Meal Bank hike using Dales Way

My mum invited us on another hike from an old Ramblers' book. This one claimed to be a 6 mile loop from Meal Bank making use of part of the Dales Way. It started at the Meal Bank industrial estate which was sited to harness the power of the Mint River:

We crossed back over the road and then into valleys that had been carved out by glaciers. This meant we spotted quite a few erratics as we passed through:

It wasn't just rocks that caught our eyes. There were some amazing old trees too:

The book was informative about what we were passing. We went passed a ruined farm and the old sunken lane that had once served it:

The route crossed a variety of stiles. Some were rather overgrown to due a low footfall, one had a dog gate:

For a Bichon Frise the ladders and stone steps were too tricky to climb up. My mum and I got very efficient at playing pass the pooch:

Many of the fields were full of beautiful wildflowers:

It wasn't quite so pleasant on a very overgrown old lane and I had to carry Sherlock through:

He coped very well with all the bridges we had to use to cross becks and rivers:

The railway bridge we passed under was more impressive, Docker Garths Viaduct carries the West Coast mainline:

By now we had gone further than the promised 6 miles so it was a relief to see Kendal in the distance:

We came down to the road and one of the old Toll Bar cottages which took fees on the road from Appleby to Kendal:

From there it was a relatively short walk down into Meal Bank. It is a pretty little settlement which once had its own post office, woollen mill and snuff factory. Here is the full re.live video:

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A 7 mile loop out to the Dales’ Way and back from Meal Bank

A post shared by Becky Willoughby (@lakessinglemum) on Jul 2, 2020 at 11:30am PDT