms.

Unlike the Coast to Coast long distance path, the Dales Way is very well sign posted with these waymarkers.

The weather was fabulous. The warmest day we have had so far and not predicted by the weather forecasters! It meant carrying a couple of unnecessary layers which was a pain but on the plus side Steve had brightened up our day by wearing shorts. Always a challenge on the eyes.

The magnificent Howgill fells formed a backdrop to the landscape for most of the day.

We left the River Rawthey and crossed over farmland towards the River Lune. It's good to just stop for a moment to take in the scenery.

A little bit of shade was needed today for this mum.

We were soon at the riverside again and the 17th century Lincoln's Inn stone bridge. It was named after a nearby inn that no longer exists. It still carries traffic but it is so narrow that traffic lights allow vehicles in only one direction at a time.

We were now in the beautiful Lune valley.

Suddenly another viaduct loomed up high above us.

The Lune Valley viaduct was part of the Ingleton to Tebay branch line which closed in 1967. Just imagine the views from up there on a day like today. It is a magnificent piece of Victorian engineering, just a pity they can't put it to some use.

We got some idea of the sheer height as we walked beneath the mighty viaduct.

We had an even better view of the viaduct as we walked uphill away from the river.

Everywhere was looking so lush and green.

The path continued to slowly climb up through the green pastures which  reminded me of William Blake's words
And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen? 

And yes I couldn't resist belting out a chorus of Jerusalem but only with the sheep as an audience.

The path then took us back to the river once again.

We passed fields of wildflowers with the daffodils making way for the bluebells now, as well as the clumps of primroses and clusters of marsh marigolds by the riverside.

Yet another viaduct.

We descended onto the road to walk to cross the river via the Crook of Lune bridge

This late medieval bridge is thought to have originated as a packhorse or drover's bridge for moving stock southwards. Today it is mainly used by walkers such as ourselves on the Dales Way walk.

The track took us beneath the Lowgill Viaduct which used to carry the Lancaster and Carlisle railway. It closed in 1966 as part of the Beeching cuts. A report written in 1963 by Richard Beeching recommended an enormous reduction of the rail network and its restructure due to the increase in road transport. There were huge protests about the cuts but the majority of them went ahead. Since then a few short sections of the railway lines have opened as heritage railways manned by volunteers. Other tracks have been used as part of the National Cycling network or just footpaths but much returned to farmland or just remained derelict.

As we continued crossing the fields there was no mistaking the sounds of heavy traffic from the M6 Motorway that we needed to cross.

Luckily there is an overhead bridge.

Once over the bridge we made our way over yet more stiles and across farmland looking for somewhere for lunch. We had walked over 10 miles so were ready for a rest.

This bridge seemed the ideal place, providing us with a ready made seating area.

The view now included the Lakeland fells in the distance.

This is the West Coast mainline where the express trains from Euston to Glasgow thundered past.

We had clear views of the Lake District fells and the village of Grayrigg but alas this is not where we were staying!

The undulating landscape was beautiful to look at but it still meant an ever increasing number of stiles and an uphill although gentle climb.

Black Moss Tarn.

Coming down from the Tarn we just got a glimpse of Kendal in the distance. Steve had thought about us staying in Kendal which is a large town in the Lake District but it is not on the Dales Way so would involve extra mileage to and from the path.

The village can't be that much further as everyone steps up the pace.

But where is it?

A smile and wave from Paul, in the hope that that really was the last gate and narrow bridge of the day.

Through the trees we could see Burneside paper Mill.

We were now walking along the road and crossed the river for the final time today as we entered the village of Burneside.

The walk was a joy today in the glorious sunshine. I would like to say the same for the village of Burneside but this is home to a small industrial area rather than a quaint, picturesque village.

The pub where we were staying had two large TVs each showing a different football match. Not quite my cup of tea. However, the landlady was probably the most hospitable we had encountered on the walk. We had a wonderful traditional roast dinner that evening.

We stayed in a house adjacent to the pub which had timbered beams and spacious rooms and was very comfortable. The mileage for the day should have been 15 miles according to the guide book but we walked 16.6 miles and I felt exhausted when I arrived. All the days of walking seemed to catch up with us today so it was hard to walk further than we had anticipated. Being such a beautiful day meant  we stopped often to admire the scenery and as a consequence it took us 8 hours. Tomorrow is our final day of walking so the aching limbs will need to be cajoled and massaged into just one more  day's walk.

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