George Wilkinson finds much to lift his spirits in the mists at West Witton in Wensleydale.

WEST WITTON’S Fox and Hounds is a bonus for walkers, and you can use their car park to do this rather nice number in lower Wensleydale as there isn’t much spare roadside in the linear village.

So, after a cup of coffee, we were on our way, up a mossy back lane, under the dripping trees and onto Langthwaite Lane, one of the terraced routes along the valley side.

Wensleydale is a mile or two wide here, studded with villages, commanded by a castle and really rather grand.

However, we could see but a few hundred yards. The mist was still, the lane was atmospheric, the valley muffled. After a while I took to photographing the flaky stone of the track walls and the spiders’ webs jewelled with dewdrops, then a signpost read Templars and focused us on our quest in the spooky and soon to be ancient gloom.

We chewed a sandwich with, at our feet, the very small and empty stone coffins at the preceptory of the Knights Templars.

The Templars were crusaders, with white robes and the red cross of martyrdom. In 1139, Pope Innocent II exempted the order from “obedience to local laws” and they became internationally powerful, but in 1302 Pope Clement ordered them all arrested.

It was downhill for us until we dropped out of the cloud to the hamlet of Swinithwaite. Here, at the hall, we found Berry’s Farm Shop and Café but, before we could tuck in, a woman asked if I would like to get closer to the llamas with the camera. I hesitated.

My navigator suggested I was afraid. I can report the llama had soft lips and a not unpleasant tongue, and got the feeding from the hand done neatly (“rubber necks” said Bridget Thornton-Berry), and without excessive licking.

Next was Henry, a rare sheep, a tup with horns like swords, whose restful summer holiday was about to end with his annual trip to Scotland, for mating, from which he returns, said Bridget, “much thinner”.

I had a chocolate slab of Rocky Road, my navigator, at risk of getting much fatter, had bread and butter pudding and custard.

The rest of the route was ace. We left Berry’s Meadow Walk for the summer and tracked down to the River Ure, to an exuberant landscape of smooth, grassy, glacial hummocks that sparkled with the lemon yellow flowers of hawkbits and were splattered with fungi. This is Wanlass Park.

A stoat flashed through roots, crows erupted by the hundred and autumn leaves shone yellow. The great river ran fast and wide in blues and greys and splashing whites. Salmon and sea trout run, and a fisherman rolled out his line over a mirrored curve.

At a gush of spring water we left the river and moseyed back, as the mist crept in and a quad bike patrolled somewhere. A steel gate repaired with binder-twine amused, and from West Witton the church bell rang five times.


Directions

When in doubt look at the map. Check your position at each point. Keep straight on unless otherwise directed. (wm=waymark, fp=fingerpost).

1. Left from Fox and Hounds pub, pavement, first road on left (leisure park signs).

2. On bend, gate (fp-Templars) to walled path.

3. At end of walled path, squeezer (fp) and left into field, gate, right fork, squeezer/gate (fp), 2 o'clock downhill for 100 yards, concrete track downhill.

4. On right-hand bend, grass path (fp Templar Farm) on left downhill, gate by wood and stone, over grass to fenced ruins.

5. Cut back in field by trees and wall to your left, stile, gate (fp) and left to road. At Swinithwaite, cross main road, right, along road for 100 yards.

6. Track on left with double fieldgates (no sign), just before cafe/farm shop entrance. By cafe, concrete drive on left (sign Redmire Falls).

7. Just before track ends, gate to track on left, gate.

8. Wall stile on right to riverside path, steepish climb after curve in river, three gates, stile, stile up bank, 100 yards.

9. Right at bridge on side stream (3-way fp), grass track towards wall on right, gateway, grass track, 2 squeezers/gates, pass above farm, join good track, into farmyard, uphill, gate, drive, gate.

10. Fork right uphill by garden.


Fact file 

Distance: Six miles.

General location: Yorkshire Dales.

Car parking: The Fox and Hounds car park, West Witton, or layby at eastern end of village.

Right of way: Public.

Date walked: October 2013.

Refreshments: The Fox and Hounds and the Wensleydale Heifer at West Witton and Berry's Cafe at Swinithwaite.

Tourist information: Leyburn TIC 01969 622317. Map: OS Explorer OL30 Yorkshire Dales northern and central areas.

Terrain: Valley.

Difficulty: Moderate.

Please observe the Country Code and park sensibly. While every effort is made to provide accurate information, walkers set out at their own risk.