I've talked about this hike from Muker before, but it was really very memorable. Particularly because of the views at the top of the hill. We started in Muker, followed the river swale until we got to an old abandoned mining town.
This is the same town with the abandoned building that my friend was chased out of by an angry sheep. She was not having us there. Once we left the town it starts to go uphill, but very gently. It's a nice easy slope, through a forested area.
At the top of that is a little tiny town called Keld. I think it has three or four buildings. Once we reached Keld, we turned on the road for about a second, and then veered onto the old Roman road for maybe two seconds.
Once we turned from the old roman road onto the grassy path to take us up to Kisdon, the incline changed dramatically. Now, I like to think of myself as a relatively fit individual. I hike a lot, go on walks several times a week, teach martial arts, and just in general like being active and outdoors. This hike proved me wrong. I could take about ten steps before I was out of breath. Lucky for me, I could save face and take more photographs, so it looked like I was just being my usual ridiculous photograph obsessed self. My friend was less lucky. She would force herself to catch up to me, and then be out of breath with no camera. All the while our third friend was way ahead of us, and kept looking back, shaking his head and waiting.
The higher we got, the more incredible the views around us became. I was both freezing cold and insufferably hot. I was rolling up the sleeves to my jacket, but because my head and ears were burning with being too cold, I didn't want to take it off. Until I realized I was wearing a hoodie, and could literally just pull the hood of my hoodie up and solve my problems. Sometimes I'm a little slow. Once I sorted that out, my temperature equalized, and the hike was much better.
The banner I use at the top of this website is the view from Kisdon Hill. It's looking down into the valley, with the town of Muker seen just off to the right , beyond the edge of the hill. It was incredibly beautiful. This is one of my favorite photographs of the Dales. I loved the view so much. I didn't want to go back down.
I tend to lag behind taking photographs when I really love something I'm seeing. I tell my friends to keep going at their normal pace, and that I'll catch up, but that rarely works. If they keep walking, it keeps me moving. If they stop, I'm more likely to stop and snap more pictures.
I really do love seeing things I've never seen before. These experiences have defined so much of my life in the last few years, and I'm so thankful to have had the opportunity to visit these places. I'm going back to the Yorkshire Dales again with my travel buddies in May. It'll be as brilliant as always.