May 25, 2022
Day 9
We had breakfast at 8 am and then got ready to leave. But it was windy and raining steadily so we chose the public transit option instead: train to Garsdale, then bus to Hawes.
Our host drove us to the station, or we would have missed the 8:58 am train. On board we sat down for the 20-minute ride to Garsdale. En route we passed over the Ribbleshead Viaduct which, unfortunately, we could not see, and we passed through the station at Dent, which is England’s highest operating station. Just before arriving at Garsdale the conductor finally managed to get cell service to be able to accept payment for our tickets!
The Little White Bus was waiting there, so we found our way to the other side of the tracks and got on board. The trip to Hawes was quite short and so our travel was finished before 11 am! We left our day packs at the Cockett Hotel, where of course our room was nowhere near ready, and headed out to look around the village.
The rain was still coming down heavily so we were glad to have opted out of the walk. We looked in various shops and then had a look at the Dales Countryside Museum. Paul’s museum glasses were in the hands of the baggage service, though, so we just visited the gift shop. Next we stopped at the Pony Garth Café, a biker hangout, where Paul had cappuccino and a Bakewell tart and Rosemary had hot chocolate and an Eccles cake. We sat there for quite a while before returning to the hotel.
The rain had stopped now so we walked over to the Wensleydale Creamery. We didn’t tour the cheese factory, it looked like you had to arrive with an organized tour, we just visited the large gift shop. Rosemary bought a cute cross-stitch pattern of sheep.
For dinner we went to the White Hart pub, which was rated #1 on TripAdvisor. Rosemary had Lamb Henry, which she had been hoping to find, and Paul had sriracha-flavoured pork ribs. Everything was very good.
Next: Hawes to Keld
West Coast Hikers Around The World 