Reeth

Why base here

Reeth is the principal settlement of upper Swaledale, where the dale meets Arkengarthdale, and Wikipedia puts it 11 miles west of Richmond. The parish of Reeth, Fremington and Healaugh had 724 residents in 2011. It is in the Domesday Book, later became a centre for hand-knitting, and the local lead industry was controlled from here; Wikipedia’s account of Swaledale dates lead mining to the 1700s and into the twentieth century, and calls the smelt mill at Grinton the best preserved of its type in the Dales. The same article notes that Swaledale has no settlement on the scale of Hawes or Leyburn, and within that dale Reeth is the largest village, with a large green, the Swaledale Museum in a former Methodist schoolroom and a National Park Centre at Hudson House, as the park authority records.

The honest case is the dale, not a summit. This site lists one outing joined to Reeth, and it starts a long way up the valley. A week built around hills belongs elsewhere: Hawes, across Buttertubs in Wensleydale, has the Pennine Way over Great Shunner Fell and two waterfalls joined to it.

On foot versus by car

Kisdon Force and the Keld waterfalls begin at Keld, at the head of Swaledale, about 14km west of Reeth in a straight line. Keld is on the B6270, and the Swale Trail between Reeth and Keld is put at 12 miles by Cycles Prog. That is a day of walking in itself, so the start needs a bus or a car. The 11km circuit via Muker takes a half day on paths, and gps-routes.co.uk describes the detour down to the lower fall as a rough scramble over stones that Wikipedia says are often wet and slippery.

A bus does the long approach. DalesBus lists the Swaledale Shuttle, Route 30, running Monday to Saturday all year between Richmond, Reeth, Muker and Keld, and summer Sunday routes 830 and 831 that call at Reeth and Muker. Services in the dale are infrequent, so check the timetable before planning a walk that depends on the last bus back.

Practicalities

Swaledale has no railway station. DalesBus describes route 831 as running from Middlesbrough through Darlington and Richmond to Reeth and Muker on summer Sundays, and Route 30 runs from Richmond all year except Sundays. By car, the B6270, which Wikipedia says links Richmond with Kirkby Stephen, runs through Reeth and on up the dale to Keld.

Parking at Reeth is around the green and relies on honesty boxes. The National Park Centre at Hudson House, overlooking the green, is where the park authority sends visitors first for advice. The Reeth Show, an agricultural event held on the last Wednesday of August, marked its centenary in 2012, and the Swaledale Festival of music and guided walks runs in May and June.