Distance 17.5 Km  (10.9 miles)     Ascent   451 m  ( 1480 ft)       Average moving speed  2.65 mph    Start  9.55 am   Finish  3.52 pm     

The Christmas Walk, four of us got of the coach in Richmond, the two girls correctly celebrating the occasion by wearing Santa hats.  We immediately headed for the market square, passing the church and making our way along the path below the castle walls.  Reaching the NE corner of the castle we turned almost through 180 deg down a steep narrow road to the R Swale and the waterfalls.  The falls, while not high, are quite wide and with the amount of water coming down the river, looked quite impressive.   Under a very grey sky, we then headed downstream, mostly next to the river, until we came to the ruins of Easby Abbey which I had not visited before.  Many of the walls are still standing so we had our coffee stop on a seat adjacent to one of them.  Leaving the abbey, we headed for the old railway bridge and after crossing it, followed the route of the old track to Richmond station which has been renovated and is used for cafes and some specialist shops.  Passing the station we reached the A 6136 and traveled a short distance SE along it before turning west on a narrow and sometimes uneven path to Richmond Bridge.  This provided us with good views of the castle from the south side of the river.  From the bridge, we continued west taking the left hand path, which climbs through the woods, rather than the right hand path which is partly rocky, is right next to the river and which I suspected may be underwater in places.  Eventually, after the path had swung northwards we began to descend onto  a grassy area which was much more muddy than I recollected from previous visits.  After passing Round Howe and following the footpath rather than the RoW we came to the footbridge across the R Swale.  Turning left after the footbridge I led the group to a grassy area which has several tables and seats or at least it used to, last time I was here.  Now there are two dilapitated seats and 4 wooden toadstools or perhaps I should more correctly say 2 toadstools and 2 half toadstools.  The girls took the half toadstools possibly correctly thinking that they did not require as much support as me.  Anyhow, we had a good extended lunch-stop with a bottle of wine and various items to eat.  After a quick trip to the toilets, next to the car park, which I am pleased to say do still exist, we were on our way again.  Having missed our intended path as it is not quite as far west as shown on the map (and my gps), we backtracked 50 m or so, crossed the A 6108 and then headed W along a track which took us to Lownethwaite Farm.  We then crossed a field and into Whitecliffe wood where a good track through the trees continued NW until we emerged onto  a nice grassed area next to the river.   Although not the RoW, it provided good walking until we rejoined the RoW a bit further on.  This was quite an attractive part of the walk next to the river although the very overcast sky did not help.  As we headed W, I pointed out Whitcliffe Scar above us explaining that that was our route back to Richmond.  Approaching Low Applegarth, the hard work started, as we started ascending the narrow tarmac road.  While not too steep at first, as we entered the gully at Deepdale , the gradient became worse although the 3 “youngsters” seemed to have little problem.  Eventually, near the top,  we were able to turn off the road, climbing a short grassy slope onto a path alongside a stone wall.  Following the path SW along the contour, I was able to get my breath back in time to take photos of Swaledale.  Heading east along the Scar, we reached Willance’s Leap (search Google for info) and look up and down the dale although the sky was becoming quite dark by now as it was almost 3 pm on an already murky day.  Crossing the wall at this point,  we continued eastwards on barely visible paths and over stiles until the path swung SE and descended to High Leases.  Here we joined a tarmac road and continued eastward until we reached the outskirts of Richmond.  What is often a good view looking down to Richmond was unfortunately spoilt on this occasion due to the gloom.  Once into Richmond we headed straight to the car park and the coaches after a good walk, somewhat spoilt by the dull day.