A question for us all

A few days ago I went for an afternoon walk around Grassington. I climbed up over the moor above Yarnbury before dropping down to the pretty little village of Hebden and returning along the riverbank. Perfect.

Hebden by Frank Gordon from Lady Anne's Way by Sheila Gordon

I reached Hebden just as a large group of walkers arrived in the village. They'd clearly had a long day and straggled a bit as they headed towards the line of cars parked by the stream. I watched as they shrugged off their rucksacks, changed their boots and squeezed the last drops from their flasks. Then they all climbed into their cars and with a cheery "See you next week" they drove away.

And it got me thinking.

Hebden Post Office cum village shop

Hebden's a small place with just 133 houses. There's a pub, a tearoom, a village hall and a Post Office cum village shop. Not one of the walkers called in at the shop before they went home. No-one had a cuppa or a scone at the tearoom although two of the women popped in and asked to use the loo. Nobody had a pint in the pub. This big group of people drove into Wharfedale with their packed lunches and their flasks of tea. They took advantage of free roadside parking clogging the village street with their Discoveries and Zafiras, they enjoyed their day in the countryside then they went home again.

What should they have done? Do we as walkers have a responsiblity to put something back? To try to use the facilities in the Dales villages we so admire and by doing so support local people in keeping their pub open or their bus running. Or is it ok to be completely self contained like the party I saw?

What do you think?

And on a completely different note...

It was all high excitement down at t'allotment this week. Mark Diacono (ex-River Cottage - you might have seen him on the telly) paid us a visit. He's working on a new book called My Cool Allotment and we might be in it. That's the royal "we" of course. I don't think photos of bindweed and scabby spuds quite hit the cool button but my lovely neighbour Alison's pretty herb lined path might just make it.

PS the e-book's out! It hit the virtual shelves this morning and you can take a peek at http://www.skyware.co.uk/shop_eguide.htm 

I'm really pleased with it, especially the way Frank Gordon's beautiful black and white line drawings have turned out.

Boroughgate, Appleby

Thank you Sheila and Frank. It's been a pleasure working with you both.

Lady Anne's Way

Our new project is almost ready to launch. It's got it's feet on the blocks just waiting for the starter's gun (not that I'm missing the Olympics or anything). This one's a bit of a departure for us. It's an e-book.

We're publishing Lady Anne's Way on Kindle.

The Lady Anne of the title is Lady Anne Clifford, a 17th century aristo who spent much of her adult life fighting to regain the family estates which had been left to her uncle. Finally in middle age she inherited a large chunk of the north of England and at the age of 60 set about restoring the castles and churches which had pretty much fallen down over the years.



Sheila and the redoubtable Lady Anne

Three hundred and fifty years later a local walker, Sheila Gordon, became fascinated by Lady Anne and particularly by the journeys she took between the properties to check on the work. In 1995 Sheila created a long distance walk that started in Skipton and went 100 miles north to Penrith calling at the castles of Skipton, Barden Tower (not strictly speaking a castle and not actually belonging to Lady A but she fixed it up all the same), Pendragon, Brough, Appleby and Brougham.



Pendragon Castle today


The guidebook is now out of print and we've been working with Sheila to update and republish it. The print version will be out in early 2013 but in the meantime we're publishing it as an e-guide which can be read alongside OS maps of the route.

Barden Bridge

Carpley Green with Addlebrough beyond